17. Vienna Shorts

In 2020, VIENNA SHORTS took place exclusively online for the first time due to the Corona pandemic. Our perception of how a film festival can be programmatically designed was neatly shaken up in the run-up: How can cinema be presented without a big screen and dark auditorium? How can a networking of talents be made possible, a discourse on content be forced, a social experience be created when we are all at home at our laptops? How can we create something like a festival feeling in the digital space?

In collaboration with filmmakers and distributors, we found solutions to transfer around 300 short feature films and documentaries, animations and experimental films, music videos and hybrid formats into the online format in the best possible way. In the months before, we had already revised the festival’s long-standing program structure, making it clearer and introducing a new section, EXPEDITION, which allows for cinematic research journeys based on theme, genre or region. The thematic focus CO VADIS, PANDEMIE? told in seven programs about isolation, the longing for closeness and for the cinema space or also about the contradictions in the digital space.

Behind the scenes: In 2020, the festival was awarded the title of EcoEvent of the City of Vienna. In addition, the development of a new visual identity for the festival was implemented in a multi-stage process together with the Viennese design studio TEAM. We shortened our festival name, the logo became more poignant and clearer, the website was adapted to the requirements of a digital festival future. In parallel, we developed a streaming platform tailored to festivals together with the short film festivals of Oberhausen (DE), Nijmegen (NL) and Poznan (PL) as well as the Dutch software company Filmchief.

Festival animation 2020

Annual report 2020