Snippets
by the KinoCritics

What Makes an Award-Winning Film?

"I believe there are a number of key elements: Strong cinematography and visuals, a musical score (or no sound at all), a strong protagonist or memorable characters that audiences would connect with, and a captivating plot. Successful films are most often the ones that engage and inspire us and leave us thinking about them for a very long time."—Nawar Al Qassimi, Jury for the International Competition (MH)

Something to take away from 2023: “The open-air program will be presented barrier-free: We show the films with German and English subtitles and with a live translation via headphones into Leichte Sprache.* The moderation will be interpreted into German sign language as well as into Leichte Sprache.”

*Leichte Sprache (literally: easy language) is a specific (usually written) version of the German language. -Wikipedia (MH)

The French Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival Takes a Stand

Authorities in Germany—and worldwide across artistic platforms if we’re being honest—don’t quite recognize künstlerische Arbeit (artistic work) as real work. Much to the chagrin of professionals, particularly those working freelance in the various industries. During Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg’s opening ceremonies the drastic funding cuts to the French Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (an Oscar® qualifying festival) was referred to, and the 16.05.2023 open letter they sent to the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regional Council’s president: https://clermont-filmfest.org/en/open-letter-0515/(MH)

20 Years on the Move

For twenty years the Hamburg collective "A Wall is a Screen" have stayed on the move in Hamburg and taken their show on the road around the world. To celebrate this year, they returned to where the first wall-screen was in downtown Hamburg on Mönckebergstraße. (MH)

Kurzfilm Festival’s Cornucopia of Happenings

The long list of Festival Happenings included Midnight Shorts: Strange Encounters of the Short Kind beginning at 12:30; the Hamburg Animation Club’s events focused on, you named it, animations; Ronan Leonard’s sort-of music videos—mostly Irish—radio show; Big Booze Bang VIII; Are Facts Fiction? With a documentary itinerary; The European Film Academy’s Short Film Tour. The LSD-Testdrive used archival slit-camera film; the Analogfilmwerke Results with a Hamburg-Altona lab workshop, and the Zeise Short Film Slam in cooperation with the eponymous cinemas. Naturally, the Awards ceremony with a post-festival showing of a selection of the winning films. (MH)

Accredited individuals in industry/journalism received daily newsletters covering that day’s festival highlights and tips. Also, the international and German competition films were online to watch, plus a compilation list of “best choice” selected films. Roundtable discussion topics included distribution, accessibility/inclusion, crisis management at film festivals, and more with the language switching between German and English. Some of the other events were, Meeting the Makers: Helena Wittmann & Ann Oren, Analogue and With Heart, and Opening: MOIN Filmförderung - On Functioning and Processing. Who had time to watch films! (MH)

Neocolonialism has been a hot topic at film festivals in 2023. Possibly, TERRA MATER was the most neocolonialistic film screened at Kurzfilm Festival. The dokumentarfilmwoche’s event is now online, and well worth a look-see as a lot is in English for non-German speakers. THE FIFTH WALL: Navina Sundaram, A Digital Archive: “Extracted from the archives of the NDR and WDR (television stations) as well as from Sundaram’s private archive. THE FIFTH WALL is a curated look at German migration and media history.” – https://die-fuenfte-wand.de/en (MH)

What’s so special about salt? If you’re creative and clever you have a chance at winning 1,000 euros, that’s what. It’s the new Triple Axel (Dreifacher Axel) three-minute competition topic. Whoever accepts the challenge and successfully completes it will find their film in the running for the Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg 2024 audience award. For details: https://festival.shortfilm.com/en (MH)