Preface to the 7th Festival Edition
Dancing Pictures in the Land of Short Films
The international short film festival VIS Vienna Independent Shorts will be held for the seventh time from May 27 – for the first time with three separate competitions, as well as a new main venue in the Metro Kino. The main focus this year will be the complex of themes revolving around film – dance – rhythm.
- film still: Die Sindy Show
Not so long ago VIS Vienna Independent Shorts mainly campaigned with its belief that there is more to the film industry than just the usual, standardised cinema format. The ironic-provocative slogan “Long films are show-offs” was to be seen on stickers all over town. Or “Shortness is the sister of talent”, a tongue-in-cheek Chekhov quotation. Sure enough, in this country there is little awareness of the fact that the form of short films doesn’t have to just exist for the purpose of exercise at film academies or be exclusively connected to the arts and experimental sphere, but also encompasses a rich cosmos which is often overlooked in Austria. Therefore “Short film is everything, except long” was postulated already in the festivals inaugural year. Since then VIS has made it their mission to change, refocus and – most importantly – enable perception of independent films up to 30 minutes in length in the first place.
- film still: MAZY: systems of transition
What began as an ambitious students‘ project has led to an enormous vitalisation of the Austrian festival scene – despite continuing difficult financial conditions. In its (itchy) seventh year VIS was faced with the challenge of accommodating the increased audience interest, whilst staying true to its original claim of quality and independence. The new main venue, the Metro Kino, dwith its intimate character and long tradition – not least in connection with the short forms of film – makes for an ideal festival-epicentre, between the MuseumsQuartier, Badeschiff, Reformed Church and Gartenbaukino. The Metro Kino will show three competition programmes, facilitated through the cooperation with the society for animated film ASIFA Austria and the Collecting society of filmmakers (VDFS, Verwertungsgesellschaft der Filmschaffenden), as well as special programmes with a musical-rhythmical focus, Film - Dance - Rhythm.
- film still: The Girl Helicopter
For the first time in the festival’s history the extensive competition programme has been subdivided into three categories: the international competition for short fictional and documentary films, the Austrian competition, as well as the international competition for animation, experimental films and digital media: Animation Avantgarde. While the latter programme – selected with the curator Thomas Renoldner – is meant to broaden the audience’s horizon of experience, the selection for “fiction and documentary” strives to present last year’s most outstanding short films in five thematically derived programmes. For the first time the most exciting Austrian films will also be judged by a jury.
- film still: passage à l´acte
From about 1.200 short films submitted from all over the world and about 600 more viewed in festivals throughout Europe, 92 films from over 20 countries made it to the final competition programme. 33 short features and documentaries are competing for the Wiener Kurzfilmpreis worth 4.000 Euros, 38 animated and experimental short films are up against each other for the ASIFA Austria Award of 2.000 Euros and 25 national productions are hoping to receive the Österreichischer Kurzfilmpreis (Austrian short film prize) worth 2.000 Euros, presented by the VDFS. With the audience and special prizes (amongst others donated by the Elfi-von-Dassanowsky foundation) more than 12.000 Euros of prize money will be awarded, three times the amount of last year’s total. The festival owes this new growth spurt to numerous media partners and collaborators, first and foremost to LG – the festival’s new main sponsor with an affinity to general media as well as to films.
- film still: Finningins Bluff
Those who have detected a reason for dancing in the afore mentioned developments will most probably be looking forward to this year’s thematic focus. The three words “Film – Dance – Rhythm” glitter and shine over the festival, like an invitation to a pleasurable journey through the world of dance-like and rhythmic short film creations. In cooperation with sixpackfilm a multifaceted programme zwischen skurrilen Deplatzierungen und filmischen (Massen-)Choreographien. of whimsical misplacements and filmic (mass) choreographies has been devised, inspired by Daniel Wiroth’s and Lione Hoche’s sensual and sizzling classic dance film “Erè mèla mèla”. And in cooperation with sixpackfilm the great dance film maker Miranda Pennell fwas invited to Vienna for an extraordinary tribute-programme.
- film still: Aanaatt
The Austrian tribute, a retrospective of Kubelka-student Thomas Draschan's work to date, is equally related to the rhythmic emphasis. Furthermore, in cooperation with Filmarchiv Austria and ASIFA Austria, curator Thomas Renoldner will take an amusing yet focussed look at the history of "Animated Music in Austria". And in the Reformed Church, not far from the Metro Kino, animated pictures will be “brought to dance” with live music, also in cooperation with the Filmarchiv. Talking about music: arguably the most beloved form of short film, the music video, will finally find its due place in the course of this year’s festival. While the experts from FM4 will look back on the best international music videos of the past decades, the development of Austrian music videos will also be evaluated (Screensessions). And at the Forum it will finally be proved that you can discuss a short film at least as long as you could its longer cinematic colleagues.
- film still: TXT Island
That the festival is able to present such an unparalleled spectrum of events is mainly thanks to the City of Vienna, the Federal Ministry of Education, Art and Culture, the Austrian Film Institute, the VDFS, as well as the Society for Film and Music Industry (FAF) and the Collecting Society for Audio-Visual Media (VAM). And also the open-minded audience which grows bigger every year and encounters the genre of short films with great curiosity and now mostly no longer has the need of elaborate explanations as to what the deal with short films is. Put simply: Life is Short. Life’s Good.