24th European Film Awards
EFA Short Film 2011 The Nominations
Welcome by Yves Marmion ........................................................
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BERIK .......................................................................................... SMÅ BARN, STORA ORD (Little Children, Big Words) ............... HÄNDELSE VID BANK (Incident by a Bank) ............................... DERBY ......................................................................................... JESSI ............................................................................................ I LUPI (The Wolves) .................................................................... ÅTERFÖDELSEN (The Unliving) .................................................. APELE TAC (Silent River) ............................................................ PAPARAZZI ................................................................................. LA GRAN CARRERA (The Great Race) ....................................... DIMANCHES (Sundays) ............................................................... TSE (Out) .................................................................................... Opowieści z chłodni (Frozen Stories) ................................... HYPERCRISIS .............................................................................. THE WHOLLY FAMILY ..................................................................
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The EFA Short Film Initiative ..................................................... The SHORT MATTERS! Tour .......................................................
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European Film Academy e.V. Kurfürstendamm 225 10719 Berlin GERMANY tel. +49 30 887 167-0 fax +49 30 887 167-77
EFA Productions gGmbH Kurfürstendamm 225 10719 Berlin GERMANY tel. +49 30 887 167-0 fax +49 30 887 167-77
www.europeanfilmacademy.org
www.efa-productions.com
Director: Marion Döring Amtsgericht Charlottenburg 14236 Nz
Managing Directors: Marion Döring, Jürgen Biesinger Amtsgericht Charlottenburg HRB 99369 www.europeanfilmawards.eu www.facebook/europeanfilmawards
Imprint: EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY e.V., Pascal Edelmann (editor) ★ graphic design: Andres Castoldi ★ Unless otherwise indicated, all pictures appear courtesy of the respective production/distribution companies.
Yves Marmion Chairman, European Film Academy Once again this year’s short film nominations vividly illustrate that short film knows no boundaries: These films take us to Kazakhstan, to a former recreation home in Armenia and a horserace in the Basque country. They explore the lives of children and teenagers, they look at crime, politics and Polish paparazzi, they deal with zombie hunters, the challenge of working in a supermarket, a failed bank robbery and the significance of your favourite football team. The nominations are a fantastic showroom for the creative diversity of European cinema and it is with great pleasure that we present this year’s nominees: among them are quite a few newcomers but also known friends of the European Film Academy like Ruben Östlund who was already nominated in 2006 and who is in this year’s EFA Selection with his feature PLAY, Paul Negoescu who was already nominated in 2009, Valéry Rosier who was also nominated in 2009, and Terry Gilliam who, as one of the founders of Monty Python, received the European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. The EFA Short Film Initiative has long been an established item on the annual international short film agenda. It is organised in co-operation with fifteen partner festivals and we would like to use this opportunity to welcome the Encounters International Film Festival Bristol as the latest addition to the EFA short film cycle. At each of these festivals an independent international jury presents one of the European short films in competition with a nomination for the European Film Academy Short Film Award. During the past ten years, the interest in the short film initiative and this collection of short films has constantly been increasing. The nominated films go through a series of more than 40 screenings across the world. From Sofia to Salvador de Bahía, from Uppsala to Martha’s Vineyard, we are proud to draw world-wide attention to these short films and their creators. And I invite you to leaf through this booklet and meet the nominees — creative people from all over Europe. This great short film initiative wouldn’t be possible without our allies in the world of short films and I wish to thank all our partner festivals for yet another fantastic year full of surprises and discoveries. The members of the European Film Academy receive all the nominated short films on DVD and select the overall winner. And we will find out who the winner is at the 24th European Film Awards Ceremony in Berlin on 3 December. 1
EFA Short Film Nominee Ghent 2011
Denmark, 16 min., fiction
BERIK WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Daniel Joseph Borgman PRODUCED BY: Katja Adomeit DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Niels Buchholzer EDITOR: Dan Loghin SOUND DESIGN: Frank Mølgaard Knudsen ORIGINAL SCORE: Jonas Colstrup CAST: Berik Sysdikow, Adil Mukataev, Abdi Iskakov & Aziz Kaliev
Contact: Zentropa Entertainments 5 Katja Adomeit Filmbyen 22 2650 Hvidovre DENMARK tel. +45 31 41 86 81 Katja.adomeit@gmail.com
A short drama about friendship and understanding, set in Semey, Kazakhstan. Berik, 33, blind and deformed due to radiation poisoning, spends his days at home alone until Adil, 11, the smallest and least popular of the kids in the apartment block, turns up on Berik’s doorstep looking for a football.
Daniel Joseph Borgman Born in 1981 in Dunedin, New Zealand. After studying Film Science at Otago University, he moved to Copenhagen and worked as a VFX artist and colourist. His first short THE MAN & THE ALBATROSS (2008) premiered in the Leopards of Tomorrow competition at the Locarno FF. His second short film LARS AND PETER (2009) competed in Cannes’ official short film selection and was nominated for a Danish “Robert”. BERIK (2010) won the Grand Prix in Cannes’ Semaine de la Critique. THE WEIGHT OF ELEPHANTS, his debut feature film project, is developed at the Cannes Cinéfondation’s The Residence programme.
