12. Vienna Shorts

The 12th edition of Austria’s biggest festival for short film, animation and music video screened 321 short films over six days. Around 100 of them competed for the favor of the juries and audience members in the competition categories. More than 200 additional films were shown in curated programs—including the popular Midnight Movies, special programs or the children’s and youth section, which was expanded for the first time. With more than 70 individual events and almost 10,000 visitors, it became the most extensive festival edition to date.

The focus State of the Art was dedicated to short films between cinema and art space, with several film programs as well as an exhibition at the Künstlerhaus created in cooperation with the Wiener Festwochen. In cooperation with the Austrian Film Museum, a retrospective was dedicated to the Academy Award nominated US animation artist Don Hertzfeldt. And with the support of the Filmarchiv Austria, the METRO Kinokulturhaus not only hosted the Scottish Screen Bandita with a pop-up gallery and live performance, but also gave music videos, including a film concert, a new home.

Behind the scenes: VIS becomes a member of the international Short Film Conference and participates in the election of the first “Short of the Year”. In its first year alone, the Vienna Shorts Agency reached about 10,000 visitors and is now active as a separate association. As part of the “Wienwoche”, the Vienna Shorts Agency organizes two political short film walks, the “Money Walks”. The first Electric Spring festival in the Museumsquartier is opened by VIS with a water projection by Robert Seidel and Ritornell. VIS is the first film festival to be awarded the Bank Austria Art Prize, endowed with € 35,000,– in the category “international”.

Catalogue 2015

Schedule 2015

Annual report 2015

Festival doc 2015, Screensessions 2015