Short Film Market 2011 – Some News

A particular edition, with good and bad news.

Let’s start with the saddest of them all: our British friends will no longer be grouped on the biggest space of the Short Film Market, where we were used to having them for about 10 years.

The British government has decided to suppress the UK Film Council (UKFC), the main organisation managing and distibuting funding for the film industry in the United Kingdom which allowed a dozen of organisations working in the production, distribution and exhibition of UK short films to access the Market.

In this difficult scenario, we are happy to welcome :

Candella Films, small British organisation working in the field of independent film production, educational workshops, international distribution and short film programming, both theatrically and as part of film festivals. By being persistent and organising several meetings, Candella Films managed to secure  the necessary funding to have a stand on the market sharing the space with Salford University. Salford is twinned with Clermont-Ferrand.

We also welcome the presence of Scotland, which, in a similar context, managed to put together the funding required for a stand, thus allowing Scottish Short films to gain exposure and be represented through Creative Scotland, the newly created organisation in charge of promoting the Scottish arts scene nationally and internationally.

Welcome to the 4 new countries coming to the Market : Brazil, Chili, Croatia and Malaysia. As a result, the Latin-American presence will be particularly strong and further reinforced by the presence of Isat, one of Argentina’s major TV channels, whose short film programmer will attend Clermont-Ferrand’s Short Film Market for the first time.

Changes for Spain :

Because of problems in many ways similar to those of the UK, Spain’s presence has also gone through a form of restructuring by abandoning the big communal stand where all the different regions used to co-exist under the single label ‘Shorts From Spain’. With governmental funding no longer available, there will be 5 Spanish regions on 5 different stands.

With Croatia attending the Market for the first year, the hub of the new European countries gets stronger: besides Croatia, Poland, Czech Republic and Romania return to Clermont.

Malaysia strengthens the Asian presence, which up until this year was only represented by Thailand, South Korea (5 organisations on the stand as opposed to 2 in 2010) and Japan, all of which confirmed their presence in this 2011 edition.

Finally, China joins us

Groupe Shenzen, operating mainly in the fields of TV and media is organising the second edition of the International China New Media Shorts Award. At the time when they contacted us, there were no more stands available, however a selected communication space has been especially reserved for them in the exhibition hall to highlight their presence, along the terrace of the Plateau Media Rendez Vous, and their festival will be presented as part of the Forum on Thursday 10th February. Their visibility will be thus fully ensured.

A big thank-you to all the organisations which have attended the market for several years, for their loyalty and commitment. With 32 countries represented on its exhibition hall, The Short Film Market confirms its international dimension and for the first time welcomes an Italian subtitling company, Raggio Verde & EVM as well as CineGuest, an internet platform entirely devoted to Short Films, the content and functioning of which will be unveiled and previewed in Clermont-Ferrand.

Kodak which has been a partner of the festival for 20 years, joins the exhibiting for the first time space to allow the young filmmakers they support from years through their “Kodak new talents” market screenings, a more efficient access to the Short Film Market professionam network.

Be aware and discover the Educational Programs and Resources FROM KODAK – Wednesday 9th February, 2.30 PM and 4.30 PM – La Maison internationale

With regards to business, despite the crisis, the number of acquisitions has remained stable, with a turnover of around 800 000 euros and a 2011 edition ready to welcome international TV channels programming short films as well as a multitude of distributors, festival representatives, dvd publishers and other programmers and international broadcasters.

Finally, don’t miss the forums, from Monday to Thursday from 10h00 to 16h00, gradin 44  and visit the stands and their representatives.