An interview with Dimitra Karya, artistic director of Cinéfondation selection.

Cinefondation is celebrating its 15th birthday in 2012. What was the first Cinefondation like? How have things changed since then?

In 1998, when Gilles Jacob and Pierre Viot created this new section of the Festival de Cannes, the Cinéfondation was just a selection of student films. Laurent Jacob, its programmer for the first 12 years, took up the challenge of making it known in the world of film schools. He went to some festivals, invited the best student shorts he could find and undertook to convince schools to submit as many works directed by their students as possible. The very first Cinéfondation showed 15 shorts and among them 3 from NFTS, which attests that the choice was limited and the diversity of film schools hard to achieve. Fortunately, Cinéfondation’s reputation kept growing during all those years and we no longer need propaganda. With some 1700 yearly submissions, we can present a better balanced programme. Today we closely work with many film schools, and some “new” ones contact us every year.

Besides, as you know, the Cinéfondation has grown up, and it has developed complementary programmes: the Residence in 2000 and the Atelier in 2005.

Are you planning any special screenings or events marking the anniversary?

There are no special events planned this year. We’ll let it go quietly through its adolescence period and will hopefully make a “bigger party” for its 20th anniversary. The best celebration for us is when filmmakers whose student films we had programmed come back to Cannes or other major festivals with new feature films. It’s our pleasure and our pride. This year, Aida Begic’s second feature is part of the Un Certain Regard selection and Gonzalo Tobal’s feature debut is shown at a special screening. Another positive sign of recognition came last year when Jessica Hausner and Corneliu Porumboiu sat on the Cinéfondation Jury, many years after having shown their student films in our programme.

What will happen for the first time this year is that just after the festival, in mid-June, the Cinéfondation-awarded films will make a trip to Rome, to be shown at the prestigious Villa Medici. Since last year they have also been shown at La Cinémathèque Française, the Parisian temple of cinema, while the Forum des Images, another important French institution, showcases a part of the programme, also in June.

In the past 15 years, the Cinefondation has discovered many emerging talents. What is your experience? Are there any trends in student filmmaking? Are there any topics filmmakers like very much as beginners that they tend to forget later on in their careers? Or are talents very serious filmmakers from the very beginning?

I don’t know if we can talk about trends in student filmmaking. I noticed that many directors deal with personal loss. Some are concerned with their historical, political and social background, in a more or less obvious way: they often sharply dissect the society of their own country. Others create a more personal universe, sometimes inspired by myths. A few have been marked by conflicts in their region, painting the portrait of lost generations. Directors are artists expressing a personal vision but also evolving with their society, acutely feeling the uneasiness of living. Fortunately, there can be humour to enlighten the Cinéfondation programme. There are directors who consistently follow the same path and others who surf on different waves. There are born filmmakers who seem to have cinema flowing in their veins from the very beginning of their career and there are personalities who develop film after film, in a blossoming that is very touching to witness.

Although there is no direct link between the Cinefondation, L’Atelier, La Residence or the Official Selection, there are a lot of doors that open after being selected to the Cinefondation. How does this shape a filmmaker’s career, how is life after the Cinefondation?

As you say, there is no direct link. To date, only 23% of the selected student film directors have joined the Residence with their feature film project and 13% the Atelier. Those are selected by Georges Goldenstern, the General Manager of the Cinéfondation, twice a year for the Residence and yearly for the Atelier at Cannes.

But it’s certain that being selected at the Cinéfondation can become the “Open Sesame” for some of these young filmmakers: their shorts continue the journey started here, they are invited to other festivals, where they meet fellow directors or professionals and build up a network, hopefully arousing the interest of producers, distributors etc.

As I said before, a part of the selection (usually the awarded films) is shown in various prestigious places. Besides, every year, ARTE television broadcasts some of our films.

Your short film sharing site, Daazo.com, also showed interest and intends to present a retrospective selection of the awarded Cinéfondation films online.

