Brief Encounters Programmer

GAIA MEUCCI-ASTLEY

“Well, we will remember 2020. The extent to which our industry has been affected by the pandemic is still being assessed, as we move through a tangle of loss, opportunities and readjustments. As a festival, we made a swift change of plan by transforming Encounters, an event whose very name defies social distancing, into our first online edition.

I won’t lie: it’s disappointing to know that we won’t be welcoming the short film making community to Bristol in September. The packed cinemas, the chats, the hugs, they will all be sorely missed. To focus on this untrodden path with renewed energy, it has been essential for us programmers to turn our festival’s core mission into a guiding light: in this digital Encounters, supporting outstanding emerging talent remains our raison d’être. This year’s competition programme aims to be a vibrant and timely reflection of this commitment.

Change is scary. Change also brings opportunity. The readjustments required by presenting a programme online have prompted us to rethink and refresh our practice. This selfreflective process wasn’t just a by-product of a sweeping pandemic: the BLM protests and the events which put Bristol on the international headlines have also played a crucial part in instigating us to question the role our film programmes play in rebalancing diversity, representation and opportunities.

There is a sense of urgency in the Brief Encounters selection this year. These films palpably assert their relevance in discussing themes of consent, inequality and prejudice, in subverting clichés and rejuvenating film form, in capturing pictures of modern-day Britain, in profiling up-and-coming filmmakers of colour, in highlighting the voices which, we trust, will inform the future of European arthouse cinema, and, closer to home, in celebrating the talent and diversity of Bristol filmmakers.

Call us fools, but we believe the brilliance of these films will not get lost by experiencing the festival on a computer screen. As we temporarily say goodbye to Encounters as we knew it, we embrace the broader outreach created by the online model, confident that these remarkable films will connect with new audiences and decision-makers in their festival journey. “

www.encounters.film IN COMPETITION 17