Short film at festivals – some current repositionings

Recently, many film festivals have made changes in the way they present short film. At the same time, some of the most prestigious festivals have announced that they are reorienting their programmes more toward the art sector, while others have already completed this change in course. It can be assumed that these festivals are not responding to competition from each other but are rather realizing independently that a virtual relaunch is called for in order to adapt to the changing content in today's film world.

 

The fact that major European festivals, whose main metier is the feature-length film, are also rethinking their treatment of short film, can be interpreted without exaggeration as signifying that short film has indeed gained in significance. In the following, we will look at some of these changes and repositionings based on the example of the festivals in Rotterdam, Berlin and Oberhausen. In the process, we will find that the programming policies of the three festivals have much in common, but that there are also some major differences.

 

 

Rotterdam: ‘Short: As Long As It Takes’ and expansion into the art sector

 

The Rotterdam International Film Festival has always had the reputation of welcoming experimentation. In contrast to festivals such as Cannes or Venice, at which the focus is on feature film, Rotterdam has for years been presenting the whole bandwidth of cinematic and audiovisual artistic productions. In addition to hosting competitions and programmes of fiction, documentary and experimental films, the Rotterdam Film Festival also acts as a forum for debate and discussion on the theme of audiovisual art and culture.

 

 

Short film as new programme agenda

 

Unlike the strategy applied in former years, in which short film was distributed throughout almost all sections of the festival, in 2006 the Rotterdam Festival gave short film its own section. Under the title "Short: As Long As It Takes", the short film presentations were consolidated into the same time and space. This involved streamlining the programme in comparison with prior years. With just a few exceptions, all screenings, discussions and events about short film take place the first five days of the festival at a fixed venue – the Lantaren/Venster Cinema Centre. Even the presentation of awards was separated out from the festival’s main closing ceremony. The award winners of both short film competitions, the Tiger Awards and the Prix UIP Rotterdam, were honoured instead at a special event before the end of the festival.

 

This consolidation of the short film programme in Rotterdam no doubt offers great advantages for the short film scene, significantly improving working conditions and facilitating communication. The strategy also has the effect of giving the short form greater weight – at the cost, however, of being treated separately from the other sections. The short film programmes now form their own section – a festival within a festival so to speak.

 

Among the core aspects of the restructuring, according to Peter van Hoof, director of the new short film section, is an even stronger focus on experimental short films and artistic video works. Since the festival has never viewed short film as something reserved only for beginning filmmakers or as a calling card for getting into the feature-film business, there is no necessity for integration and networking with the other sections and their market structures. The Rotterdam Film Festival has hence decided on a clear accentuation with its programming. This makes sense in view of the fact that, since the most exciting works in aesthetic terms come today from the art field, the entire bandwidth of short film production can never be presented in the festival framework anyway.

 

 

Short film as defined by Rotterdam: "as long as it takes"

 

The only limits Rotterdam places on a film’s length are for entries to the two short film competitions (30 and 15 minutes). Otherwise, the festival has freed itself from defining short film by its length alone, as the title of the short film section indicates: "SHORT: As Long As It Takes". For the Rotterdam Film Festival, a short film is not a film that just happens to fit programming slots on television or at the cinema. Short films should be as long as they need to be to say what they have to say.

 

 

Intersections with art

 

Another innovation in Rotterdam has to do with how artist’s films and media art are positioned within the festival. For this sector as well, clearer structures have been created: with curators, programmes and venues expressly dedicated to art.

 

Under the direction of curator Edwin Carrels, the presentations and exhibitions at the intersection between art and film were brought together under a single thematic focus, dubbed "Exploding Television". With this theme the festival responds to recent developments in film distribution resulting from the convergence of television, internet and mobile communications.

