Talks and Topics

Interview with Betina Kuntzsch

As an artist, Betina Kuntzsch has developed the genre of video drawing, often combining hand-drawn animations with historical film, photo and archive material to create animated, documentary short films. Betina Kuntzsch talks with Borjana Gaković about her short film HALMASPIEL (Chinese Checkers, 2017) – which tells the story of her mother. Read More

Portrait

Volker Schlecht: Seeking the Right Image

An image that fits to a T – what is that exactly? And what precedes it – perhaps another image, one before the inner eye, or merely just a vague thematic hunch? These are questions that arise quickly when you explore and engage yourself with Volker Schlecht, who pivots back and forth between the moving and the non-moving image. Read More

Portrait

Nikita Diakur
An Avatar to Combat Fakes

The avatar trembles, barely able to stay up on its legs, then it falls over, its arms flailing. “Attempting a backflip is not safe. You can break your neck, or land on your head, or land badly on your wrists. None of that is nice, so my avatar does the trick,” an emotionless voice explains. The voice is that of animation director Nikita Diakur, distorted using voice cloning software. Yet its dry humour does manage to penetrate even through the manipulative software coils. Read More

Talks and Topics

“We believe in short film”
Interview with Giona Nazzaro and Eddie Bertozzi of Locarno Film Festival

The Locarno Film Festival, one of the most important of all the international film festivals, has a tradition of supporting short films. Not only does it host competitions for national and international shorts, but also Shortsweek, which takes place online in February. When Giona Nazzaro took over as artistic director in 2021, he further strengthened this commitment. Together with Eddie Bertozzi, who is responsible for Pardi di Domani, the festival’s short film program, they launched a new competition for films by established directors: Corti d’autore. Shortfilm.de met them both shortly before this year’s edition to discuss their visions regarding short films and their efforts at integrating them into the overall ecosystem of the festival. Read More

Portrait

Nervous landscapes.
On the films of Ojoboca.

Ojoboca (Anja Dornieden und Juan David González Monroy) machen zugleich mehr und weniger als „Kurzfilme“. Mehr, weil sie neben Filmen auch Performances und Installationen entwickeln, derzeit an ihrem zweiter Langfilm arbeiten und Texte von einer eigenwilligen Literarizität fast alle ihre Bewegtbildarbeiten begleiten. Read More