Many online submission platforms are now teeming with film festivals – but often these are not genuine festivals as such and the film festival designation is amiss here. In these… Read More
Checklist for Online Festival Submissions
Magazine
New Anti-Film Piracy Measures – Radical Change for the Web
Part 1 Controversial Browser Copy Protection to Become Standard On 18 September 2017, following years of discussions and fierce resistance from non-commercial internet organisations, the World Wide Web Consortium… Read More
September 2017
Festival de Cinema de Girona (ES) || 30.09.2017 Millor Pellicula Curt Ficció: EL BARBERO, UN RELATO DE AUTODEFENSAS, Abraham Escobedo Salas, Mex Millor Pellicula Experimental Art Film (ex aequo):… Read More
Lukas Marxt’s films need a special type of audience
Lukas Marxt wasn’t particularly surprised when Adam Hyman of the LA Film Forum told the audience at the Goethe Institute Los Angeles they need not worry about the narrative of… Read More
Kyne Uhlig and Nikolaus Hillebrand – Digital isn’t always better
The films by Kyne Uhlig and Nikolaus Hillebrand are full of things that you would usually find in the kitchen or a closet. Gherkins march in step, spoons develop a dubious life of their own and lonely socks desperately search for their better halves. The filmmakers, who live and work together in Cologne and go by the name of “niky-Bilder”, prefer to use everyday as well as lost-and-found objects and breathe new life into them for their animated films – and that’s especially practical considering that they live right next door to their studio, making it easier to, whenever the need arises, place the contents of their domestic cupboards in the spotlight. Read More
The Video Essay – More Discourse than Terminology
“Every Frame a Painting” is the name of Canadian filmmaker and editor Tony Zhou’s YouTube channel, which has been online since 2014 and engages with the phenomenon of cinema…. Read More
documenta 14
Roars of warfare in the cinemas and a cannibal in the tofu factory Film as medium at eminent exhibition documenta 14 from Adam Szymczyk constitutes a reading of modernity’s… Read More
August 2017
Festival Internacional de Cine de Monterrey FICMTY (Mex) || 31.08.2017 Mejor Cortometraje Internacional de Ficción: HIJO POR HIJO, Juan Avella, Venezuela Mejor Cortometraje Internacional Documental: KOPFÜBER, Daniel Thomaser, D… Read More
AVA Short Film Library Networks Festivals with Libraries
The “Audio Visual Access” (AVA) project, which is supported by Creative Europe MEDIA, networks European short film festivals with local public libraries, with the aim of reaching and attracting… Read More
The eye is idle, but not lazy
“Der Tag des Malers” (The Day of the Painter), Werner Nekes’ (almost) unknown masterpiece
When Werner Nekes died on January 22nd, 2017 the film world not only lost an artist but a scholar too. Just as there are painters simply in love with colour… Read More
‘Move It’ and the challenges of alternative cinema programming
In 2016, Animate Projects¹ presented a series of touring programmes, Move It², for hire by cinemas across the UK. The four programmes offered a wide cross-section of current animation practice,… Read More
April 2017
cellu l´art -Kurzfilmfest Jena (D) || 30.04.2017 Bester Spielfilm: STACEY EN DE ALIEN STACEY AND THE ALIEN), Nelson Polfliet, B Bester ExAnDo: CIPKA (PUSSY), Renata Gasiorowska, PL Preis der Jugendjury:… Read More
March 2017
Let’s Cee Film Festival, Wien (A) || 27.03.2017 Bester Film: THE BUZZING OF A BUMBLEBEE, Vladimir Beldian, RU Bester Film: A NEW HOME, Ziga Virc, SLO Publikumspreis: UNDERCOOLING, Olga Kosanovic,… Read More
“Each Film Is Well Prepared by Us”
Film agencies as brokers between filmmakers and the film festivals. What does this achieve? A film business area that is still fresh. Read More
Vika Kirchenbauer in 12,000 Characters
The artist Vika Kirchenbauer engages in something that is probably rather akin to the idea of critical art – including all the obtrusiveness and potential inherent in such a concept…. Read More
A review of award-winning short films in 2016 – and a small evaluation
After getting the impression at some point that just a handful of short films scoop up the lion’s share of awards and honours each year worldwide, we began publishing here… Read More
