Around the available realities in eight days

And in eight programme blocks to boot, packed with short films, packed with potential. One typical example, for instance, addresses the theme of the recent ill-conceived military intervention but without showing a single image of it – not even a glimpse of the green-and-black pictures taken with night-vision equipment which now appear to have become standard fare. Meanwhile, other film-makers define the degree of their availability with similar proficiency – of course, these are as limited by theme as they are by region. In any case, it all becomes far more exciting and much more elegant when you accept that you cannot serve everything. Otherwise, that impressive piece documenting the nocturnal goings-on at a shopping centre would probably have been rendered as two-dimensional and thrilling as your average docu-soap. But it wasn’t. Quite the reverse, actually.

Yet another highlight is to be seen in a wonderful piece on the peculiar nature of life as lived in the Netherlands. Actually, it’s two pieces of work. Here – as with the others which I haven’t mentioned – the idea is to laugh at all the right points, and you’re away.

As the nonsensical heading to this thing has already no doubt suggested, we are in the enviable position of being able to offer a varied programme, although it is probably worth remembering that not everyone can – or indeed is going to – enjoy everything. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be a competition. And the whole idea of asking audiences to vote for their favourites would become a bit pointless.
One more thing. Anyone whose pulse still quickens at the memory of last year’s winner – »Field« – will find themselves this year once again confronted by a gallery of youths, few of whom you would feel compelled to add to your Christmas card list. On the other hand – to put it bluntly – that’s not altogether a bad thing. As long as there are still some of these idiots knocking about, there will always be something interesting to stare at – something we have tried to take into consideration while putting together the programme for the International Competition category. Amongst other things, of course.

P.S. It may transpire that we show a number of films from countries which have been designated as rogue nations and – if push comes to shove – we could even end up offering to accommodate their directors. So, to make the task of bombing the festival back to the black-and-white era easier, we have posted our exact co-ordinates on our homepage. Ignorance bad, publicity good.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 1

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 2

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 3

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 4

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 5

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 6

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 7

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 8