TISFF

When we were putting together this year's schedule, I thought I noticed a trend toward shorter films.  Being a math geek, I set out to calculate the average length of this year's films versus the 2009 films (the last time we went).  Now, I don't have the kind of time on my hands that I can average the lengths of 300+ films for each season, so I stuck to the films we'd picked.  Sure, perhaps we just happened to pick the shortest films they had out this year, but I doubt it.  For the sake of argument, I'll treat it like a random sampling.

Last year, our average screening was just over 111 minutes long.  This year, we nosedived to just over 98.5 minutes, over 12.5 minutes shorter than 2009.  Is it an industry trend?  Sheer luck?  I don't know, but maybe, just maybe, producers are trying to play into the hands of our short attention spans.  Either way, we could call this year the Toronto International Short Film Festival.