For people in the creative industry, there are a couple of obligatory events in order to stay with it. The Cassies, Advertising Week and the Bessies are some. Dress up black tie, clap, schmooze, get a cab home. However, if you're just interested in seeing some awesome short films with award-winning music videos and unorthodox advertisements, Packaged Goods is your stop.
An annual mix of the year's most visually stunning and notable work, watching Packaged Goods can be torturous as you try to remember who did the funny wolf-head commercial [or was it a commercial? Watch it here!] right before a side-splitting Skittles ad involving cats. Right after, you're stunned into silence wondering why you haven't picked up Florence + The Machine. It is, for every creative geek, 72 minutes of fun and visual exploration that qualifies as research.
The only downside is that there really isn't a gentle start or end, nor are there any title screens, so you pretty much have to figure out what you're watching. You only know it's over when the screen stays black and lights come on.
The Year's Best: Packaged Goods 2011 screens on December 14 at TIFF Bell Lightbox