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How long did it take to make your short? Was it difficult to get financing? It took about six months to make the film. We just had a half page outline of a treatment for the film, and then I and a small crew flew to Kazakhstan to make the film in a very informal manner, the whole thing was meant to be a process of discovery.
The financing of the film was quite straightforward. The budget was very small and was funded largely by Zentropa. We received much appreciated support from the Danish Film Workshop, and the film was made as part of an alternative film collective called Super 16 that receives support from many organisations including Nordisk Film. Which thoughts come to mind concerning a “European cinema community”? Is there one? I guess European cinema is very diverse and very independent and I think that’s great! I think an even closer film community in Europe would be a really great thing. If you owned a theatre for one night, which films would you screen? How long can the theatre be open for??? THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE by Víctor Erice, BREAKING THE WAVES by Lars von Trier, A SWEDISH LOVE STORY by Roy Andersson, ETRE ET AVOIR by Nicolas Philibert, BALLAST by Lance Hammer, and all of the Terrence Malick films! What is your next project? My next project is my debut feature film. Called THE WEIGHT OF ELEPHANTS, it is a coming-ofage drama about a boy who is afraid of almost everything.
EFA Short Film Nominee Valladolid 2011
Sweden, 12 min., fiction
SMÅ BARN, STORA ORD LITTLE CHILDREN, BIG WORDS WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Lisa James Larsson PRODUCED BY: Andreas Emanuelsson DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Frida Wendel EDITOR: Roberth Nordh SOUND: Kim Creutzer & Sarah Jansson Patient CAST: Cecilia Milocco, Axel Andersson & Polly Kisch
Contact: Bob Film Sweden Andreas Emmanuelsson Hökensgata 10 11464 Stockholm SWEDEN tel. +46 8 556 930 90 andreas.emanuelsson@bobfilm.se
When it’s Alex’s turn to tell his 7-year-old classmates what he wants to be when he grows up an uncomfortable discussion begins about the meaning of an unknown but loaded word. The teacher’s explanation reveals her own story – a story of victim and offender.
Lisa James Larsson Lisa grew up in central London. She studied film at Brunel University (1997-2000) before working as an editor and camera operator for 5 years. She started writing and directing in 2004 and moved to Stockholm to study film directing in 2005. In 2009 she completed a Master’s in screenwriting. Her graduation film PUSSYFOOTING premiered at Vail FF in 2009. LITTLE CHILDREN, BIG WORDS has won prizes at 16 film festivals world-wide and was shortlisted for an Oscar nomination in 2011. She is now making her feature film debut EGO, produced by Filmlance International and coproduced by SFI, Film I Väst, and Nordisk Film. How long did it take to make your short? Was it difficult to get financing? It was a three-day shoot, following about three weeks of pre-production. The casting was most time-consuming as we were looking for child actors, that took a few weeks. The film was almost entirely financed by the Swedish Film Institute, with generous support from Bob Film Sweden.
Which thoughts come to mind concerning a “European cinema community”? I think the Berlinale Talent Campus is a wonderful example of this. I attended the campus in 2008 and still receive updates from the festival and alumni. I very much intend to return in the upcoming years, it was a wonderful opportunity to meet and hear from filmmakers from all over the world. If you owned a theatre for one night, which films would you screen? BRIEF ENCOUNTER by David Lean, SECRETS AND LIES by Mike Leigh, SECRETARY by Steven Shainberg, ANNIE HALL by Woody Allen, BILLY ELLIOT by Stephen Daldry, EYES WIDE SHUT by Stanley Kubrick, THE WRESTLER by Darren Aronofsky, BEFORE SUNSET by Richard Linklater, and WHEN HARRY MET SALLY by Rob Reiner. I like so many different films, this list could be very long ... What is your next project? My first feature EGO will be released in Sweden in September 2012, and my latest short LIFE LUST & LONGING, produced by Bob Film Sweden, will premier at the Gothenburg IFF in January 2012. 3
EFA Short Film Nominee Cork 2011
HÄNDELSE VID BANK INCIDENT BY A BANK
Sweden, 12 min., fiction
WRITTEN, DIRECTED & EDITED BY: Ruben Östlund PRODUCED BY: Marie Kjellson & Erik Hemmendorff DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Marius Dybwad Brandrud ART DIRECTION: Pia Aleborg SOUND: Jan Alvermark MIX: Owe Svensson & Jan Alvermark / Studio 24 CAST: Henrik Vikman, Lars Melin, Bahador Foladi, Ramtin Parvaneh, Leif Edlund Johansson & Rasmus Lindgren
Contact: Marie Kjellson tel. +46 737 25 53 65 marie@plattformproduktion.se Erik Hemmendorff tel. +46 701 71 19 23 erik@plattformproduktion.se
A detailed and humorous real-time account of a failed bank robbery, an observation of how people react to the unexpected. Shot in a single take and with over 96 people meticulously choreographed, the film recreates an actual event that took place in 2006.