 

Central to the Exploding Television section was the exhibition "Satellite of Love", conceived as a platform for the artistic and aesthetic analysis of the consequences of recent technical and economic developments in audiovisual culture. In its selection of exhibition venues – the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art and the TENT Center for Visual Arts, which were also festival partners – the Rotterdam Festival has removed itself more than any other major festival from what it normally associated with a film festival’s mission. This expansion beyond the cinema and out into the art world was supplemented by live TV shows and online programmes on the Internet.

 

 

Short film at the Berlinale

 

Short films are represented in all sections at the Berlin International Film Festival. According to Berlinale head Dieter Kosslick, "a short film is not just a film that’s short. Nor is the short film a shorter version of a feature-length film; rather, the short film tries to tell a story as well as possible in a minimum amount of time" (TIP 04/06). For the Berlinale 2006, about 50 films were chosen out of the 700 that were reviewed, of which only 10 competed for the Golden and Silver Bear awards.

 

The Berlinale already restructured its presentation of short films back in 2003. Screened up until that time as warm-ups for the main features, in 2003 the short film selections were presented in all festival sections as programme blocks, judged by a special short film jury. As in Rotterdam, short film also has its own prize ceremony before the official end of the festival. In contrast with Rotterdam, however, short film is regarded at the Berlinale as a medium "in which up-and-coming filmmakers learn the ropes and attempt to make a name for themselves" (Press Release of 28 January 2003). In keeping with this viewpoint, which also harmonizes with the aims of the Berlinale Talent Campus, the selection of short films favours those that reveal their maker’s qualifications to move on to feature-length films. Since sections such as the Panorama and Children’s Film Festival have their own selection committees and specific selection criteria, however, and as short films by established feature-film directors are often shown in Berlin, there results a very mixed programme that is hard to categorize under a clear profile.

 

The concentration of short films in their own programme has attracted an enthusiastic audience. The screenings are usually sold out. This strategy does have the tendency to cut short film off from the rest of the festival, though. At a particular disadvantage here is unfortunately exactly the target group who see short film as their calling card. Filmmakers who are on the verge of breaking into feature film like to submit their short films to feature film festivals because of the promise of greater opportunities to come into contact with producers. The drawback in Berlin’s strategy is partially compensated by events like the Talent Campus, but something of the visibility and attention that short films used to get as warm-ups in the ‘official competition’, even if ‘forced’, is lost with the restructuring.

 

 

Forum expanded – a new sub-section at the Berlinale

http://www.berlinale.de/en/presse/pressemitteilungen/forum/forum-presse-uebersicht.html

 

In its own words, the 36th International Forum of New Cinema 2006 develops "new ways to present contemporary film and video art". Under the title "Forum expanded", a selection of films, videos and installations were shown for the first time that straddle the worlds of cinema and installation art. Similar to Rotterdam, the Forum also works together with a local art exhibitor, the Kunstverein KW Institute for Contemporary Art. ‘Forum expanded’ sees itself here as an interface between film and the fine arts. Co-curator Stefanie Schulte-Strathaus (Forum) justifies the necessity of this step by pointing out that "many things that today interest the art audience take place in both the film sector and the art field". The plan is to create a platform to bring together the current movement of artists toward film, and film and filmmakers toward installation. This should also function as "a platform for exploring the issue of the film venue as such", according to co-curator Anselm Franke (Kunstverein KW).

 

Opening up the Forum to artistic film seemed a logical step as the Arsenal Cinema operated by the Freunde der deutschen Kinemathek has already been engaged for a long time in examining the relationship between film and art (see also the article by Stefanie Schulte-Strathaus in our Guest Contributions section).

 

It’s presumably no coincidence that the new section’s title recalls the "expanded cinema" tradition of avant-garde film. With new works by Michael Snow and especially Ken Jacobs, two filmmaker/artists were included who have been working for many years at the intersection between film and art or expanded cinema. The programme also featured video installations by Amos Gitai and Harun Farocki, exhibited at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art. Nevertheless, the point of departure of ‘Forum expanded’ is still the cinematic venue and film as the premier medium. Perhaps in an effort to differentiate itself from the Berlin Transmediale and similar events, the Forum passes over digital media art in its programme. This choice, however, allows ‘Forum expanded’ to appear as a conceptually convincing prolongation of the Forum of Young Cinema, which has since its inception accompanied and presented the latest currents in experimental and avant-garde film. The inclusion of artistic short film in this context is only logical, requiring no special labelling or categorization within the festival profile.

