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28/4/2004

International Short Film Festival

Internationale Kurzfilmtage, Oberhausen

50th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen
April 29th to May 4th, 2004

The Anniversary
- We're turning 50!
- Film program A somewhat different history: 50 years of short films in Oberhausen
- Film program "Prospective": The next 50 years?
- The anniversary book: kurz und klein (German only)
- The anniversary theme evening: Short and scandalous (ARTE)
- Film program: 40 years of ecclesiastical award-winners

Specials
- Yamada Isao
- Jayne Parker
- What else?

Competitions
- Competitions
- Film market and distribution
- Service

We're turning 50!
When the world's first short film festival was launched in Oberhausen back in 1954, it was called an 'educational film festival' and there were films to see about the wonderful world of bees or about Chartres Cathedral. Today Oberhausen is the largest forum for all varieties of the short form, paving the way for and mediating between short film and art, advertising, music videos, industrial film and other media. In the 50 intervening years the festival has lived through many incarnations: from 'short film mecca' to 'window on the East', from home of the Oberhausen Manifesto in 1962 to scandal-provoking venue for young German film in 1968, to name just a few.
The one constant through the years at Oberhausen has been the festival's openness to the New and the Other, whether it be political, formal, aesthetic or technical. This allowed the festival to rejuvenate itself time and again, earning it a distinguished international reputation over 50 years. Consequently, on its birthday Oberhausen is not only looking back, but also looking forward. The large-scale retrospective will show legendary and rarely seen works from 50 years of (short) film history, while a complementary 'prospective' will present individual perspectives on the future of short film. And our competitions will of course feature the most interesting short films being made today by the next generation of international filmmakers.

Short film is a great first step for a budding filmmaker. That's how I made my beginnings and Oberhausen was an important step on my path to become a Director. Roman Polanski

A somewhat different history: 50 years of short film in Oberhausen It's only a small selection, but nevertheless: what an opportunity! 15 programs will be presented, with films and videos spanning the history of the festival. Every name calls up memories and associations: Jerzy Bossak, Alain Resnais, Roman Polanski, Jean-Marie Straub, Agnès Varda, Chris Marker, George Lucas, Toshio Matsumoto, Chantal Akerman, Alexander Sokurov, Robert Frank, and many more. And this is just one retrospective of many that could possibly have been compiled out of the wealth of Oberhausen's cinematic treasures; a retrospective that doesn't attempt to define a canon, but to call back to memory seldom seen or perhaps long forgotten films. Curated by Angela Haardt (Berlin), the program is aligned along the undercurrents of festival history, demonstrating the energy and creative tension that can emerge from the often marginalized perspectives of the works. Instead of rehashing scandals that have already been dealt with in the past, such as the Manifesto or the banned screening of 'Besonders wertvoll' in 1968, the program traces historical changes in the language of film and follows the progress of aesthetic and political emancipation that film has undergone, which is revealed nowhere as clearly as in the history of the short form.
Almost every title in this retrospective can be regarded as a classic, a rarity, even as legendary. Some examples selected at random are Herbert Viktor's 'Schichten unter der Dunstglocke' ('Layers in the Haze') from 1959, Roman Polanski's 'Ssaki' ('Mammals') from 1962, Santiago Álvarez's 'L.B.J.' from 1968, Werner Herzog's 'Massnahmen gegen Fanatiker' ('Measures Against Fanatics') from 1969, a separate program of Yugoslavian short films from the 70s, Toshio Matsumoto's 'Atman' (1975), Romuald Karmakar's 'Coup de boule' from 1987, Roy Andersson's 'Haerlig aer jorden' (World of Glory) from 1991, and some 100 additional works. The film programs will be accompanied by panel discussions with festival guests.

I smoked my first cigarette here. For years, I saw every single film at the Westdeutsche Kurzfilmtage, looking forward to those days in Oberhausen every year. These events were important for me, for my decision to become a filmmaker. Wim Wenders

Prospective: The next 50 years?
On its 50th birthday Oberhausen is not only looking back over its history, but also forward: three programs will be devoted to the future of the short form. Curators Jan Schuijren (Amsterdam), Astria Suparak (New York), and Gertjan Zuilhof (Rotterdam) have been invited to associatively address the question of new developments and potential extensions of the concept of 'short film', and in this way to provide an outlook on the next 50 years.

