CLERMONT-FERRAND
– A HOME FOR GERMAN SHORTS

Over the past 15 years, the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival has developed into a well-established platform for the presentation of German short films. Not only were the German Short Film Association (AG Kurzfilm) and German Films on hand with market screenings and a booth at the festival’s film market, but there were also ten German shorts and co-productions competing for the Grand Prix in the International and Lab Competition during the 41th edition of the festival: AM CU CE by Hannah Weissenborn, ARE YOU LISTENING MOTHER? by Tuna Kaptan (TR/DE), LAKE OF HAPPINESS by Aliaksei Paluyan (BY/DE), LAST DAYS OF THE MAN OF TOMORROW by Fadi Baki (LB/DE), LIEBE – ODER ERINNERUNG AN JUDITH R. by Oliver Adam Kusio, and TRACING ADDAI by Esther Niemeier were shown in the International Competition. FEST by Nikita Diakur, QUIET by Sonja Rohleder, SCREEN by Matthias Müller and Christoph Girardet, as well as SHOOTING STARS by Magdalena Jaroszewicz (DE/PL) were selected for the Lab Competition. Another ten German short films and co-productions were shown in the various special programs of the festival.

At the German market stand, representatives of international short film festivals and organizations picked up the latest edition of the popular catalogue GERMAN SHORT FILMS and its accompanying preview DVDs. Additionally, three programs were presented by the AG Kurzfilm: The 14th edition of the “Soirée Allemande”, a French-German cooperation of AG Kurzfilm, German Films, the International Short Film Festival Clermont-Ferrand, the Goethe-Institute Lyon and the KurzFilmAgentur Hamburg, celebrated its premiere at the festival on 4 February. The fourth edition of the program EMERGING ARTISTS – Contemporary Experimental Film and Video Art from Germany was presented as a market screening. This program of AG Kurzfilm and German Films was curated by representatives of member institutions of the AG Kurzfilm. In January, the program had its official premiere during the Stuttgart Film Winter. It is now available for booking by international festivals, galleries and Goethe- Institutes. A further nine outstanding German short films were presented in the market screening “Matinée Allemande – Coup de foudre – Le court métrage allemand”.

AM CU CE (© Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg))