The Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival celebrates its return to the colors of Spain and dance from Friday until February 5, after a 2021 edition limited to virtual due to health crisis.
If the online passage of 2021 "
confirmed the attachment of the public and professionals to this event
", the Clermont team "
is nonetheless eager to reconnect with the joys of an edition in the flesh, in the projection rooms
", point out the organizers of the festival, one of the most important events of its kind in the world.
Some 170,000 admissions were recorded during the last face-to-face edition in 2020. The festival is often a springboard for young directors, as evidenced each year by nominations for the Cannes festival or the Oscars.
Read alsoThe Slovenian short film
Sestre
wins the grand prize at the Clermont-Ferrand festival
More than 8,100 films were presented this year to the selection committees, a figure slightly down on previous editions.
For the national competition, out of 50 films chosen, 30 were directed or co-directed by women and 12 are first films.
After two years of health crisis, these films invite you to travel, inside or far away, while denouncing the violence of the world of work through familiar figures: teachers, workers, midwives, writers, unemployed... The international competition includes , she, 77 short films, with 55 countries represented from all continents.
Finally, the Lab competition, which brings together works on the margins mixing genres and freeing themselves from narration, has 27 films.
Read alsoThe Clermont-Ferrand Festival, the nobility of the short film
“Spanish short films are getting more and more frequent nominations”
The festival organizers
The international jury is notably made up of Joanna Quinn, British director and reference in animated cinema, and Borja Cobeaga, Spanish director of multi-award-winning short films.
Spain is honored at this 44th edition with a retrospective of 28 films reflecting the strong points of Spanish cinema over the past twenty years.
"
Spanish productions have an almost continuous presence at the main world festivals, winning numerous awards, and Spanish short films are getting more and more frequent nominations at the European Film Awards and the Oscars
", point out the organisers.
Read alsoFolle jour de Nantes: the festival maintained despite the pandemic
Another theme highlighted: dance, with a retrospective entitled "
Let's dance
" which provides an eclectic panorama of all dance styles and invites choreographers interested in image and cinema: Philippe Découfé, Oona Doherty, Jann Welsh, etc.
A total of 35 danced and dancing films.
It is also the return this year of the short film market, meeting of professionals, which will bring together exhibitors from 32 countries.
The prizes will be awarded during the closing ceremony on February 5.
With a newcomer this year: the Queer Film Prize.
In association with the Queer Palm of Cannes, it will distinguish a film from one of the three competitions related to LGBT themes and beyond, "
open to a world resistant to norms
".
