UniFrance will be on hand at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival's Film Market, held this year from February 4 through 7, to promote the latest creative works in the French short filmmaking sector. The four-day market will be packed with meetings and interviews with festival programmers, curators, and international distributors and broadcasters.
Following last year's 4th anniversary, the 2019 Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, held from February 1 through 9, has its sights set clearly on the future, as demonstrated by the selection of fifty-nine French productions to be showcased in the various festival sections.
Films from thirty-four countries will be screened, with representatives from each country taking part in the Clermont-Ferrand Film Market to promote their latest short films. This year, five new countries are participating for the first time: Cyprus, Cuba, Russia, Slovakia, and Senegal.
Nine international sales companies will be grouped together under the UniFrance banner at the Film Market: L'Agence du court métrage, Autour de Minuit, La Luna Distribution, Manifest, Miyu Distribution, Next Film Distribution, oriGine films, Premium Films, and Shortcuts.
In what has now become a tradition at Clermont-Ferrand, UniFrance will be hosting two Networking Breakfasts, on Tuesday, February 5, and Wednesday, February 6. Organized in partnership with TitraFilm, the Sodec, SWISS FILMS, and Wallonie-Bruxelles Images, these annual meetings enable around one hundred industry professionals to forge contacts with their counterparts in other countries. This year's festival is giving a special focus to Canada, a country that has a long history of collaboration with UniFrance, with a strong contingent of Canadian representatives attending the events. With two Canadian short films currently in the running for the Oscars, the Canadian ecosystem stands out as a model of success.
Among those so far confirmed to attend the Networking Breakfasts are buyers from Sweden (ST), Italy (Mediaset), Spain (Movistar Plus), and Belgium (RTBF), as well as representatives from prestigious film festivals including Toronto, Venice, Locarno, Cannes, Tampere, Kiev, Lisbon, Rio, and Montreal.
These networking events are primarily aimed at representatives of films included in competition at the festival. All requests for registration at the Networking Breakfasts should be directed to: benoit.blanchard@unifrance.org.
VR, transmedia, and cross-platform works once again occupy an important place in the program for this year's festival. French productions will also be in the spotlight at other high points of the festival, such as the Carte Blanche program given to Caïmans Productions and the special program dedicated to the anniversaries of both the Ecole La Poudrière and the GREC—the Ecole La Poudrière, which was founded by Jacques-Rémy Girerd and now stands as an important reference in animated filmmaking, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year; while the GREC, which has played a major role in the emergence of new talents on the international stage (such as Danielle Arbid, Alain Guiraudie, Mathieu Amalric, and Katell Quillévéré), is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Movie enthusiasts who are unable to attend the Clermont-Ferrand festival have not been forgotten! Two works by acclaimed directors produced for the Opéra National de Paris (La 3e Scène) are accessible for viewing on the UniFrance website (to view the films, click on the titles below, then select "Voir le Film"/"Watch the Film"):
- Blue by Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Palme d'Or at Cannes 2010 for Oncle Boonmee)
- De la joie dans ce combat by Jean-Gabriel Périot (whose feature film Our Defeats is in competition at this year's Berlin International Film Festival.
And finally, this year's festival also offers viewers the chance to rediscover (or discover) Tantale by Gilles Porte, an interactive short film in which YOU take the role of the French President and, armed with your smartphone, influence the direction the story takes!
The festival program can be viewed here.