Ruben Östlund Ruben was born in 1974 on the small island of Styrsö on the Swedish west coast. In 2004, he made his feature debut with the controversial fiction film THE GUITAR MONGOLOID, which won the FIPRESCI Award at the Moscow IFF 2005. In 2006, he directed the short film AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SCENE NUMBER: 6882, which won the Prix UIP Edinburgh and was nominated for the European Film Awards as well as the Swedish Guldbagge for best short. His second feature INVOLUNTARY premiered in Cannes‘ Official Selection 2008. Exploring five different perspectives on the power of the group over the individual, the film was hailed as one of the most original films in the Un Certain Regard section. In 2011, Ruben’s third feature PLAY premiered in Cannes Director’s Fortnight, where it won the Prix Coup de Coeur.
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How long did it take to make your short? Was it difficult to get financing? It took around six months. Since the scenery is quite complex I spent a long time pointing out the scenery on a blueprint for every actor and extra. With some of the actors we spent two
days of rehearsal on set. Even though it feels like the film is a single take shot, I spent three months in the editing. I have worked with a RED 4K-camera and all the zooms and pans are made in the editing. I also had the possibility to combine different takes. It’s quite complicated to explain, so you better watch the film! The financing was not too difficult as we collaborated with a theatre in Gothenburg. We could also use development money from my third feature PLAY, as we considered INCIDENT BY A BANK to be a pre-study for PLAY. Which thoughts come to mind concerning a “European cinema community”? Plattform Produktion that I run with Erik Hemmendorff and Marie Kjellson are collaborating with Coproduction Office in Paris and Berlin and Third Films in the UK. They have the same dandy, elitist attitude as we have! If you owned a theatre for one night, which films would you screen? The clip BATTLE AT KRUGER, over and over again. Look for it on YouTube! What is your next project? My next project is a feature called TOURIST! It’s going to be a stranglehold on the Nordic folk soul. I’m planning to make the most spectacular avalanche scene of film history, ever!
EFA Short Film Nominee Bristol 2011
Romania, 15 min., fiction
DERBY WRITTEN, DIRECTED & PRODUCED BY: Paul Negoescu DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Andrei Butica EDITOR: Alexandru Radu SOUND: Dan-Stefan Rucareanu, Filip Muresan ORIGINAL SCORE: Roxana Mocanu CAST: Bogdan Voda, Maria Mitu, Nicolas Teodorescu & Clara Voda
Contact: Paul Negoescu tel. +40 723 382 312 paul.ego@gmail.com
Mircea has a 15-year-old daughter whose boyfriend is invited to dine with the family. He arrives earlier and they go to her bedroom. While watching TV, Mircea can hear his daughter moaning from her room. The dinner starts and Mircea finds out that the boyfriend supports a different football team.
Paul Negoescu Born in 1984 in Bucharest, Paul graduated in film directing from the national film school (UNATC). He directed several shorts selected and awarded in many international film festivals (three times at the Berlinale, Karlovy Vary, Rotterdam, London, Slamdance). It’s his second nomination for the European Film Awards after his film RENOVATION was nominated in 2009. He is also the artistic director of the Timishort Film Festival. How long did it take to make your short? The production took two nights and a half since it was all shot at the same location.
Was it difficult to get financing? The financing was easy: I sold my car a couple of weeks before the shooting. Which thoughts come to mind concerning a “European cinema community”? Many different cultures and countries that some years ago used to fight against each other, now they fund each other to make films in different languages. If you owned a theatre for one night, which films would you screen? I would probably screen experimental films, YouTube videos or films made by my friends — mainly films that are not usually screened in theatres, I would like to give them a chance to be screened in front of my friends. What is your next project? I am currently preparing a feature film, a fiction short and an experimental film.
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EFA Short Film Nominee Angers 2011
Germany, 31 min., fiction
JESSI WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Mariejosephin Schneider PRODUCED BY: Hartmut Bitomsky, Bodo Knapheide & Maximilian Müllner DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Jenny Lou Ziegel EDITOR: Inge Schneider SOUND: Benny Dunker ORIGINAL SCORE: Robert Rabenalt, Marian Mentrup CAST: Luzie Ahrens, Sophie Rogall, Jasmin Rischar & Michaela Hinnenthal
Contact: mariejosephin@gmail.com
11-year-old Jessi lives with a foster family, her mother is in prison. Her longing for identity takes her back to the village she grew up in. Here she discovers that her search will have to continue beyond the confines of her old life.
Mariejosephin Schneider Mariejosephin assisted in art production and production, followed by assistant directorships. She directed numerous shorts during the course of her studies at the dffb, whereby LOVE HURTS, her spot for a social campaign (a collaboration with Döndü Kilic), ran successfully at international festivals. She is now preparing her graduation film.
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How long did it take to make your short? Was it difficult to get financing? I started writing in the end of 2007. So, with financing it took almost two years to realize the film. My school budget wasn’t enough, since we planned quite a lot of shooting days because of the young girl. Finally the project was cofinanced by a broadcaster (Rundfunk BerlinBrandenburg).