The anniversary book (in German only)
The book, kurz und klein. 50 Jahre Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen (editor: Klaus Behnken, Berlin) compiles essays on and from the history of the Short Film Festival, including Peter Handke's famous 'Ja-aber' ('Yes, but') text on the 1968 scandal surrounding 'Besonders wertvoll', Enno Patala's thoughts on the category of short film from 1966, and a highly amusing exchange of letters from the 60s between the 'red' festival and the Ministry of the Interior. Among the original articles written expressly for the publication are Alexander Kluge on the subject of 'Short Films, Long Films' and Juergen Boettcher on filmmaking in the GDR. Hilmar Hoffmann reflects on his days as festival director, Wolfram Siebeck remembers the selection screenings of 1958, Ulrich Gregor recalls the Oberhausen Manifesto, and much more. 240 pages, ISBN 3-7757-1323-9, March 2004, 19.80 EUR, published by Hatje Cantz.

The anniversary theme evening
On 28 April 2004 at 10:50 p.m. television station Arte will present a theme evening on the anniversary entitled Kurz und Skandaloes ('Short and Scandalous'). The program will open with 'Angriffe auf den guten Geschmack Aufbrueche im Kurzfilm' ('Attacks on Good Taste Departures in Short Film'), an overview by Peter Kremski on stylistically groundbreaking short films, examining directors from Kenneth Anger to Michel Gondry and featuring clips from key works. The evening will continue with a documentary on the Short Film Festival by Fosco and Donatello Dubini called 'Papas Kino ist tot' ('Daddy's Cinema is Dead'), followed by a long night of short film, compiled by Kathrin Brinkmann and Lars Henrik Gass.

Special: 40 years of ecclesiastical award-winners
A completely different historical perspective is offered by a program featuring award winners chosen by Oberhausen's ecclesiastical juries. Observers from the church were there from the very start of the Short Film Festival, and for the next 40 years Catholic film officials and the Protestant film organisation Interfilm were represented by their own juries, conjoined in 2000 to form one ecumenical jury. The task of these juries has always been to honour films that reflect the spirit of the Gospel and that address humane, social or religious themes in an artistically persuasive manner. They also recommend films to be purchased for church educational work. Thus, numerous films that received awards from the ecclesiastical juries have played a role in the educational activities of the church, and still do today.

Special: Yamada Isao
Yamada Isao, born in 1952, is one of those directors whose work bursts through the classic genre boundaries, switching back and forth between the most disparate forms, often from one take to the next. A dreamily symbolic scene is followed by a series of autobiographical shots, after which comes a classical narrative scene that suddenly explodes into a free-flow improvisation of superimposed images the total cinema experience presented by a one-of-a-kind poet of the living picture. The majority of his oeuvre was shot on Super 8 and will be screened in this format in Oberhausen, although in the course of the years Yamada has made use of all available formats. His overriding theme is time, for which his favourite symbol is the ammonite. The Short Film Festival will present a cross-section of Yamada's work, with about 20 films in three programs the first time this solitaire of the Japanese avant-garde has been thus honoured in Germany.

Special: Jayne Parker
In the films British artist Jayne Parker has been making since 1979 her main interest is in the unconditionality of movements in space and of things. She has a way of turning things inside out, moving smoothly between animation brut, performance and music film. Simple and direct, and stunningly mounted, people drink milk under water, a fish is prepared as if it were injured, blocks of ice serve as a dance platform, a bed burns, eels thrash about. The creatures and objects are weighty, the effect direct and strongly associative. Jayne Parker uses her films to describe the powerful resistance inherent in vulnerability. "Crystal Aquarium" won the Grand Prize of the City of Oberhausen in 1997. The Short Film Festival will be presenting a selection of her works in two programs.

A happy mix of film festival, Viva party and documenta 11. die tageszeitung, 8 May 2003

What else?
+++ A press workshop on of short film criticism, held in co-operation with the FIPRESCI +++ The 3rd annual Producers' Day, this year on the theme of digital distribution +++ Grand opening with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in the Oberhausen Gasometer +++ Parties, discussions, lounge +++

The competitions
In its four competitions the Short Film Festival offers, as always, a view of the current state of the short form throughout the world, and of formal, aesthetic, and content-related trends and developments.