As for a possible link to the Official Selection, meaning the Competition and Un Certain Regard (because the Cinéfondation is also part of the Official Selection), there is definitely no preferential treatment for our “reservoir” of talents; on the contrary, one could say the Festival de Cannes is even more demanding towards them. Last year it was at Locarno that Nadav Lapid’s first feature got international recognition. This year Mátyás Prikler developed his short “Ďakujem Dobre”, that we showed in 2010, into a splendid first feature film and I’m sure it will attract a lot of attention.

The only “favour” is that we guarantee our First Prize winner that his first feature film will be presented at the Festival de Cannes: Gonzalo Tobal, winner in 2007, is back for a special screening of “Villegas”.

Tell us about this year’s selection – how many applicants are there and how many countries do they represent? How many sleepless hours does the selection process mean?

If you’re a “numbers person”, enjoy some statistics: this year 15 films from 14 countries have been selected from among 1683 coming from 320 schools in 71 countries. We received 100 more films than last year.

Three schools make their first appearance at the Cinéfondation: The Animation Workshop (Denmark), Tokyo University of the Arts (Japan) and L’Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts – this is the first time Lebanon is represented in our Selection.

Although the number of applicants is increasing every year, I can still enjoy sleeping at night like a baby after viewing films all day long!

How does the selection process work? Do you have any ideas, topics, themes in your mind a priori  – or does it happen after seeing all the applicants when you can tell what to choose to the Cinefondation?

I have absolutely no a priori or favourite themes. Of course, I have my own sensitivity and interests but as a programmer I’m trying to make a selection with the widest possible range of forms, genres and themes. What mostly counts is the filmmaker’s ability to express a personal vision. The films fulfilling this point find themselves on the “preselection” shelf; then the other criteria I quoted before are applied to make up the final programme. Taking of course into account the geographic diversity, which for a student film festival is accompanied by another one: the variety of schools and the concern of introducing those that have never participated.

Needless to say, there are moments of grace when a film becomes essential on first viewing and is immediately invited.

This year’s very international jury is headed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne. How did you, organisers, choose the jury members?

As a general rule, the Cinéfondation and Short Film jury is headed by an internationally distinguished director. The task of finding one is not always easy for the Festival authorities: either the filmmakers in the middle of preparing a film and so they don’t have the time to come, or they have submitted one to the Festival de Cannes and consequently are likely to be selected… Some of them refuse the invitation because they simply don’t like the position of the “judge”.
Once the presidency is ensured, the organisers invite the other four members of the jury, mainly filmmakers and actors/actresses.

An ideal jury president or member is someone who is somewhat prepared for the mission and knows what is to be done; who has the appropriate degree of generosity, the ability to foresee what could emerge from those first works, and the wisdom to judge those young student filmmakers for what they are: young student filmmakers; who pronounces a personalised compliment to the awarded directors in the Buñuel Theatre, and maybe a word of consolation to those who have got nothing; who encourages them during the cocktail reception after the awards ceremony. And sometimes all of this happens, when we are very lucky, but you never can tell in advance!

I believe that Jean-Pierre Dardenne is an excellent choice, just as Luc Dardenne was in 2000, who carried out his mission with curiosity, intelligence and passion.

text: Anita Libor
illustration: Matheus Lopes Castro
photograpy by: Miklós Vargha

If you watch the highlights of the Cannes International Film Festival on television or read glossy magazine articles about it, you might think it is all about stars, red carpet, flashlights and expensive cars. Every new and inexperienced filmmaker wants to be part of this magic world of cinema. Stepping out from a limo, being applauded on the red carpet, answering questions confidently or cheekily at press conferences.

But that’s just the shop window. Cannes – with its lineups, market, and talent programmes – concentrates on each and every important part of the industry. Which means that if you understand Cannes, you understand the film business.

Visiting the Cannes IFF for the very first time is a bit of a shock for everyone. It’s not very easy to accept that you are just one of the thousands of visitors at this event. Young talents especially, whose films will be found at the Short Film Corner, or even the lucky (and very talented) ones, who have been selected to the Cinéfondation, expect something else. But Cannes means a great chance, not instant success.