Which thoughts come to mind concerning a “European cinema community”? A creative network – the possibility of sharing – an exchange of thoughts and experiences – learning – and great expectations! If you owned a theatre for one night, which films would you screen? All the films of my friends that I missed so far. What is your next project? My graduation film will be a long feature film about a woman living in her car next to the airport in Berlin.
EFA Short Film Nominee Rotterdam 2011
I LUPI THE WOLVES
WRITTEN, DIRECTED, FILMED, EDITED & PRODUCED BY: Alberto De Michele
Italy/the Netherlands, 17 min., documentary
Contact: albertodemichele@gmail.com
I LUPI (The Wolves) are a group of 40 to 70-year-old thieves from the north of Italy. The only time they steal is when there’s a dense fog that makes everything invisible, including them. They rob houses, banks, jewellers, trucks – anything they can profit from. The video I LUPI was made in collaboration with the Wolves themselves and the artist’s father.
Alberto De Michele Alberto de Michele’s work straddles the line between (pulp) fiction and (plain) fact. It involves investigating romanticized notions of the culture of the outlaw by examining the world in which he himself grew up – a world that his father has never been able to leave behind. De Michele has participated in several international group exhibitions at renowned cultural centres such as the Reina Sofia National Museum Madrid (2010), De Appel Amsterdam (2008), Centraal Museum (2009), and Apexart, New York (2008). He studied in the audio-visual department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam (1997-2001). Currently he is a resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam.
How long did it take to make your short? Two years during the fog season which starts in October and ends in February. Was it difficult to get financing? The video was made with the generous support of the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture. Which thoughts come to mind concerning a “European cinema community”? An environment that will allow a crosspollination of ideas and values between artists and filmmakers from different cultural backgrounds. If you owned a theatre for one night, which films would you screen? LE SAMOURAI, LE CIRCLE ROUGE and UN FLIC by Jean-Pierre Melville. What is your next project? A video installation about an illegal horse race taking place in the south of Italy.
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EFA Short Film Nominee Berlin 2011
ÅTERFÖDELSEN THE UNLIVING
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Hugo Lilja PRODUCED BY: Bonnie Skoog Feeney DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Benjam Orre EDITOR: Rickard Krantz SOUND: Johanna Printz ORIGINAL SCORE: Sebastian Lakatos CAST: Emelie Jonsson, Jonatan Rodriguez, Anneli Martini, Anna Uddenberg, Albin Grenholm, Peter Järn, Jacob Molin, Fredrik Wagner & Justus Petterson
Sweden, 28 min., fiction
Contact: liljahugo@gmail.com bonnie.skoog.feeney@filmlance.se
Thirty years after a zombie outbreak, people have started taming and using the zombies as cheap workforce. A young couple, Katrine and Mark, struggle with the tedious everyday life of dirty zombie catching, bloody lobotomy experiments and a relationship on the verge of falling apart.
Hugo Lilja He studied Cognitive Science at Umeå University and graduated from the University College of Film in Stockholm where he studied Film Directing. Among his former short films are HOME SERVICE (2008), ALTONA (2009), the interactive series DOLLPLAY (2009), and A DAY IN THE COUNTRY (2010, co-directed with Pella Kågerman). How long did it take to make your short? Was it difficult to get financing? 8
In total nine months. The idea was old, but we wrote the script in five months, and at the same time we did pre-production. The shooting took two weeks and then the editing and postproduction took three months. As it was my graduation film, we got the financing from our school, Swedish television and a rental firm. Which thoughts come to mind concerning a “European cinema community”? YES! PLEASE! If you owned a theatre for one night, which films would you screen? Films I wouldn’t be able to see anywhere else. What is your next project? A feature film based on THE UNLIVING (which will be a European co-production) and another one about a Swedish football firm, called YOUNG BOYS.
EFA Short Film Nominee Tampere 2011
APELE TAC SILENT RIVER
Germany/Romania, 30 min., fiction
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Anca Miruna Lăzărescu PRODUCED BY: David Lindner Leporda, Daniel Schmidt & Catalin Mitulescu DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Christian Stangassinger PRODUCTION DESIGN: Cinzia Fossati & Dragos Epure EDITOR: Dan Olteanu RECORDING SUPERVISORS: Thorsten Bolzé, Alexandru Dragomir CAST: Toma Cuzin, Andi Vasluianu, Patricia Moga, Marius Ursu, Doru Oniga, Catalin Oniga & Branko Tomovic
Contact: Filmallee David Lindner Filmproduktion Bavariafilmplatz 7 82031 Grünwald GERMANY tel. +49 89 64 98 11 16 fax +49 89 64 98 13 16 info@filmallee.com
Romania, 1986: Gregor and Vali want to get away. Both need each other, yet there is mutual distrust. One night Gregor finds his doubts confirmed. In the end only hope is left.
Anca Miruna Lăzărescu Born in 1979 in Romania, Anca M. Lăzărescu emigrated with her family to Germany in 1990. During her studies at the film school in Munich, she directed documentaries and short films which attracted international interest as they have won awards and were sold to many territories. THE SECRET OF DEVA about two young Romanian gymnasts and ONE DAY TODAY WILL BE ONCE (2009) about a music performance which will last for 639 years are two of these projects. SILENT RIVER is her graduation film, until now it has been invited to 41 international festivals. Writing these lines, she received a congratulation e-mail to the film’s 13th award. She thinks that is a good sign.