Around 70 works will vie for prizes in the International Competition that include the Grand Prize of the City of Oberhausen, the Arte Award for best European short film, and many more, totalling 23,000 euros in all. Selected films from the competition will be purchased by ARTE for televising. This year's international jury comprises: Robert Cahen, video artist, France; Piotr Krajewski, curator, Poland; Catrin Lundqvist, curator, Sweden; Jayne Parker, filmmaker, Great Britain; and Abraham Ravett, filmmaker, USA
Information: Kristina Henschel

The German Competition will feature around 30 films, all shown on the festival weekend. The best works have a chance at winning the award for best entry in the German Competition, with prize money of 5.000 euros, donated by the Industrie- und Handelskammer zu Essen, as well as the 3sat Promotional Prize in the amount of 2,500 euros, which includes an option to purchase the film for broadcast. 3sat will in addition be purchasing a selection of works from the German Competition to include in the station's programming.
The jury members for the German Competition this year are Catherine Ann Berger, journalist, Zurich; Helmut Herbst, filmmaker, Brombachtal-Birkert; and Ulrich Koehler, filmmaker, Berlin.
Information: Carsten Spicher

In the Children's and Youth Film Competition, films made for age groups between five and 14 will compete for two prizes of 1,000 euros each sponsored by the Kinderkanal, the children's channel of the ARD and ZDF public television stations. The winners will be chosen by two juries of children and adolescents.

Finally, the MuVi Award will go to the best German music video. Some ten candidates will vie for three prizes with a total value of 5,000 euros, awarded by an international jury whose members this year are Karl Bartos, musician, Germany; Pipilotti Rist, video artist, Switzerland; N.N. In addition, internet users can vote for their favourite clip at the MuVi Audience Award, put online in cooperation with INTRO in April.
Information: Jessica Manstetten

Film market and distribution All works submitted for the competitions -- 5,000 per year on average -- are available for viewing at the Film Market. The festival also purchases about 60 selected titles from the programs each year for its non-commercial, internationally active Short Film Distribution.
Information on the Film Market: Kristina Henschel
Information on distribution: Melanie Piguel

Oberhausen is still doing more for the short film cause than most of the other German, or even international, film festivals. Jochen Kuhn

Image: Ropman Polanski, 1963

________

A few figures

total number of submissions for the competitions: 5.256

Selected:
for the International Competition: 68
for the German Competition: 27
for the Children's and Youth Film Competition: 46
for the MuVi Award: 12

____________

Digital cinema: opportunity or curse?
3rd Producers' Day on Monday, 3 May 2004

Digital cinema is coming! This battle cry has been heard for years now. What it implies is a seamless digital value chain, all the way from shooting to projection - and the end of celluloid. The focus is on potential cost savings for distributors, which, however, require enormous investments on the part of cinema operators. Now that digital projection in big-screen quality is technically possible, the issue is gaining in urgency. Can small and art-house cinemas stand up in the long run to the pressure for continual innovation? Can they develop sustainable counter-models? Does the digital future spell the end of art-house film, or, on the contrary, does it open up undreamt-of opportunities for market access? These questions are the focus of the 3rd Producers' Day at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen.

Boeing Digital, Kodak, the advertising industry and independent distributors' initiatives have developed business plans for implementing digitization that envision cinemas leasing rather than purchasing digital projection equipment. But in this scenario some cinema operators fear commercial dependencies on 'global players' and their products. In the Netherlands, Great Britain and Germany on the other hand, art-house cinemas and other institutions have joined forces to realize their own brand of digital cinema. By using, for example, video beamers for digital projection, they aim to facilitate market access for small distributors or low-budget productions. In short: for potentially diversified cinemas' programs.

At its 3rd Producers' Day the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen will discuss various concepts of digital cinema, primarily from the point of view of cinema operators. The one-day event will provide an overview of the current market situation, present points of view of multiplex and art-house operators, as well as describing various models, Business Plans, and the European DocuZone-Initiative all while leaving plenty of time for participants to engage in discussions and compare notes on their experiences.

The program:

Date: Monday, 3 May 2004
Time: from 11 am
Place: Lichtburg Filmpalast, Elsässer Str. 26, 46045 Oberhausen
Working language: German

Programme
(changes reserved)

11.00: Welcome
11.15: Overview of current market
Inga von Staden, projectscope, Berlin
11.45: Overview of current EC-funded projects
12.15: Selected business plan
13.00: Joint lunch
14:30: Selected business plan - progress report from the multiplex
15:15: Opportunities offered by digital cinema from the standpoint of a producer
Tom Remlov, producer (e.g. of " Play"), Dinamo Story AS, Norway (tbc)
15.45: European DocuZone: an independent distributors' initiative
Björn Koll, Salzgeber & Co. Medien GmbH, Berlin, initiator of the European DocuZone project, and Peter Erasmus, cinema operator "atelier am bollwerk", Stuttgart
16.30: Reelport: Digital film submission and processing for festivals
17:00: Demonstration of digital post-production technology:
Digital Lab, VCC Perfect Pictures, Babelsberg

Information and registration: Chris Doerken, doerken@kurzfilmtage.de

Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen
Grillostr. 34 | 46045 Oberhausen | Germany
Tel +49 (0)208 825-3073 | Fax 825-5413

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