PRESS KIT 2018 d’Axel Courtière Belle à croquer / tournage de / tournage pixellephoto.fr pixellephoto.fr Le festival est organisé par coproduit par avec le soutien de p / 2 A FINELY-TUNED BALANCING ACT The choreography of a festival is all about finding the point of equilibrium within the instability, the harmony in the myriad constraints, in order to spend six days promoting lively, inventive and free-spirited European culture. Our mission is the orchestration of the diversity that is characteristic of the short film format, and to continue admiring it. Come jig among the different programmes that make up our personal selection of the continent's best short films, films that throw into question our world in order to keep on reinventing it and telling stories about it. By offering up more than two hundred different perspectives on our European societies, we are inviting you to throw yourself body and soul into a grand ball of genres, themes, moods and forms. From euphoria to rage and from tears to love, the year's harvest of films will have you joining in with all the dances and experiencing the full range of emotions, and we want to pull you into our embrace and share them with you. Young and old, cynics and innocents, everyone can come together through the diversity of our programmes and activities, all your different viewpoints generating debate and discussion. So allow yourself to start swinging along to the rhythm of the short film and come and join the dance! CONTENTS PAGE > P.3 OFFICIAL JURY > P.4 COMPETITIONS > P.5 OUT-OF-COMPETITION PROGRAMS > P.6 EVENT SCREENINGS > P.7 SPECIAL SCREENINGS > P.8 YOUNG AUDIENCE PROGRAMS > P.9 LIVE FROM THE FESTIVAL > P.10 THE FESTIVAL IN FIGURES > P.11 INFOS, TICKETS, CONTACTS THE BEST FIREWORKS EVER p / 3 THE VICTORY OF CHARITY OFFICIAL JURY JULIEN HALLARD DIRECTOR / FRANCE A graduate in Political Science, Julien Hallard took his first steps in the world of cinema writing and co-directing a trilogy of short films set in New York: Brooklyn 02, Valentine and Résurrection, selected at the Festival de Locarno and at la Mostra in Venice, among others. In 2008, he wrote and directed the mid-length filmMeeting Vincent Gallo, selected at the Festival Hors Pistes, at Locarno and at the CATHERINE COSME Miami International Film Festival. In 2009 he filmed Vinyl and Cheveu, SET DESIGNER / BELGIUM both selected at the International Short Film Festival in Clermont- Catherine Cosme is an artistic director and stage and set designer Ferrand in 2010. His latest short film, People are strange, was selected for theatre and films. Having graduated in stage design at La Cambre in competition at the Brest European Short Film Festival. And his (Brussels), she regularly collaborates with theatre collectives and first feature film Comme des garçons was released on the 25th April simultaneously works alongside filmakers such as Stephan Streker this year. (Noces), Mathieu Donck (La Trêve) or Stéphane Demoustier (La fille au bracelet). All of these encounters, and her time spent observing theatre and film direction, brought her to think about starting out in writing and directing, a project which came to fruition with a debut short film entitled Les amoureuses, selected for the French Competition at the Brest European Short Film Festival in 2015. Catherine Cosme has just completed her second short film Famille, recently selected for the FIFF in Namur. BENJAMIN SIKSOU ACTOR / FRANCE After his studies in Art History, Benjamin Siksou made a reputation for himself in the jazz and blues arena, with both covers and original compositions. In 2008, he featured for the first time in two feature films, and the same year he reached the finals of the programme Nouvelle Star on the TV channel M6. Following on, he has appeared in Mes chères études by Emmanuelle Bercot (2009), La vie au ranch by Sophie Letourneur (2010), Toi, moi, les autres by Audrey Estrougo (2011), La vie d'Adèle by Abdellatif Kéchiche (2013), Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse by Arnaud Desplechin (2015), La Taularde by Audrey ARNAUD LE Estrougo (2016) and Villeperdue by Julien Gaspar-Oliveri (2016). Benjamin Siksou has also appeared as an actor, or participated as GOUËFFLEC composer, in several short films. His first album Au chant du coq was MUSICIAN / FRANCE released in September 2017. Arnaud Le Gouëfflec loves mystery and although the common denominator of all his projects is writing, he enjoys going down different artisitic highways. A novelist and graphic novel writer, he is also a musician and songwriter, both for himself and other artists. Brought up on rock music and with a fascination for rock’s most shady characters, pulled towards the underground scene, he also gets inspiration from popular literature, from graphic novels and comics to crime fiction. The founder of the Festival