How long did it take to make your short? Was it difficult to get financing? Nearly two years from the very first idea until the Berlinale premiere. Financing 30 minutes set in Romania’s communistic 80s isn’t the easiest undertaking and the budget was very tight. Which thoughts come to mind concerning a “European cinema community”? Facebook, YouTube, Skype and lots of latte macchiatos. If you owned a theatre for one night, which films would you screen? The work-in-progress of my friends. I learn the most talking about unfinished dreams. What is your next project? My feature-length debut ROMANIAN SPRING: set in 1968, it tells my father’s story of being 18 and being forced to make a life-changing decision within 48 hours.
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EFA Short Film Nominee Cracow 2011
Poland, 33 min., documentary
PAPARAZZI WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Piotr Bernaś PRODUCED BY: Adam Ślesicki PRODUCTION MANAGER: Dominika Płazińska DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Łukasz Żal & Piotr Bernaś EDITORS: Marek Skrzecz & Piotr Bernaś SOUND: Dariusz Wancerz
Contact: Adam Ślesicki WAJDA SCHOOL ul. Chełmska 21 00-724 Warszawa POLAND tel. +48 22 851 10 56 mob. +48 608 60 3265 aslesicki@wajdaschool.pl
The film presents a behind-the-scenes look at a much derided profession. PAPARAZZI looks at some of the most significant media incidents in Poland in 2010 from the point of view of the paparazzi – from the hunt for Roman Polanski to the Smoleńsk plane crash. However, in the foreground we see the dramatic story of a man who makes controversial choices on a daily basis, and who consequently pays a heavy emotional, personal and ethical price. The main protagonist appears to be as ruthless towards himself as towards the world in which he hunts. symbolic money for the movie since the film was financed from the little school budget. Piotr Bernaś Born in 1973, he is a director, cinematographer, photographer and documentary filmmaker with a degree in English Studies. For five years he worked as a war photographer for the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza. He is a laureate of numerous press photo competitions for picture stories from Poland, Iraq, Iran, Sri Lanka, Georgia, and the UK. He produces radio dramas, film studies, and documentaries. In 2010 he graduated from the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing.
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How long did it take to make your short? Was it difficult to get financing? There were around 25 shooting days spread over a period of one year. It took additional five months for the editing and around one month for post-production. There was purely
Which thoughts come to mind concerning a “European cinema community”? Distinct approach to movie making compared to other parts of the world. Productions aimed mostly at intellectual values and innovations. Integral and comprehensible movie language for Europeans. If you owned a theatre for one night, which films would you screen? 12 ANGRY MEN by Sidney Lumet, THREE COLOURS: BLUE by Krzysztof Kieślowski, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY by Stanley Kubrick, and ABENDLAND by Nikolaus Geyrhalter. What is your next project? I’m currently researching MMA fighters. I’m very much concerned with the drive to selfdestruction so present in today‘s world but also with the problem of gradual de-humanization of our culture and converting a modern human being into a product.
EFA Short Film Nominee Grimstad 2011
LA GRAN CARRERA THE GREAT RACE
DIRECTED & EDITED BY: Kote Camacho WRITTEN BY: Kote Camacho, based on an original idea by Asier Altuna PRODUCED BY: Marian Fernández Pascal DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY, SOUND & ANIMATION: Kote Camacho ART DIRECTION: Ander Lendinez CAST: Eriz Alberdi, Iñaki Urrutia, Charly Urbina, Puri Urretabizkaia, Ana Elordi, Joseba Apaolaza, Aitor Mendizabal, Eider Pikabea
Spain, 7 min., fiction
Contact: kotecamacho@hotmail.com
1914: a horrible crime is suddenly committed in the Lasarte racetrack. How it happened is a mystery. Only one thing is for sure: the best horses in the world are registered, and heavy betters have gathered for a race with a never-before-seen prize for the winning horse: the half-million Grand Prize. fair financing from the Basque Country Cultural Department. Kote Camacho Born in Oiartzun, 1980. A graduate in Fine Arts at the University of the Basque Country, Kote Camacho has been a comic artist and scriptwriter for Napartheid. He has lived in Bilbao, Madrid and London. He has been a storyboard artist (CAÓTICA ANA by Julio Medem; 28 WEEKS LATER by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo), traditional and 3D animator and he has also worked in post-production. He currently lives back in the town where he was born, where he created his first short film for the silver screen, LA GRAN CARRERA. How long did it take to make your short? Was it difficult to get financing? It took 15 months to the get the film completely finished. Research for different footage mixed with the experimentation of animation turned it into hard work – worth it, looking at the resulting image. The production company got
Which thoughts come to mind concerning a “European cinema community”? We have theatres, we work to have television and laptops, but we don’t seem to work that hard for what is going to fill all these screens. Europe is rich in stories that need to be told, for its eyes and ears. If you owned a theatre for one night, which films would you screen? TRAINSPOTTING by Danny Boyle, FESTEN by Thomas Vinterberg, EL DÍA DE BESTIA by Álex de la Iglesia, FIGHT CLUB by David Fincher, NO MAN’S LAND by Danis Tanovic, WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION by Billy Wilder, AMERICAN BEAUTY by Sam Mendes, STRAW DOGS by Rod Lurie, … What is your next project? I’m working on the script for a black comedy. Based on my personal experience, it is the story of certain characters who live in an occupied house, in a squad, dreaming to fix the 11 world surrounding them.
