International Short Film Festival Winterthur
The International Short Film Festival Winterthur is a short film festival that takes place every November and is organized by the association of the same name in the city of Winterthur . The festival lasts six days and is the most important short film festival in Switzerland . It is dedicated to national and international short films .
history
In 1997 members of the Winterthur Film Foyer and the Niche cinema started a pilot project and organized a two-day event entitled: «1. Winterthurer Kurzfilmtage », at which only short films were shown. The focus was on Swiss films and works from German-speaking neighboring countries, supplemented by films from the host country Poland. Around 1,000 visitors came to the Alte Kaserne for the 1st Winterthur Short Film Festival . The interest of the audience prompted the organizers to found the «Kurzfilmtage Winterthur» association to enable the continuation of the event. After two years, the Loge cinema was added as a second venue in addition to the barracks.
The Casinotheater Winterthur has been the festival center since 2002, and in 2009 a new large venue was added with the Theater Winterthur . The festival shows over 200 short films annually, of which around 70 are shown in the competitions (Swiss and international competition as well as the Swiss Film School Day competition) and around 150 as part of the curated programs. Over the six days of the festival, the 2019 festival recorded 17,500 admissions.
The competitions
The heart of the Short Film Festival is the International Competition and the Swiss Competition, which get visitors to the pulse of current global filmmaking. The following prizes will be awarded in the competition:
- Main prize of the international competition CHF 12,000.–
- International competition award CHF 10,000
- Prize for the best Swiss film CHF 10,000.–
- ZKB audience award CHF 10,000
The following prizes will also be awarded outside the competition:
- Prize for the best Swiss school film CHF 5,000.–
- Post production price (formerly short run price) CHF 20,000 (material price)
- Prizes for the best films in the youth programs 12+ and 16+ each CHF 1000.–
Former awardees
- ^ "Desserts" received the international audience award, "Blush" the national audience award.
- ↑ In 2002 the cinema prize was also awarded for the film " Aria ".
- ↑ Awarded as a «sponsorship award for an outstanding directorial talent». Florian Mischa Boeder is the director of “I Must Go ”, and Maru Solores directed “Dortoka Uhartea” .
The curated sections
In addition to the competitions, the Short Film Festival has sections that include curated programs. The focus here is on the contextualization of topics in a larger cultural context. The inclusion of film history plays just as important a role as contemporary films, social issues, insights into institutions or the complete works of filmmakers and artists. Since 2013, the sections of the curated programs have been called “Big Focus”, “Land in Focus” and “Person in Focus”. Panel discussions, live performances, workshops and events for filmmakers and the public will also take place.
| year | Big focus | Country in focus | Focus on person |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Independent Cinema USA | Cuba | Armando Capo Ramos |
| 2014 | Framing Europe - The European Idea | Indigenous Cinema - Through Our Own Lenses | Yann Gonzalez |
| 2015 | Arab Encounters - Visions and Realities | Bhutan / Nepal | Christoph Girardet & Matthias Müller |
| 2016 | Nordic countries | Colombia | Salomé lamas |
| 2017 | Tropical Views - The cinema of Southeast Asia | Greece | Pimpaka Towira |
| 2018 | This Is Britain | Georgia | Mike Hoolboom |
| 2019 | The Future Is ... | Brazil | James N. Kienitz Wilkins |
society
The short film days are organized by around 50 people who belong to an association. There are also volunteers during the week of the festival. The aim of the association is to promote and distribute short films. In addition to the festival event, the Kurzfilmtage attach great importance to the sustainable promotion of short films and maintain the largest online short film archive in Switzerland with over 50,000 short films. The archive is available to the specialist public for research purposes throughout the year. Thanks to the extensive knowledge and great competence that the Kurzfilmtage has acquired in the field of short films over the past 23 years, they now curate short film programs for renowned festivals and institutions worldwide.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ International Short Film Festival Winterthur. In: Cineman. Retrieved December 29, 2016 .
- ↑ a b The main prize goes to a Palestinian film, the prize for the best Swiss film to a documentary from Neuchâtel. (PDF; 96 kB) International Short Film Festival Winterthur, November 16, 2016, accessed on December 29, 2016 (press release).