One of the most beautiful moments happens during the festival when we do our Artist Talks - having seen the movie and getting to know the artist and his/her ideas which translate much better through talking to the creator on stage is truly special. I love it! Being selected for the Berlinale Shorts helps the filmmaker to take a huge step into the industry. Everyone wants to be included into the selection, because everyone is aware of the power of this festival. More than a thousand people see your film a day. This is incomparable with other feature film festivals. The attention that shorts get here is wide and open.
“The power of cinema allows you to think about your subject in different ways, to tell stories and share moments with completely different approaches, to use footage in a liberating way” THE CURATOR Berlinale Shorts is the only place within such an important festival, compared to Cannes or Venice, where all films are treated the same way. The Berlinale Shorts selection represents the current state of the art in short film making. We make no difference between a 5 minute animation and a 25 minute fiction film. No difference: whether animation, fiction, documentary, experimental, hybrid forms: all of these films contribute to the current state of the art. And, concerning the process of selection, they all contribute to the leitmotif. There is a constant movement in the form itself. There is communication in between the films as well. Bringing together contemporary positions with history and spanning the discourse about film, like this, through times.
This year’s film Khutwa Khutwa (Step by Step) examines the nature of poverty, religion and rigid educational moments. This film has its place in the canon of short films and on the other hand, is part of the mirror while going back in time. The other films reflect the basic question from today’s point of view. OUT OF COMPETITION When I started to work as a curator for the festival in 2008, I programmed Inventur Metzstrasse 11 (Inventory) by Želimir Žilnik. He had won the Golden Bear with his first feature Rani Radovi (Early Works) in 1969. The future of filmmaking lies in its past. That is why I give an idea about what short film making is coming from on one hand - on the other hand, like in the case of Khutwa Khutwa (Step by Step), these films reflect the discussion within the selected shorts in one more way. Jumping back in time allows a different understanding of life. In 2010 I did two extra programmes for the 60th birthday of the festival - films made by German women in the 80’s. Still contemporary in their wants and needs. Early video works, wonderful short narrations - views into society. EVENTS We have been invited by the Zeit Online ZaloON. We will screen two explicitly wonderful shorts and talk about love on screen, extremes, images and stories with Jan Soldat and Zhou Yan, the creators of Geliebt (Beloved, Berlinale Shorts 2010) and Shi Luo Zhi Di (Lost Land, Berlinale Shorts, 2012). Zhou Yan is back to Berlinale Shorts with her latest film Ba Bi Lun Shao Nian (Rivers of Babylon). People from the edge of society are in the centre of her movies. Touching and revealing, they are always special. Zhou Yan brought a very feminine approach to this contemporary, exotic and moving Chinese avant-garde short film. Thursday 14.2. / 18-19.30 / ZaloON, Askanischer Platz 1.
WOSH by Daazo.com - the European Shortfilm Centre 8