EFA Short Film Nominee Vila do Conde 2011
DIMANCHES SUNDAYS
Belgium, 16 min., fiction
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Valéry Rosier PRODUCED BY: Nicolas Guiot, Valéry Rosier & Fred De Loof DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Olivier Boonjing EDITOR: Nicolas Rumpl SOUND: Arnaud Calvar CAST: Germaine Dervaux, Jonathan Masure, Fernande Delcroix, Odette Beaudart, Monique Parent, Andrée Vanopdenbosch, André Delcroix, Jean-Louis Lejeune, Muriel Deghelt, André Caron, José Delroisse, Denise Lhotte, André Lefèbvre & Grégory Masquelier-Huys
Contact: Ultime razzia productions 81 rue de Moncheret 6280 Acoz BELGIUM Valéry Rosier tel. + 32 475 27 30 30 valery.rosier@gmail.com Nicolas Guiot tel. +32 477 30 59 39 urzzia@gmail.com
Sundays or how mankind faces the passage of time. That free time we are trying to fill at all costs. That same time we look at passing by, with laughter or boredom.
Valéry Rosier After studying Management Engineering, Valéry Rosier started film school in Belgium (IAD). His award-winning film YETI got selected for numerous festivals. On the side, he worked as an assistant director on some feature films. In 2008, he shot GOOD NIGHT, a short film that won more than ten prizes all over the world and got nominated for the European Film Awards 2009. In 2011, he finished SUNDAYS and shot the documentary SILENCE RADIO in the north of France. How long did it take to make your short? Was it difficult to get financing? 12
It took us around one and a half years to finish the film. It was produced with the financial support of the French Community of Belgium and the Province of Hainaut, but it’s a very low budget. Which thoughts come to mind concerning a “European cinema community”? I admire and encourage European countries that support their filmmakers and that are not afraid to help to finance singular films. As we say in Belgium, “unity creates strength”. If you owned a theatre for one night, which films would you screen? THE BICYCLE THIEVES by Vittorio De Sica, STILL WALKING by Hirokazu Koreeda, NOTHING PERSONAL by Urszula Antoniak, and DOG DAYS by Ulrich Seidl. What is your next project? I am writing a feature film, questioning the father-son relation.
EFA Short Film Nominee Sarajevo 2011
TSE OUT
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Roee Rosen PRODUCED BY: Sharon Benraf & Roee Rosen DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Avner Shahaf EDITOR: Max Lomberg SOUND: Binya Reches CAST: Ela Shapira, Yoana Gonen, Igor Krutogolov & Boris Martzinovsky
Israel, 35 min., fiction
Contact: Roee Rosen POB 326 Bnai Zion 60910 ISRAEL tel. +972 54 222 6853 agrosen@netvision.net.il
A BDSM session turns into a political exorcism when the submissive responds to the blows by spewing out quotes of Israel’s minister of foreign affairs, Avigdor Lieberman. The film, concentrating on the theme of possession, is a hybrid of a fictional scene harking to horror movies.
Roee Rosen Roee Rosen (born in 1963) is an IsraeliAmerican artist, filmmaker and writer. He heads the Advanced Visual Arts Programme at Ha’Midrasha Art College in Israel. Rosen’s installation “Live and Die as Eva Braun” (19951997) stirred a political scandal when first exhibited at the Israel Museum. Rosen is also the author of several books. “Justine Frank, Sweet Sweat” was listed as one of the best books of 2009 by Artforum. In 2010 he created two films, HILARIOUS and OUT, which won the Orizzonti award for best medium-length film at the Venice IFF. A major solo exhibition, “The Dynamic Dead Roee Rosen”, was held in 2011 at the CCA in Warsaw. How long did it take to make your short? Was it difficult to get financing? The film had to be done very quickly: Sergio Fant, a programmer for Venice, introduced himself as an enthusiast of my films, and, since they only show premieres, asked if there is anything new I can submit in six weeks. I thus had the idea, but almost no time and no budget. A gallery owner who likes my work offered EUR 2,000 – and that was the seed money that allowed us to rent equipment for
one day and gear everything towards that day, with many volunteers offering help. We then had to edit the rough cut in a week, working 40-hour-long shifts. Which thoughts come to mind concerning a “European cinema community”? My first thought was how slippery the notion of European identity is if I, who reside in the Middle East, can be considered European. But then again, the film is very much about those shifts of national and geographical identities, having at its centre a right-wing politician born and raised in Moldova, and the problematics of such notions of belonging, community and representation. If you owned a theatre for one night, which films would you screen? I may go for WR: MYSTERIES OF THE ORGANISM by Dušan Makavejev (to which OUT pays a perverted homage), followed perhaps by Buster Keaton’s SHERLOCK JR. I would then ask someone else to screen a film I haven’t seen yet. What is your next project? I work in different disciplines and am now preparing a text and image book in which Vladimir Putin is murdered by inanimate objects. When this is done, the genre of romantic comedies interests me as something through which to create something disturbing, 13 seductive and challenging.
