The 30th Filmfest Dresden, one of the most renowned and best-endowed short film festivals in Europe, running from April 17 to 22, 2018, unveiled this year’s anniversary program of 270 short films, as well as panel discussions and other events, enticing short film fans from across the world once more to the capital city of Saxony. One main focus this years is on “Europe”, bringing 30 years of European and the festival’s history together in several programs.
Each year, the festival centrepiece consists of the International and National Competitions: 69 short films from a total of 2,200 submissions are in the running this year for the ten “Golden Horsemen” and four special prizes. In the International Competition section, a total of 23 animation and 19 fictional films are going to be screened in seven programmes during the festival week. These include short films from 28 countries, with France and Canada leading the way here, as well as seven co-productions.
In addition to its Competition sections, the 30th Filmfest Dresden also has an extensive array of 27 special programs. For young audiences, there are five children and youth programs for differing age groups with the latest and most exciting short films from throughout the world. International short film entertainment under the open skies can again be enjoyed by all at the Festival Open-Air event on Dresden’s Neumarkt square. This is drawing the crowds on the festival weekend with a special program for the whole family.
* The Unfinished Adventure Named Europe
The great European dreams after the end of the Cold War are now being overshadowed by crises. And Europe is wrestling with its identity. These conflicts and confrontations, as well as the inner plurality of the European construct are also reflected in short film. In the three “A Path to Freedom”, “Border Regions” and “Europe Is Falling Apart” programs, which embrace both historic and current perspectives and are intended to explore the utopian as indeed the dystopian horizons here, Filmfest Dresden is looking back on 30 years of Europe. Among others, the themes include the euphoria in Germany immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the question about the geographic and formal-aesthetic borders of Europe, as well as the unvanquished nationalism in the fortress of Europe. The films in the “Focus Europe” program debunk their discourse as being “post-truth”, while providing thought-provoking impulses and posing questions: How can the political regression within the EU be brought to an end? And does the Europe project still have a chance?
Competition nominations of 30 FILMFEST DRESDEN
International Competition
(OO), Seo-ro Oh (South Korea)
AABA / GRANDFATHER, Amar Kaushik (India)
AFTER SCHOOL KNIFE FIGHT, Caroline Poggi (France)
AMOR, Isabel Lamberti (Netherlands)
APRES LE VOLCAN / AFTER THE VOLCANO, Léo Favier (France)
AURORE, Mael Le Mée (France)
COPA-LOCA, Christos Massalas (Greece)
COUP DE GRÂCE, Salomé Lamas (Portugal)
DAS GAVETAS NASCEM SONS / THE SOUNDS FROM THE DRAWERS, Vitor Hugo (Portugal)
DEER BOY, Katarzyna Gondek (Belgium/Croatia/Poland)
HAVE HEART, Will Anderson (United Kingdom)
HOT TEA, Marcel Tigchelaar (Netherlands)
HYPERTRAIN, Fela Bellotto/Etienne Kompis (Switzerland)
KÖTELÉK / BOND, Judit Wunder (Hungary)
KUCKUCK / CUCKOO, Aline Höchli (Switzerland)
LA SOUPE / THE SOUP, Nicos Synnos (Cyprus)
LANCUSZKI / CHAINLETS, Alicja Blaszczynska (Poland)
LE TEMPS QU’IL FAUT / AS LONG AS IT TAKES, Abeille Tard (Canada)
LES HOMMES-POISSONS / THE DEEP ONES, Guillaume Chevalier (France)
LUPUS, Carlos Gomez Salamanca (Colombia/France)
MARFA, Greg & Myles McLeod (United Kingdom)
MIN BÖRDA / THE BURDEN, Niki Lindroth von Bahr (Sweden)
MR. ANXIETY GOES ON A DATE , 4inaroom (Moldova/Romania)
MUTEUM, Aggie Pak Yee Lee (Estonia)
NEGATIVE SPACE, Max Porter/Ru Kuwahata (France)
NOS DÉSIRS / THE WAY WE LOVE, Raphaël Lefèvre (France)
PANTHEON, Ange-Régis Hounkpatin (France)
PAUL EST LA / PAUL IS HERE, Valentina Maurel (Belgium)
PŘÁTELSKÉ SETKÁNÍ NAD SPORTEM / FRIENDLY SPORT MEETING, Adam Koloman Rybanský (Czech Republic)
RABBIT’S BLOOD, Sarina Nihei (Japan/United Kingdom)
RETOUCH, Kaveh Mazaheri (Iran)
RUPTURE, Yassmina Karajah (Canada/Jordan)
SCRATCHY, Marv Newland (Canada)
SREČNO, ORLO! / GOOD LUCK, ORLO!, Sara Kern (Austria/Croatia/Slovenia)
TESLA: LUMIÈRE MONDIALE / THE TESLA WORLD LIGHT , Matthew Rankin (Canada)
THE ABSENCE OF EDDY TABLE, Rune Spaans (Norway)
VEUILLEZ NE PAS TENTER D’OUVRIR LES PORTES / SEE THE SHADOWS STRAIGHTEN, Baptiste Martin-Bonnaire (France)
YAL VA KOOPAL / MANED & MACHO, Shiva Sadegh Asadi (Iran)
YOM CHOL / ANOTHER DAY, Daniel Pakes (Israel)
теория заката / THE THEORY OF SUNSET, Roman Sokolov (Russia)
מכתב אהבה לבחור שהמצאתי / A LOVE LETTER TO THE ONE I MADE UP, Rachel Gutgarts (Israel)
National Competition
AND THE MOON STANDS STILL, Yulia Ruditskaya
ATTAK, Ruben Meier
CHUCKWALLA, Korinna Krauss
DAS SATANISCHE DICKICHT – DREI, Willy Hans
ENDLING, Alex Schaad
ENTSCHULDIGUNG, ICH SUCHE DEN TISCHTENNISRAUM UND MEINE FREUNDIN, Bernhard Wenger
HALMASPIEL, Betina Kuntzsch
IMPERIAL VALLEY (CULTIVATED RUN-OFF), Lukas Marxt
JOY, Abini Gold
KOSMOS Maa, Jakob Mäsel
LIEBE, Oliver Adam Kusio
LINK, Robert Löbel
LOVE ME, FEAR ME, Veronica Solomon
MASCARPONE, Jonas Riemer
MEGATRICK, Anne Isensee
MINDEN RENDBEN, Borbála Nagy
NACH DEM FEST, Hannes Schilling
NACHTSTÜCK, Anne Breymann
NEKO NO HI / ねこ の ひ,Jon Frickey
NIKOTYNA, Ewa Wikiel
NOSTALGIC LOVE, Joscha Bongard
NOT MY TYPE, Gerd Gockell
NY _ THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE OF SPACE, Michał Banisch
RÄUBER & GENDARM, Florian Maubach
SOG, Jonatan Schwenk
THE TRAIN, THE FOREST, Patrick Buhr
U MEĐUVREMENU, Mate Ugrin