 

 

News from Oberhausen

 

Artistic films and videos have also long been a fixed part of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen – both in the competitions and in the special programmes or retrospectives. The festival has often discovered filmmakers and artists who later went on to achieve fame in the art world. This profile is to be further developed in the coming festival. The 52nd International Short Film Festival Oberhausen (4-9 May 2006) plans on devoting a much stronger focus to works on the borderline between art and film in it’s film market.

 

For the first time in 2006, Oberhausen is organizing a dense programme of market screenings. Representatives from the twelve leading distributors of experimental works will present their latest acquisitions. Distributors who seldom make their way to Europe, for example from China, Japan or Brazil, are on the list together with the leading European sources. With this package, the festival would like to offer "the perfect opportunity to gain an in-depth overview of the current state of media art production and to make contacts with the most important players in the field" (Press Release of 7 February 2006).

 

In addition to a new series called "Profiles" in which works by contemporary artists and filmmakers are presented, another new addition to this year’s festival is a daily podium discussion. In addition to topics such as cultural policy and media education, one of these discussions will look at current issues on the art market. Under the title "For Sale - Moving images for sale", Anita Beckers (Galerie Anita Beckers), Stuart Comer (Tate Modern), Christopher Eamon (curator of the Kramlich Collection), Bj?rn Melhus (artist and professor at the Kunsthochschule Kassel), Ian White (curator and art critic) and Lori Zippay (Electronic Arts Intermix) will talk about new distribution channels for film and video art.

 

Despite this emphasis, however, Oberhausen remains a short film festival. However, according to festival director Lars Henrik Gass ("my watch tells me what a short film is") "the short form, whether film or video, has long since burst the bounds of every genre, and it has always been part of the Short Film Festival’s programming policy to remain open and inquisitive regarding new developments." And a major part of this policy is to present "artistic developments that are taking place outside of the art market".

 

 

 

Do (short film) festivals have to continually reinvent themselves?

 

There are surely festivals that subject their image to a relaunch for PR reasons only. Changes are not an end in themselves, however, particularly when they only involve retouching outward appearances. This is not the case in the above-named examples; there are cogent reasons for the restructuring described here. The fact is that, especially in the case of feature film festivals, but even for short film festivals, many conventions still in practice no longer correspond with the realities of short film production today.

 

What’s especially interesting and exciting are the reactions to changes at the intersection of film and art, whose reciprocal relationship is not really new, but is experiencing a renewed public dynamic. New constellations are emerging that compel even experienced short film presenters to regularly call into question their programme concept.

 

The fact that even major feature film festivals are now rethinking their treatment of short film is based above all on the greater attention now being paid to developments in the short film sector, which in addition is starting to articulate its own interests with much greater confidence. Nonetheless, feature film festivals are now facing new decisions given the current variety and bandwidth of short film – decisions that are not easily made.

 

The enormous growth in production volume worldwide is in particular a hurdle for every festival that takes short film seriously and places importance on presenting a high-quality selection. The human and financial resources required to make such a selection are considerable. People often overlook the fact that even large festivals in the feature film sector have far fewer films to deal with and hence fewer processes to cope with than does every medium-sized short film festival. The expenses for examining and managing the submissions alone would break the usual budget of a well-endowed feature film festival. If no additional funds and resources can or should be invested, the only answer is for the festival to specialize and seek a profile in a more narrowly defined category of short film production.

 

For most festivals, adapting to the boom in the short film sector and the latest developments on the borderline to art is still something to be faced in the future. But the festival scene has already embarked in a productive direction.

 

Reinhard W. Wolf