Christian Meer as Bortnik in Rich Williamson and Shasha Nakhai’s sharp satire Bots.

As much as its well-meaning organizers prefer to think of themselves as working for “the people’s festival,” there are inescapable tiers when it comes to programming the Toronto International Film Festival . Galas and Special Presentations at the top, documentaries somewhere in the middle, shorts near or at the very bottom.

The organizing principle is of course nonsense, given how much startling talent is reliably selected by TIFF’s Short Cuts team every year. And we’re not just talking about the famous faces who are making good on their directorial ambitions and are regularly welcomed into the shorts slate with open arms. (This year, it’s Idris Elba’s turn to lend the program some celebrity shine.)

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