It takes time for everybody to learn the tips, tricks and rules of the strange universe of this festival. We at Daazo.com have decided to make it a bit easier for you. We have created World of Shorts magazine’s Cannes Issue to help to tackle the first challenges – both as a festival-visiting cinéphile and as a young filmmaker.

If somebody doubts that there is a market for short films, we would just kindly ask them to take a look at the Short Film Corner in the basement of the Palais de Festival. There are around 2,000 films (and that’s already a selection) competing for dozens of buyers. Television stations, VOD platforms, cinemas and museums have also discovered that short film is a special tool for entertainment – and for self-expression too. People have never watched as many short films as they do today. And this is great news for any young filmmaker: you just need to use the opportunity.

In this issue, we are about to list these opportunities and ’good-to-knows’ from different points of view. You will find a great article by Anja Sosic and Jan Naszewski – who manage one of the quickest emerging boutique sales companies of Europe, New Europe Film Sales – summarising very precisely what the chances and possibilities for a short film are. The world of law is a most unfamiliar jungle for a young talent – but luckily, we have Michel Gyory, who clarifies the basic questions about authors’ rights. Also, Dan Saunders, the Director of Content Services at Samsung gives us a glimpse of the brave (and smart) new world of connected television, which offers a great new platform for short film providers (including Daazo.com). We have also gathered the most important festivals and training workhops for you where you can build your career and improve your skills. And just to make things even more fun, take part in our online Impossible Film Contest on Daazo.com, to win valuable prizes and training opportunities.

Besides these practical issues, we would like to foster the creativity of the young filmmakers. In the Mapping Your Mind section we present drawings by filmmakers from the Short Film Competition and the Cinéfondation – we asked them to “translate” their films into a very simple sketch instead of asking boring questions from them. Is there anything in common among the last years’ festival-winning films? You will get the answer from our critic. Also, we asked the representatives of Cinéfondation and the Short Film Corner about this year’s selection and news from the short film market.

So let’s Cannes together – please use this issue of World of Shorts magazine as your guide to the short film related programmes of the Cannes International Film Festival.

text: Dániel Deák
illustration: Matheus Lopes Castro

The next conference will be entirely dedicated to the digital world through case studies and best practices.

Experts will share their experience and know-how on, among other topics: next generation productions, creating transmedia universes, the new YouTube animation network, (r)evolutions of applications, digital pipeline management, commercialising content on Facebook, tablet contents, and much more.

Cartoon Digital will take place from 19-22 June in Viborg (Denmark), where the well-known school The Animation Workshop, our organisation partner, is based.

Registration HERE.

Deadline: 1 June 2012

Don’t let your dreams go to waste!

The BIJ was created by the Commissariat General aux Relations Internationales and Direction Generale de la Culture of the French speaking Community of Belgium to implement and manage youth exchange programmes.

Offers the opportunities in more than 70 countries for young people from Wallonia and Brussels. Within the BIJ, there is also the SALTO youth Initiatives Resource Centre.

Deadline: 1st of June 2012.

More information on http://www.lebij.be/

Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival is the largest festival of creative documentary films in Central and Eastern Europe. It draws attention to documentaries with innovative visual style and a deeper social reflection and confrontation.

Jihlava IDFF has a prominent place on the map of documentary film festivals, being also a member and co-founder of Doc Alliance, initiative of six key European documentary film festivals, the activities of which also include selective documentary and experimental video-on-demand portal www.dafilms.com.

Every year the festival program awards the best international documentaries (Opus Bonum), the most remarkable Central and Eastern European documentaries (Between the Seas), the best Czech documentaries (Czech Joy) and the best of the experimental documentary films (Fascinations). A different perspective, both in terms of cinematographic approach and thinking about the world is reflected in retrospective sections Translucent Beings.

The festival continues to explore what documentary means. A new section called Doc-Fi shows how permeable the boundaries between documentary and fiction film are and new Reality TV section introduces the actual shapes of the crossbred genres like docudrama, docusoap, reality show or mockumentary to the audience. In 2011 festival introduced Radiodocumentary, section of radio documents.

