International Competition - General

This competition mirrors the contemporary production of short films and gathers a selection of short films of all genres. The competition was born in the early 90s due to the increasing number of submissions of fi lms with a budget to the previously solitary competition “NoBudget”. Accordingly, the International Competition consists mainly of films created with the aid of funds and extensive technical equipment. There are two prizes in this category: One is awarded by the audience, the other one by a jury.

Best of Internationale competition:
Monday, 9. June | 22 h | Zeise 1

Film selection: Thorkil Asmussen, Axel Behrens, Jan Feddersen, Birgit Glombitza, Lili Hartwig, Frank Scheuffele, Hanna Schneider

Sneak Peak International Competition from KurzFilmAgentur Hamburg on Vimeo.

International Competition 2014 in detail

The mountain of images is growing. And growing. Every year by the thousands. And in spite of all this mass, it happened again. This great amazement, this beautiful jumping excitement, exactly this one picture, this one sequence that gets reflected on your own retinas before you could even fathom the mere existence of this specific combination of light and world. Images from other
parts of the world, the backside of the moon, the underside of the projector. When your eyes go on a journey into unknown territory or banal everyday objects turn into shimmering alien elements under the camera’s gaze. Viewers’ delight.

The current vintage is dominated by three trends: Mountain views, men in woods and 4:3. This years films are downright soaked in perspired testosterone. The game in front of the iron sights corresponds to the longings of the warrior who is tired of civilisation. Killing makes you a man, humanity runs wild upon entering the mixed woodland. Another place: the high mountains. The panoramic view from the peaks as a sky blue or stone grey chiselled nearness to God or as a monstrous silence. At times as a flat hotbed of fiddling
mini cultures whose ways of moving and living make no sense at all under this wonderfully alien gaze. A personal screening highlight, even though you won’t be able to find this artistic zoology in our programme. (Too old, already too many appearances at festivals). What a pity. The third fashion of the format is this not completely square aspect ratio 4:3. This viewing window of classical 35mm films and old-timey television makes you feel like you are peeking through the key hole of history on the wide screens of the modern idiot’s lanterns. Fassbinder’s, Kluge’s and the Nouvelle Vague’s medium format. 4:3 as more than just a culturally pessimistic attitude, defiantly breasting the current
of the digital age, but as an artistic disturbance with black borders, as an aesthetic statement that neutralizes the accustomed ratios and their weighting. The world’s futility may be mirrored in the desperate attempts to conserve its images and disturbances. One way or another we’ll keep our eyes peeled and we’ll stick with it! Roll it!

 

 

Jury International Competition

The Jury Award of the International Competition is worth 3,000 euros.

Sandro Aguilar:
Sandro Aguilar is a filmmaker, producer, cutter and video artist from Portugal. He studied film in Lissabon and in 1998 he founded the production company ›O Som e a Fúria‹. He made his first feature film ›A Zona‹ (›Suprise) in 2008. In 2013 he was
invited to participate in the renowned Berlin artists’ programme of the Deutscher
Akademischer Austauschdienst.

Barbara Engelbach:
Barbara Engelbach studied history of the arts, German literature and cultural
studies in Freiburg and Hamburg. In 1997 she did a doctorate on performance art, photography and video art. After that she worked as a research assistant at the Westfälisches Landesmuseum Münster as a co-curator of the sculpture-Biennale in the Münsterland and as a director of the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen. She has been responsible for the collection of contemporary art with photography, video, film and new media at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne.

Joe Gerhardt:
Joe Gerhardt is part of the UK artist duo Semiconductor. With Ruth Jarman,
he explores the material nature of our world and how we experience it, questioning our place in the physical universe. Semiconductor’s unique approach has won them many awards and prestigious fellowships.

Anna-Karin Larsson:
Anna-Karin Larsson is the executive director of the Swedish Filmforum
foundation, the oldest existent organisation dedicated to film and video art in Sweden. There she is in charge of projects that intend to conserve early video art and experimental films while simultaneously selecting new works for the referential collection and for distribution. Her work in the fields of contemporary dance and performance led to her participation in several film, video and multimedia productions.

Paola Ruggeri:
Paola Ruggeri was born in Milan and she studied German and English language and literature as well as mass-media communication (Film and TV). She has been working as a market and programme analyst for the private Italian television group RTI-Mediaset in the department International Licenses and Fiction, where she is in charge of the purchase of short films since 2000. She teaches at Milan University and writes articles and essays on German and American TV.

Jury ARTE Shortfilm Award

Once again, a film in the Festival’s International Competition will receive the ARTE Shortfilm Award (6,000 euros) donated by the Franco-German TV station.
Ever since it was founded, ARTE has been committed to supporting European short film making through its acquisition and co-production policies, ARTE’s shorts programme ›KurzSchluss‹ provides a regular platform for young talented filmmakers.

Sabine Brantus-Lauffer:
Sabine Brantus-Lauffer is both a German and a French citizen, and she has been working at ARTE in the communication, production and editorial departments for 15 years. Before that she had gathered experiences in the media industry as a freelance journalist. She has been orchestrating the short films and the short film programme ›KurzSchluss‹ as an editor for three years.

Barbara Häbe:

Barbara Häbe’s TV career kicked off in 1989 at LA SEPT in Paris, the French cultural channel that became a founding member of the Franco-German cultural channel ARTE alongside ARD and ZDF. After working for the press office and in programming, she took charge of compiling the short film archive and its purchases and co-productions for ARTE in Strasbourg in 1992. In 1995 she became an editor for feature films and international co-productions. She has been the deputy manager of ARTE’s editorial office for feature and TV films in Strasbourg.