Invisible, for indefinable musicians, leader of the Le Studio Fantôme collective, he has also been the driving force for the last fifteen years behind the “underground and mysterious” record label, L’Eglise de la petite ALICJA GANCARZ folie. Holding the city of Brest, a place steeped in mythology, in great DISTRIBUTOR / POLAND affection, he is really only interested in one thing – stories, the ones Since 2011 Alicja Gancarz has been in charge of a series Ale krótkie for we are told, the ones we might tell, the ones he invents and adapts Ale Kino+, a television station dedicated to short films. Since 2014, tirelessly. she has been a short films selector for Canal+ in Poland. p / 4 Z FEST COMPETITIONS EUROPEAN FRENCH COMPETITON COMPETITION By showing almost exclusively short films, our desire is to spot new talent and we work closely with young filmakers whose The competition is part of the vocabulary of any film festival. imaginary worlds come into being before our very eyes. This Even if this section is at the heart of our own festival, it is really section goes even further with our mission by venturing into an opportunity for us to put on display the diversity and vitality the world of debut films and film school creations. of European short film creation. The films in this competition are like a breath of fresh air, Emanating from more than 20 different countries and exploring fantasy, video games and the burlesque, blowing the highlighting radically different issues, attempts to make us dust from the narrative forms. They are united through the fact laugh or give us a warning, shift our point of view or face up to a that they explore human relationships, otherness and finding particular subject, the short films that we show here constitute one's place in an ever-changing world. a mosaic portrait of today's Europe. Our French competition is an attempt to surprise you, and also Because cinema is above all a form of expression, we look show you what tomorrow's films will look like. And the future for films by people who don't take anything for granted and looks bright, this competition reminding us of the vitality of readily bring us their view of the world but most importantly, French film production. It proves that despite the difficulties, tell us a story. These films which are complementary rather than schools, organisations and professionals are ready to put their opposing, which go together rather than go against each other, faith in uncelebrated filmakers, hoping to shake things up for prove that cinema is a cosmopolitan, shape-shifting, polyglot filmaking and for the audiences. With these three programmes, art-form that brings people together. we can prove they are right to do so. We hope that through this non-exhaustive and subjective selection of the best of European cinema you will find plenty MADE IN BREIZH to talk about! Made in Breizh is our pride and joy, and this year it joins the realms of the competition categories! Again this year, many OVNI COMPETITION short films have been filmed and/or produced in Brittany, a true home to cinema. The industry here is becoming better- Out of the ordinary, on the margins of their genres, radical, structured than ever and is starting to make waves outside uncompromising, challenging, hybrid or in “smell-orama”! Such the region. The César Award for best short film was given to a are the films in the OVNI competition. Breton film, Les Bigorneaux, which was screened in this category at the Festival last year. Here is an opportunity to plunge into the depths of societal issues on the crossroads between documentary, fiction, As Breton films are becoming a sought-after export, so the animation and experimental films. These films get the audience region is becoming attractive to other filmakers, as shown by to change their perspective and are permanently scrutinising the film La Bête, an Italian film in Breton, and the fact that well- human nature. Brought together they write a cruel, but not known directors such as Céline Devaux or Bertrand Mandico humourless, definition of our wayward societies. have filmed their latest films here. You are going to see the cream of the regional crop in a variety of forms, the proof of More than ever, our selection for the most adventurous and the quality of local film production. experienced audiences is an invitation to discover these films, whose only common ground is in their willingness to hold a fairground mirror up to the world in the mad but excited hope of changing it. p / 5 HELSINKI MANSPLAINING MASSACRE OUT-OF- COMPETITION PROGRAMS Next to the Festival competitions, the “off” programmes Following on from the Brest Off, we are bringing you the À throw out the rule-book and venture off into the world l'aventure ! programme, as well as the third edition of our of short film creativity.