In May 2000 the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen will for the
46th time present hundreds of short films and videos in competitions and
special programmes, as well as the world's biggest short film market. For
six days Oberhausen is going to be the centre of the international short
film scene - filmmakers, guests, journalists and the audience are going to
meet, discuss, and gain an overview over current trends and developments.
The Special Programmes have become the festival's trademark. They examine
short film in contemporary contexts - in music videos, in commercials, in
industrial films* Taking up as much programme space and time as the
competitions, the Special Programmes are devoted to a certain subject or a
genre presented in film programmes, talks and discussions with guests from
the world of film, art and science.
The Competitions
Drama, grotesque, experimental film or animation, the USA or Kazakhstan,
Japan or Senegal, 30 seconds or 35 minutes: anything goes, as long as they
make it short. Every year the Festival receives about 3,000 entries, out of
which about 70 films and videos are selected for the International
Competition, the traditional core of the Festival.
The German Competition will present five programmes with about 30 films and
videos. For those who are curious about the variety of German short film
Germany's biggest and oldest short film competition offers a rich selection
to choose from. Film schools and academies are particularly well represented.
Finally there is the 23rd International Children's Cinema with about 40
films. As usual, children will judge the films. A novelty, however, is that
this year two children's juries will present two awards, each one in a
different age group.
This year's International Jury
Catherine David (France), curator
Kodwo Eshun (UK), author
Olia Lialina (Russia), net artist
Jennifer Reeder (USA), filmmaker
Abderrahmane Sissako (Mauritania/France), filmmaker
A look at Southeast Asia and Australia - the Film Market
All film and video entries - about 3,000 and more - are, as usually, going
to be available for individual viewing in one of the 12 viewing booths of
the world's biggest short film market. A novelty of the 46th Short Film
Festival: market-screenings with productions from Australia and Southeast
Asia. For example films by CAAMA (Central Australian Aboriginal Media
Association) Productions, an award-winning production company in the heart
of Australia. Or films from Korea, Japan, Hong Kong* The Festival is thus
going to open a window to a productive and lively filmscape that has so far
not been visible in Europe.
Difference and Dissidence - the Special Programmes
The wall has come down, both political and aesthetic frontiers have
shifted. In the West avant-garde and experimental films are swallowed by
the phenomenon of pop, in the East underground films follow in the
footsteps of the old state-funded film productions. How do the mechanisms
of aesthetic innovation work today, how are difference and dissidence
expressed? The Festival is going to look at those questions in two
complementary Special Programmes.
Pop Unlimited?
How does the image machine Pop work? Pop Unlimited? is going to look at
image transfers and image production in contemporary western pop culture.
The programme will examine the image repertory of pop culture, the
generative and expansive power of a phenomenon - all-pervasive, glamorous,
tasteless, greedy - that is penetrating totally different cultural and
social contexts while insisting on difference.
Short films, music videos, trailers, image films and digital formats by
Sadie Benning, Roman Coppola, Derek Jarman, Spike Jonze, D.A. Pennebaker
and many others will serve as illustrative material. Invited guests: Doug
Aitken (USA), Mike Mills (UK), Jennifer Reeder (USA), Simon Reynolds (USA)
and Mark Webber (UK).
Curator: Christian Höller (Austria)
Sex, Rock'n'Roll and History
Academism is dead, long live the underground! What used to be subsidised
(and regulated) by the state before the wall came down has now gone
underground. The programme will bring a compilation of (video) films from
Eastern Europe 1950-2000 - some of which have been difficult to get hold of
- to the surface.
It's not blood, it's red, does not apply here, it has to be: It's not
red, it's blood. Western interpretation patterns are ineffective,
difference and dissidence are expressed through sexuality and brutality,
body and violence become symbols of political confrontation in the
works of Marina Abramovic, Vladimir Kobrin, Zbigniew Rybczynski, Aleksandr
Sokurov, Jan Svankmajer and many others. Invited guests: Gleb Aleinikov
(Russia), Stephen Kovatcs (Germany/Canada), Mara Mattuschka (Austria),
Joanne Richardson (USA/Rumania), Slavoj Zizek (Slovenia).
