THE SHORT FILM IN CANNES

Selected short films of the last five years by the film critics in Cannes

Established in 1962, the International Criticism Week is a parallel section to the Cannes Festival Official Selection and aims to bring in the limelight the film producers presenting first and second long films. Hence, it accompanied inter alia the outset of Ken Loach, Alejandro González Iñarritu, Wong Kar-wai or, more recently, Keren Yedaya. Based on the intention to support the film-directors very first steps, the section stretches justly, in 1998, to the short films and brings in the spotlight names such as François Ozon, Gaspar Noé or even Christoffer Boe at the time unknown.

Out of the some 500 films that it examines yearly, the “short film” Commission finally selects ten to fifteen films that it proposes to the Cannes public. Seven short films that are screened at the first long film category [1], compete for the Criticism Week awards [2] while the rest of the films make up a full programme which is presented at a special session. The said programme which, since 2004 has been exclusively dedicated to the medium films, affirms its intention to underline the evolution of the narrative «parti pris» and production methods used in the short film world.

The retrospective which is being presented today and is an outcome of our the last years selection work is a unique opportunity to reaffirm the cultural diversity (from the Scandinavian countries to South and North America) and the creative vitality (from the enterprise film to the gore cinema, to the portrait of the artist combining 3D animation and experimenting evasions) of an ever inventive share of the cinema for those who remain audacious cinephiles and curious programmers.
Finally for the Criticism Week, every festival is a significant opportunity for getting in touch with all the actors of the national cinematographies and for starting an opening to the world.

Francis Gavelle
Short film Coordinator at the Criticism Week.

(Thanks to the retrospective initiators: Stavros Chassapis and Marc Lepoivre, member of the « short film » commission at the Criticism Week from 2002 to 2004)

1. As opposed to the Official Selection and the Fifteen Days of the Directors, the Criticism Week is the only section combining narrative duration and film exploiting methods.

2. For instance, at the 2005 Winners List among the films that received an award were the film “Respire” of the Taiwanese Wi Ding Ho, (Kodak award) and the film « Jona / Tomberry » of the Dutrch Rosto, (Canal+ Award).

Asteria

Wednesday 21/9/2005, 18:00–20:00

  • Faux Contact, Eric Jameux, France (13')
  • Wedding Night, Carlos Cuarón Mexico (5')
  • Stranger And Native, Ali Mohammad Ghasemi, Iran (13')
  • Forklift Driver Klaus–The First Day on the Job, Jörg Wagner & Stefan Prehn Germany (9')
  • 2 Minutes, Jacob Tschernia, Denmark (8')
  • Meeting Evil, Reza Parsa, Sweden (12')
  • Belarra, Koldo Almandoz, Spain (10')
  • Breaking Out, Marianela Maldonado, United Kingdom (10')

Asteria

Thursday 22/9/2005, 20:00–22:00

  • Metropolitan Express, Artem Antonov, Russia (30')
  • De Mesmer, con amor o Té, para dos From Mesmer with Love or Tea for Two, Salvador Aguirre & Alejandro Lubezki, Mexiko (9')
  • To Be Continued…, Linus Tunström , Sweden (5')
  • Respire, Wi Ding Ho, Taiwan (14')
  • Ryan, Chris Landreth, Canada (14')
  • Love Is The Law, Eivid Tolas, Norway (7')
  • Alice And I, Micha Wald, Belgium (19')