EFA Short Film Nominee Locarno 2011
Poland, 26 min., fiction
Opowieści z chłodni FROZEN STORIES
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Grzegorz Jaroszuk DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Marcin Władyniak EDITOR: Barbara Fronc ORIGINAL SCORE: Michał Marecki ART DIRECTION: Magda Samborska CAST: Justyna Wasilewska, Piotr Żurawski, Andrzej Walden & Piotr Trojan
Contact: Grzegorz Jaroszuk Jana Rosoła 9 m 10 02-796 Warszawa POLAND tel. +48 695 734 983 Grze.jar@wp.pl
The worst employees of a supermarket have to find a goal in their life. They have two days to make it.
Grzegorz Jaroszuk Born in 1983 in Warsaw, he finished his studies at the Directing Department of the Polish National School in Łódź in January 2011. He lives and works in Warsaw. How long did it take to make your short? Was it difficult to get financing? It took me one year to write and shoot my short film. I got financing from the Polish National Film School and from a competition for the best screenplay for students’ films.
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Which thoughts come to mind concerning a “European cinema community”?
I think about a cinema in Warsaw called Iluzjon where I watched for the first time films by Bergman, Fellini, and Tarkovsky. I think I found something there I can call “European cinema community”. I found something in common in such different films, a special way of thinking and making films. If you owned a theatre for one night, which films would you screen? I would screen AMARCORD by Federico Fellini, ZELIG by Woody Allen and CUL-DE-SAC by Roman Polanski because I love these films. What is your next project? My next project is a feature film about three people who want to commit suicide. This will be a tragic comedy, and I’m currently working on the screenplay. The film will be produced by Zentropa International Poland.
EFA Short Film Nominee Venice 2011
Austria, 17 min., experimental
HYPERCRISIS WRITTEN, DIRECTED, EDITED & PRODUCED BY: Josef Dabernig DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Christian Giesser SOUND: Elisabeth Hildebrandt & Michael Palm Music: Giuseppe Verdi, CAN CAST: Harutyun Alpetyan, Arusiak/Eduard/Ruben & Shushan Arevshatyan, Wolfgang Dabernig, Angela Dolidze, Alfons Egger, Goschka Gawlik, Isabella Hollauf, Zaruhi Hovhannisyan, Christian Kravagna, Daniel/ Konstantin & Murtaz Shvelidze, Ingeburg Wurzer & Otto Zitko
Contact: sixpackfilm Gerald Weber Neubaugasse 45/13 P.O. Box 197 1071 Wien AUSTRIA tel. +43 1 526 09 900 fax +43 1 526 09 92 gerald@sixpackfilm.com www.sixpackfilm.com
The former recreation home for Soviet cinematographers in the south Caucasus has been re-purposed to accommodate writers. But that does not seem to work very well either. At present, only Boris Martow from Moscow, a talent from the promising times of the perestroika, is on the guest list. Amidst the faded glory of the institution for privileged artists, the poet tries to overcome his continuing creative crisis. with additional support of the Department of Culture of the City of Vienna and the gallery Andreas Huber. Josef Dabernig Born in 1956 in Kötschach-Mauthen, Austria, Josef Dabernig is a visual artist and graduated in Sculpture in 1981. He has made films since 1994 and is based in Vienna. How long did it take to make your short? I was motivated to realise HYPERCRISIS when, in early 2010, the art critic Georg Schöllhammer showed me images of the former resort for Soviet cinematographers in Dilijan (Armenia). We were in a hurry to do the shooting as the site had been bought from the Union of Cinematographers by the State Revenue Committee of Armenia, and the consequential architectural renovations were due to begin on New Year’s 2011. Was it difficult to get financing? The funding was difficult. A TV channel I had successfully collaborated with on previous occasions decided they would not participate in the project. The main sponsor turned out to be Innovative Film Austria, who stepped in with enthusiasm to generously ‘save’ the project,
Which thoughts come to mind concerning a “European cinema community”? I think it could be an important agent in promoting European cinema in its enormous cultural diversity. If you owned a theatre for one night, which films would you screen? In terms of full-length films I would screen either Béla Tarr’s SÁTÁNTANGÓ or a selection of movies such as AGARRANDO PUEBLO by Carlos Mayolo & Luis Ospina, BRUTTI, SPORCHI E CATTIVI by Ettore Scola, and LA CIÉNAGA by Lucrecia Martel. In terms of experimental and short formats an idea would be to review Ciprì & Maresco’s entire CINICO TV series. What is your next project? Since HYPERCRISIS is still in post-postproduction, its overwhelming presence in my mind allows no space for new film ideas. Perhaps something will happen during a research stay in Chile that is planned around New Year’s. In the meantime I also have to concentrate on my ongoing visual art projects 15 in other media.
