Short films will take the spotlight at the 43rd Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, taking place this year as an online event, January 29 through February 6, 2021, alongside the Short Film Market from February 1 to 5! Canada will be at both fest and market, with six shorts in competition (including two coproductions); a selection of Short Film Market Picks and more!
Five shorts in the International competition:
- Joanna Quinn’s Affairs of the Art: This U.K -Canada coproduction is an animated comedy about a 59-year old factory worker-slash-artist named Beryl, produced with the National Film Board of Canada.
- Sarra El Abed’s Ain’t no Time for Women (Y’a pas d’heure pour les femmes): Set in Tunisia on the night of an election, this documentary brings us into the perspectives of women gathered at a hair salon.
- Salar Pashtoonyar’s Bad Omen: Making its international premiere, this tale of a tailor in Afghanistan trying to get her prescription glasses won Best Canadian Short at the Vancouver International Film Festival!
- Lev Lewis’s Every Day’s Like This: This film has been making waves on the festival circuit, from the Toronto International Film Festival to VIFF, Festival du nouveau cinéma (FNC). It’s also heading to the Slamdance Festival.
- Zoé Pelchat’s Moon (Lune): Can romance bring redemption when a cook (who used to be in prison) asks a customer out? This filmmaker’s short film debut picked up a Special Jury Mention at VIFF! (It follows her 2018 series Dominos, which snagged a Canneseries prize for Best Digital Series.)
Next up, in the Lab competition:
- Daniel Gray’s Hide (Caché): This France-Hungary-Canada coproduced animated short (with the National Film Board of Canada) uses a game of hide and seek between young brothers as a scary metaphor for disconnection, when one hides so well he stays hidden for always, isolated.
Canada’s Short Film Market Picks:
- Omar Elhamy’s Foam (Écume)
- Philippe Arsenault’s A Birthday (Un jour de fête)
- Annie St-Pierre’s Like the Ones I Used to Know (Les grandes claques)
- Yoakim Bélanger’s The Walk (La marche)
- Paul Shkordoff’s Benjamin, Benny, Ben
- Hamza Bangash’s Bhai
- Diana Thorneycroft’s Black Forest Sanatorium
- Sandra Desmazières’s Like a River (Comme un fleuve)
- Clifton Thomas’s Hunting with Vince
- Claude Cloutier’s Bad Seeds (Mauvaises herbes)
- Connor Gaston’s Ohrwurm
- Sasha Argilov’s Personals
- Jason Todd and Charles-Émile Lafrance’s Sous l’artillerie des moteurs
- Nisha Platzer’s Vaivén
ImagineNative Short Focus:
- Tom Mcleod’s Greed Story and Audrey’s Story
- Lisa Jackson’s Lichen
- Evelyn Pakinewatik’s Mooz Miikan
- Alisi Telengut’s The Fourfold
- Banchi Hanuse’s Nuxalk Radio
- Glenn Gear’s Katinngak
- Theola Ross’s Êmîcêtôcêt – Many Bloodlines
Psst: Check out Canada’s market program Not Short on Talent and Québec’s programme (Québec en courts/SODEC) here.
Showcasing our Canadian talent
Mark your calendars for January 31! Canadian filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée will offer a master class online as part of the Short Film Conference. And February 1, virtual attendees who’ve signed up for Short Film Wire won’t want to miss a talk by Jean-Christophe J. Lamontagne of h264 Distribution.
Bonus: Short film market participants are invited to come and meet the Canadians during the online Clermont-Ferrand’s Happy Hour on February 3.