The festival is famous for its informal atmosphere, discussion character and full cinemas – in total more than 30.000 viewers visited last year’s film screenings. The festival brings along a wide accompanying programme such as author readings, theatre cabarets, concerts of alternative music or Darkroom, focusing on still images  on the big screen.

16th Jihlava IDFF 2012 will take place on October 23 – 28, in Jihlava (Czech Republic).

More information at www.dokument-festival.cz

DEADLINES FOR SUBMISSION
Films produced in 2011: April 30, 2012
Films produced in 2012: June 30, 2012
Rough cuts to be finished by October 2012: July 31, 2012

Contact for film submissions: Petr Pádivý, shipping@dokument-festival.cz

Like every year in May, kino5 is hosting the annual KinoDynamique (aka KinoKabaret).

Filmmakers from all over the world gather together in Vienna to produce short films in 3 sessions of 36 and 60 hours. After a “production meeting” in the so-called “Kinolab” (where you can also edit, socialize, take a nap or just get inspired by so many creative people) and pitching your ideas, you start searching for fellow film aficionados among the other participants who are willing to help you with the film (camera operators, actors, sound technicians etc.)

After the teams have spent intense hours of filming and editing, including sleep deprivation and other awesome experiences, the outcome is screened in a Viennese cinema. But no time to rest, because everything starts again for a new session on the following day.

If you are eager to be part of this unique film making craziness and share 8 days of creative delight with people from all around the world!

You can already register online: www.kino5.net

Support for Eastern European Countries:
Due to our cooperation with the Austrian Foreign Ministry, we will be able to offer some funding for travel costs and accommodation to our prospective guests from Eastern Europe. The amount will depend on how many people are selected and how many beds in youth hostels we have to rent. Please note that we can only partly cover your expense.

When: 16.05 – 25.05. 2012
Where: Brick5 – Fünfhauserstrasse 5, 1150 Vienna, Austria
www.brick-5.at/bilder.php

Application deadline: 01.05.2012

More information: www.kino5.net

Make a very short film about a European subject that inspires you. Create a “motion postcard” reflecting your subjective insight into Europe.

The subject is your choice: The film can portray a city, a character, focus on history, take place inside our outside Europe… In color or black & white. With or without music. With or without actors. Story-driven or descriptive….and should be related to Europe…

Eurochannel promotes new talents. Young film directors are welcome to join in this competition and have a chance to see their film broadcasted on Eurochannel in 27 countries !

Competition highlights
- The best postcards will be selected and broadcasted on Eurochannel.
- Eurochannel’s subscribers worldwide will vote for their favorite Postcard : 10 selected Postcards will be part of a special program on Eurochannel.

Prizes for the 10 finalists selected by Eurochannel’s viewers:
- 1 prize : 500 $
- 9 prizes : 200 $

All winning Filmmakers will be featured on Eurochannel’s website & monthly guide.

To learn more about the competition: read the guidelines

To participate:
1. Submit your entry form now!
2. Submit your short film

For more information or questions, contact: joseph@eurochannel.com

The Polytechnic Institute of Leiria is going to organize the first edition of the Erasmus Film Fest, by means of their schools of Art and Tourism (School of Arts and Design and School of Tourism and Maritime Technology) on the 9th of May, 2012, Europe’s Day in ESAD.CR – Caldas da Rainha, Portugal.

The EFF is about a student film festival, in which all students can participate from all the higher education institutions in Europe were the Erasmus program is established. The Erasmus Film Fest has the same international range as the Erasmus Program: the higher education institutes, from the 32 countries involved.

In 2012, Erasmus will commemorate 25 years of existence. The Erasmus Film Fest proposes to celebrate the occasion by promoting the program as an important component of the academic formation and also a way of sharing new experiences. It also seeks to promote tourism and cultural values of the 32 countries involved.

The Erasmus Film Fest is also a way to use communication and new technologies to support creativity amongst young people. Furthermore, this event has the purpose of promoting new talents in the audio-visual arts. The Erasmus Film Fest serves as a support platform for the cultural industry and the development of new Creative projects.