Curator: Marina Grzinic (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
More Special Programmes
Orson Welles - Magic and Fairy Tales
In co-operation with the film museum in Munich the Festival is going to
present fragments and restored treasures from the unpublished works of the
magnificent Narcissus. They range from scenes from portraits of London and
Vienna to a screen adaptation of his piece Moby Dick Rehearsed, from
conjuring tricks and recitals to gigantomanic trailers of more than ten
minutes.
Our guest in Oberhausen: Craig Baldwin
A visionary of the unthought connection. Like Bruce Connor, whose follower
he is, Baldwin works with the leftovers of filmed lives. He doesn't record
images, he collects and mounts: completely new, satirical narratives about
gender relations, colonialism and science. The Festival will present
Baldwin's early works, which today appear almost prophetic. Craig Baldwin
is going to present a look into his archive.
Our guest in Oberhausen: Eija-Liisa Ahtila
In 1998 her film Tänään (Today) was awarded at the International Short
Film Festival Oberhausen, in 1999 she represented Finland at the Biennale
in Venice, today Eija-Liisa Ahtila is a big name in the world of art. Her
works form an unusual intersection between fine arts and film; they replace
traditional fiction by inventing highly complex narratives. Eija-Liisa
Ahtila is going to present her complete works on video and film at this
year's festival.
Our guests in Oberhausen: Dagie Brundert and Ramona Welsh
For Dagie Brundert and Ramona Welsh Super 8 represents a truly great medium
- as great as their passion and the myths surrounding the films and lives
of both filmmakers. Their Super 8 programme reaches from music clips and
ghost rides to Berlin plasticine and double projection. Dagie Brundert and
Ramona Welsh are going to present their works in Oberhausen.
MuVi, the second
Introduced in 1999, the MuVi Award for the Best German Music Video is going
into the second round. In its first round the world's only Festival Music
Video Award has proved: even in a festival context good music videos don't
have to be ashamed of their visual qualities. A jury of music video and
film experts will choose the winners; the best videos will be presented in
Oberhausen on 8 May.
Jury:
Dagie Brundert (Germany), filmmaker
Georg Seeßlen (Germany), film journalist
Mark Webber (UK), musician (Pulp) and curator
Media partners
ARTE - The TV channel ARTE is one of the most important supporters of the
European short film. In the year 2000 ARTE is going to continue its
co-operation with the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen. In a
special broadcast of the magazine Court-circuit/Kurz-Schluss on 8 May it
will present a selection of European films from the Oberhausen programmes.
3sat - The only German-language channel to offer short film a weekly slot
before 10 p.m. For the second time the 3sat-Film Award will be given to a
film/video from the German Competition Programme. The co-operation is going
to be extended to include a selection from the Special Programmes of the
46th Short Film Festival; they will be screened on 3sat on 5 May.
Kinderkanal - The co-operation with the children's channel of the German
broadcast networks ARD and ZDF called Kinderkanal is new. The state-run
children's channel has set out to present high-quality children's
programmes. In this spirit Kinderkanal has taken over the sponsorship for
the two awards of the 23rd International Children's Cinema, which are for
the first time going to be presented in different age groups. During the
festival there will be the opportunity to produce animation films, which as
from March will be broadcast monthly in the series TRICKBOXX.
Accreditation
Deadline: 7 April 2000
Please order accreditation forms from the Festival:
tel. +49 (208) 825-2652, fax 825-5413 or info@kurzfilmtage.de
Contact Press: Sabine Niewalda, +49 (208) 825-3073.
The Festival on TV
- Court-circuit/Kurz-Schluss, ARTE, 8 May, special on the 46th
International Short Film Festival
- 3sat, 5 May, Der andere Film (the other film) with a selection from the
Special Programmes of the 46th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen.
- TRICKBOXX, Kinderkanal (children's channel), as from 3 March, monthly
film programmes
Ticker
+++ Cinema Jury at the 46th Festival: an international jury of cinema
operators are going to recommend competition films particularly suited for
theatrical release +++ discussion on the topic short films on the Internet
with international participants, at the Festival +++ focus of this year's
special programmes of the Children's Cinema: animation +++ new festival
website online as from 15 February: www.kurzfilmtage.de +++ new press
service on the website: festival photos per download +++
Contact: Sabine Niewalda, Tel. +49 (208) 825-3073, Fax 825-5413
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