EFA Short Film Nominee Drama 2011
Italy, 20 min., fiction
THE WHOLLY FAMILY WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Terry Gilliam PRODUCED BY: Gabriele Oricchio & Amy Gilliam DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Nicola Pecorini EDITOR: Mick Audsley SOUND: Andre Jacquemin CAST: Cristiana Capotondi, Douglas Dean, Nicolas Connolly, Sergio Solli, Nico Cirasola, Renato de Maria & Antonino Iuorio
Contact: Blue Door Production Gabriele Oricchio Via Machiavelli 50 00185 Roma ITALY tel. +39 06 98 35 89 15 fax +39 06 89 28 42 30 gabrieleorrichio@gmail.com
A crowded street in Naples city center, plenty of shops selling presepi. A wealthy American couple and Jake, their 10-year-old child, try to push their way through the crowd. While husband and wife argue which street to take, the boy is unwillingly separated from them and taken on a dreamlike journey between reality and imagination throughout the most hidden places and symbols of Naples.
Terry Gilliam Terry Gilliam is an American-British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including TIME BANDITS (1981), BRAZIL (1985), THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHHAUSEN (1988), THE FISHER KING (1991), 12 MONKEYS (1995), FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS (1998), GRIMM BROTHERS (2005), TIDELAND (2006) and THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS (2009). He is the only “Python” not born in Britain; he took British citizenship in 1968.
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How long did it take to make your short? Was it difficult to get financing? It was a one-week shoot. Financing was from Garofalo Pasta Factory who have previously financed three short films, one each year for the last 4 years. They love pasta and cinema.
Which thoughts come to mind concerning a “European cinema community”? Europe should concentrate on developing better distribution and funding for marketing their films. At the moment it is hard to compete with the huge marketing resources of Hollywood films. The UK used to have the EADY Levy. A tax on each ticket sold. It would be good to reinstate a similar system. Money in the fund would help fund and market local films. The hugely successful American films that dominate the market would then help fund European filmmaking. If you owned a theatre for one night, which films would you screen? Great films that are not easily available on DVD. What is your next project? I’m working on two: THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE, and MR VERTIGO (based on a Paul Auster novel).
The EFA Short Film Initiative Ever since 1998 the European Film Academy (EFA) presents the European Short Film Award as a part of the annual European Film Awards. At each of the following partner festivals, an independent jury presents one of the short films in competition with a nomination in the European Film Awards’ short film category. In 2012 the initiative includes the following festivals: ★ Ghent International Film Festival, Belgium (Oct. 2011) ★ Valladolid International Film Festival, Spain (Oct. 2011) ★ Corona Cork Film Festival, Ireland (Nov. 2011) ★ Encounters International Film Festival Bristol, UK (Nov. 2011) ★ Premiers Plans – Festival d’Angers, France (Jan. 2012) ★ International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Netherlands (Jan./Feb. 2012) ★ Berlin International Film Festival, Germany (Feb. 2012) ★ Tampere Film Festival, Finland (March 2012) ★ Krakow Film Festival, Poland (May/ June 2012) ★ Norwegian Short Film Festival Grimstad, Norway (June 2012) ★ Curtas Vila do Conde – International Film Festival, Portugal (July 2012) ★ Sarajevo Film Festival, Bosnia & Herzegovina (July 2012) ★ Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland (Aug. 2012) ★ Venice International Film Festival, Italy (Aug./Sep. 2012) ★ International Short Film Festival in Drama, Greece (Sep. 2012) To be considered for a nomination, a short film has to screen in competition at one of these festivals. Eligible are directors born in Europe or with a European passport*, whose films do not exceed a running time of 30 min. and match the genre regulations of the respective festival. When the annual cycle is complete, the nominees are presented to the EFA Members. The 2,500 members of the European Film Academy (including Europe’s finest directors, producers, distributors, writers, actors, etc.) form the high-profile jury to screen the nominees and elect the overall winner: the European Film Academy Short Film, which will be presented at the annual Awards Ceremony in one of Europe’s film capitals on the first weekend of December. * European, in the sense of the European Film Academy, means both EU and non-EU, and shall include Israeli and Palestinian.
SHORT MATTERS!
Short Film Nominees on Tour SHORT MATTERS! is the European Film Academy’s short film tour which brings the short films nominated for the European Film Awards to a series of film festivals across Europe and beyond. The programme has brought the nominated short films to audiences in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the UK - and to Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, India, Jamaica, Sri Lanka, and the USA!
Founded in 1988, the European Film Academy (EFA) now unites more than 2,500 European film professionals with the common aim of promoting European film culture. Throughout the year, the EFA initiates and participates in a series of activities dealing with film politics as well as economic, artistic, and training aspects. The programme includes conferences, seminars and workshops, and a common goal is to build a bridge between creativity and the industry. These activities culminate in the annual presentation of the European Film Awards.