The selection and evaluation of the films is the responsibility of an jury consisting of numerous esteemed figures. Prizes will be given in the following categories: Campus life, Professional projects, People and Communities, Heritage, Traditions, Nature, Sharing Experiences and Sports.

Categories:
- Campus life
- Professional projects
- People and Communities
- Heritage
- Traditions
- Nature
- Sharing experiences
- Sports

The jury will attribute the following prizes:
- Erasmus GRAND PRIX, elected between the 8 Best Film Category: 600 euros
- Prize for Best Film in each singular category: 300 euros
Considering that the Grand Prix is selected among the winners of eight theme categories, the lucky winner will receive 900 euros
- Each prize will be accompanied by a Diploma signed by the president of the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria.
- If the jury considers, they may attribute one or more honourable mentions.

The eight category wining films will be automatically registered to be exhibited during 2012 in the 5th ART&TUR – International Tourism Film Festival, Barcelos, Portugal .

Contest film entries ends on April 27th, 2012.

More info: http://www.giturprojects.com/erasmus-film-fest

An interview with Hungarian film producer Ferenc Pusztai

Ferenc Pusztai is a producer and the founder of the Hungarian production company KMH Film. Pusztai and his team are trying to provide opportunities for young and upcoming artists, which means they primarily deal with shorts and first features. Ferenc Pusztai is a member of the Ateliers du Cinema Européen and the European Film Academy; he is a tutor at MIDPOINT Central European Script Centre. At the 41st Hungarian Film Week he was voted Best Producer of 2009. Daazo proudly presents Mr Pusztai as the member of the international jury for the Visegrad Shorts on Tour project.

What do short films mean to you as a producer?

When I meet new filmmakers, it is always very important for me to find out if we can work together, whether we think alike. Short films offer this: we can try each other out, which is a crucial thing to do  before embarking on a large-scale project together.  It is always important to get to know the previous works of new directors, but to me, their personality and the project they want to involve me in are much more relevant.
Naturally, one cannot always be certain and debutant filmmakers often mean a risk. There have been cases, where, based on the personality of the director and his previous works, we started a co-production but we failed.

How much say do you have in the co-production project?

I am not a director, nor am I a scriptwriter or art director – but I am no sponsor, either. Having worked with a great number of debutant filmmakers, it has happened many times that directors called me to say that they needed money for the shooting of their exam film that was to start the following day and would I please give them the money they needed. But that’s not how it works. I like to be involved in the development phase from the very beginning, from the moment the idea for a film hatches. I like to observe the work in progress, to see where the project is going. I can only think of the project as my own if I was there at the solving of the problems too.

When somebody contacts you with the plans for a feature film and sends his previous short films as a reference – what do you primarily focus on?

I watch these films with great interest, because I am primarily intrigued by the creator behind: I have to put the filmmaker’s person into context. Fortunately, over the years I have developed an ability to consider each film as a whole, irrelevant of how much money its production might have cost. Right now, the situation of exam films in Hungary is controversial, which is a great problem: it would be crucial for every filmmaker to embark on the project of his first feature film after having made shorts in decent circumstances and of decent standards.

Does making short films mean any financial advantages for you?

We have not made a profit with any of our short films yet – at most, we broke even. Luckily, we can invest our profit from other ventures in short films. But the situation is not all hopeless. There are film festivals where the short films in competition get paid for, and after a number of festival appearances, this amount can be a significant one to rely upon – of course, one needs a successful film for that!

In your opinion, what opportunities do debutant filmmakers have in the Visegrad region?

MIDPOINT and NISI MASA are two of the best organisations offering opportunities for filmmakers in the region. MIDPOINT is a two (one plus one) week workshop, specifically aimed at students and graduates living and working in Central Europe, that focuses mainly on scriptwriting. At these workshops, participants can develop their scripts with the help of script doctors. NISI MASA’s European Short Pitch project consists of a series of events too: first, the selected film ideas are developed at scriptwriting workshops, then, at the closing event, they are pitched in front of a panel of film professionals – that is also something that filmmakers don’t usually learn about at film school. Both programmes can be, in my opinion, very useful to emerging filmmakers.

Text: Anita Libor
Collage: Francisca Pageo