The “Austrian Short Film Series 2020” are now available in Austria online and in the Austrian Cultural Forums worldwide.
Every year the “Austrian Short Film Series” presents films that have qualified for the selection procedure for the Austrian Film Award in the category “Best Short Film”.
This year, 18 films by mostly younger filmmakers are included in this programme. In a cooperation between the Foreign Cultural Section of the Foreign Ministry and the Academy of Austrian Film, these films are shown – in normal years – at screenings worldwide. In cooperation with local organisers, the Austrian Cultural Forums, embassies and Austrian libraries enable many young filmmakers to present their work internationally and to network internationally.
In the special situation of the Corona crisis, this project temporarily moves to the online area and shows the films in Austria on the streaming platform Flimmit and, in cooperation with the Austrian Cultural Forums, also internationally.
For Teresa Indjein, Head of the International Cultural Department of th Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, one of the special qualities of a short film programme evening lies in its diversity. If you can immerse yourself in a universe of films on a single evening, then this always means a challenge for our thoughts and senses.
One of the Austrian filmmakers who has already gained international experience is Manu Luksch. In her latest work “ALGO-RHYTHM”, the Viennese investigates the threat to human rights through the increasing use of automated decision-making processes in everyday life, marketing and election campaigns. Together with Senegalese actors and actresses she filmed in Dakardi the story of a data broker who rules over the people on the spot like a king – a symbol of how much modern technology dominates us.
In the film “DON’T KNOW WHAT” Thomas Renoldner combines stereotypical forms of entertainment cinema with reworking techniques and image processing methods from video art, thus questioning the audience’s clichéd expectations.
In “FREIGANG”, Martin Winter tells the story of a mother who is granted a day off from prison to visit her son, who now lives with his grandmother. When the mother sees the neglected condition of her son during her visit, she has only a few hours to find a safe place for her child before she has to return to prison. A race against time begins…
Alexandra Valent, project manager of the Austrian Film Prize, sees the strength of short films in their density: “A film is as long as the story, the thought, the idea requires it. Short films are works of art that don’t have to sell, but can rather please, move and impress. Provided you let yourself be, you get involved with the unknown and possibly new.”
UPDATE:
The Austrian Short Film Show 2020 can also be experienced online until the end of June, worldwide. A cooperation between BMEIA (Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs) and the Flimmit platform makes this possible. Until the end of June, a total of 18 short films can be streamed with password protection. This year they will be shown for the first time in Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and India.
But that’s not all: the Austrian Short Film Show 2020 can also be seen at VIS Vienna Shorts and is available online. More information can be found directly on the festival website.
VIS Vienna Shorts
www.viennashorts.com
