04/06/2003

In the wealth of offerings and initiatives that enrich every edition of the Cannes Film Festival, every year sees a small, but definite increase in the space given over to short films. This year, apart from the official competition, the space dedicated to shorts both in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs and in Critics’ Week, there were screenings of short films at the Film Market, shown to buyers interested in short works. In reality, the space was organised at the last minute and it was set up in consultation with the people who’ve had years of experience organising the Clermont Ferrand Market, the meeting point for professionals working in the sector.

There was also a “corner for short films” amongst the stands in the Palais, an open space where young authors had the chance to sign up and leave their works to be viewed. And then there was the Cinéfondation competition, for works made at film schools. It’s a section that started a few years ago aimed at giving space to young directors of the future and for students who are starting on the difficult craft of direction. Every year Cinéfondation has improved the offering of shorts in competition, adding works of a higher quality.

The winner of the last edition was Bezi Zeko Bezi (Run Rabbit Run) by the Serbian Pavle Vuckovic, a 20-year-old man who studies at the newly established film school in Belgrade. His film is funny and ironic, with men dressed as animals. A fox hunts a rabbit through the snow, in a chase that is full of tension and suspense. The rabbit is stopped in its tracks by a trap and someone also shoots at it. The noise of the gun wakes the rabbit up out of its trance and it realises that perhaps it was all a bad dream. It’s a surreal story that went down really well with the president of the jury appointed to judge the films in this section, and also the official competition, Emir Kusturica, as well as the other members of jury, Zabou Breitman, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Michel Ocelot and Mary Lea Bandy. The second prize was won by a Spanish animation, Historia del desierto (Story of the Desert) by Cecilia Galan Julve, a student at the "Royal College of Art". She tells the story of Rosita Guzman, a legendary woman who escaped from prison and disappeared into the Mexican desert. In third place was TV City by Alberto Conceiro, who is Argentinean but who graduated in Germany, at "Hochschule fur film und Fernsehen 'Konrad Wolf'". It’s a nice animation showing the disturbing events that happen behind the scenes in television, where the TV broadcasts all go wrong due to a mysterious invasion of insects. The prize winning directors of the Cinéfondation section are offered the attractive opportunity to be coached and helped in the making of their first full length feature film, through grants and contacts with European producers and other professionals from the world of cinema.

The official competition for short films was more disappointing. It didn’t have a selection of the most interesting works from around the world, but a short overview (with 9 films in competition) ranging from dramas to experimental works. The Palme d'Oro was won by the Australian film Cracker Bag by Glendyn Ivin, and is about a little girl who prepares for a night of fireworks, normally a magical time for her, but which will only bring disappointment. The French film L'homme sans tête by the Argentinean author Juan Solanas, which won the Jury Prize, had a very strong visual impact. It used incredible special effects, especially unusual for a short film, and is about a headless man who decides to go to a ‘head’ salesman to choose a new head so he can go out on a date. But in the end he prefers to go to meet the girl as he is, “headless”. The film provided a virtual contrast to another short presented at the Critics’ Week competition, The truth about Head, by the Canadian Dale Heslip. This is a surreal film with overtones of a fable, where we meet a head without a body. It’s a head that works in a small circus, it’s a happy head that, one day, finds a body, but in the end it prefers to stay on its own, quickly leaving the cumbersome body behind.