Februar 2017
Academy Awards (USA) || 26.02.2017 Winner Documentary (Short Subject): THE WHITE HELMETS, Orlando von Einsiedel, S Winner Short Film (Animated): PIPER, Alan Barillaro, CAN Winner Short Film (Live Action): SING,… Read More
December 2016
Camerimage, Torun (PL) || 19.12.2016 Student Etudes Competition Golden Tadpole: HAN, Jonathan Choo, Singapore Student Etudes Competition Silver Tadpole: SUMMER, Martyna Jakimowska, PL Student Etudes Competition Bronze Tadpole: JAHRZEIT, Thomas… Read More
Short of Sleep. Political Dimensions of the Short Film Format
In this text, the intention is not to show that the short film format is especially political, nor to reveal the extent to which it may be so, nor whether it is any more political than other filmic formats. Instead, I would like to discuss, on the basis of the three examples provided, in which way these films, on the one hand, engage with politics in terms of their content and, on the other hand, how they have become political themselves with regard to the way and manner in which they were produced and are presented. Read More
Review of the First German Network Meeting of the Festival Work Fairly Organised Initiative
While queues of people were waiting at the cinema box offices in Leipzig to get tickets to the Dok International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, one of the most renowned film festivals globally, on 4 November 2016, about 80 staff members and representatives of film festivals and film-related initiatives, as well as freelancers and journalists, came together for an urgently needed stocktaking and review. Read More
Matthias Wermke and Mischa Leinkauf
In response to the question of how best to call the art made by Matthias Wermke and Mischa Leinkauf, after a lengthy discussion both reply: sculpture. (In German, the word for sculpture is Bildhauerei, which literally translates as “image-hewing”). While not meant entirely seriously, it sounds funny and nails it surprisingly well. Firstly, the description contains the kind of dry humour that is quintessential to the Berlin artist-duo’s work. Read More
Programming and Curating Short Film Screenings
Part 2: Short Films in Cinema Programmes
Programmers and curators both exist in the cinema sector. However, for the majority of movie theatres it is not necessary to draw a terminological distinction between the two activities, as the programme of a normal commercial cinema is determined according to economic criteria in accordance with market forces and not on the basis of other considerations regarding content. In first run cinemas, the selection is limited a priori to those film releases that are offered by the distributors. Within this framework there is some room for individual decisions regarding quality. Read More
November 2016
blicke aus dem Ruhrgebiet (Bochum) || 27.11.2016 Dokumentarfilmpreis Ruhr: ERFRISCHT EINZIGARTIG, Johannes Klais, D Preis für experimentelle Kunst Ruhr: JAMAIS-VU, Werner Biedermann, D Action: Gender Preis: DIE KÜCHE MEINER GROßMUTTER,… Read More
October 2016
Festival Chileno Internacional del Cortometraje, Santiago (CL) || 31.10.2016 Premio al Guión Internacional: DOUG & WALTER, Samuel Morris, CH Premio a la Dirección de Fotografía Internacional: APACHETA, Jorge Mosalve, Peru… Read More
September 2016
Brief Encounters, Bristol (UK) || 25.09.2016 Brief Grand Prix Award: SWEET MADDIE STONE, Brady Hood, UK Animated Grand Prix Award: ANALYSIS PARALYSIS, Anete Melece, CH Brief European Award: E.W.A., GiGi… Read More
Why Have Media Installations
Reflections on some criteria for film, space and physicality Since 1997, an exhibition section entitled “Monitoring”, in which an average of sixteen media installations are shown, has been a… Read More
The Crowd, Not the State
Among many filmmakers, public film funding has a bad reputation. With seemingly incomprehensible funding decisions and major formal barriers, as well as laborious, time-consuming paperwork and mountains of bureaucracy… Read More
Programming and curating short-film screenings
Part 1: Short film in a festival programme
Due to their length, short films are always screened as part of a programme comprising several films. Compiling a good programme is a creative challenge that requires a professional approach…. Read More