The Winterthur International Short Film Festival (Kurzfilmtage), which will take place from 8 to 13 November this year, has announced its program. This year, the national and international competition programs will showcase current short filmmaking with a total of 55 films, and many Swiss works will celebrate their world premiere.
Among the contenders in the Swiss Competition is The Newt Congress by Matthias Sahli and Immanuel Esser. The screenplay of this short will be presented in a dramatic reading staged by the cultural magazine Coucou on Saturday 12 November. Last year’s winner of the Postproduction Award is another participant of the Swiss Competition: Il Muratore by Matteo Gariglio. Kurzfilmtage is also an international hub, whether for established filmmakers like Jorge Cadena (Flores del otro patio) or upcoming talents like Morgane Frund (Ours). Numerous award-winning works, among which Amok by Balázs Turai and Hideous by Yann Gonzalez, testify to the quality of the selection in this year’s International Competition.
Below are the competition programs:
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
This category presents recent short films from around the globe, showcasing the latest trends in international filmmaking.
- Haulout by Maxim Arbugaev and Evgenia Arbugaeva (United Kingdom)
- Snow in September by Lkhagvadulam (Dulmaa) Purev-Ochir (Mongolia)
- Whatever Moves Is Alive by Noémie Marsily (Belgium)
- Plurabelle by Sacha Amaral (Argentina)
- All My Scars Vanish in the Wind by Angélica Restrepo and Carlos Velandia (Colombia)
- Bleu silico by Eloïse Le Gallo and Julia Borderie (France)
- British Boys by Marcus Curvelo (Brazil)
- The Fruit Tree by Isabelle Tollenaere (Belgium)
- It’s Raining Frogs Outside by Maria Estela Paiso (Philippines)
- Chords by Estibaliz Urresola (Spain)
- Scarce by Clara Anastácia and Gabriela Gaia Meirelles (Brazil)
- The Water Murmurs by Story Chen (China)
- Hotel Kalura by Sophie Koko Gate (United Kingdom)
- 2nd Person by Rita Barbosa (Portugal)
- Lake of Fire by Art Collective NEOZOON (Germany)
- After Work by Ben Rivers and Céline Condorelli (United Kingdom)
- Perfect Two by Xandra Popescu (Germany/Romania)
- The Making of Crime Scenes by Che-Yu Hsu (France)
- Mulika by Maisha Maene (Congo, Dem. Rep.)
- By Flávio by Pedro Cabeleira (France/Portugal)
- Neighbour Abdi by Douwe Dijkstra (Netherlands)
- 38 by Daniel Chew/Micaela Durand (USA)
- Hysteresis by Robert Seidel (Germany)
- Becoming Male in the Middle Ages by Pedro Neves Marques (Portugal)
- Amok by Balázs Turai (Hungary/Romania)
- 45th Parallel by Lawrence Abu Hamdan (United Kingdom)
- F1ghting Looks Different 2 Me Now by Fox Maxy (USA)
- Backflip by Nikita Diakur (Germany/France)
- A Nonconformist by Pimpaka Towira (Thailand)
- Headprickles by Katarzyna Miechowicz (Poland)
- Hideous by Yann Gonzalez (United Kingdom)
- Aribada by Natalia Escobar and Simon(e) Jaikiriuma Paetau (Germany/Colombia)
- Hardly Working by Total Refusal (Austria)
- Nest by Hlynur Pálmason (Iceland/Denmark)
- The Sea Is Also Yours by Michelle Coelho (Brazil/Cuba)
The jury of the International Competition is made up of film programmer and director of Tenerife Shorts José Cabrera Betancourt; programmer, lecturer and co-director of the EMAF in Osnabrück Katrin Mundt; Italian director Martina Scarpelli; Iranian filmmaker Maryam Tafakory and consultant, creative advisor, programmer, curator, and tutor Wim Vanacker.
SWISS COMPETITION
This category presents recent short films from Switzerland.
- The Misanthrope by Noa Epars
- Epidermal by Océane Wannaz
- Les Grands Prés by Sophia Remer and Michael Karrer (France/Switzerland)
- Stones Don’t Fly by Nikita Merlini
- Pipes by Jessica Meier, Kilian Feusi and Sujanth Ravichandran
- Bitter September by Sophia Farantatou
- The Newt Congress by Matthias Sahli and Immanuel Esser
- But What Does It Mean by Julie Ecoffey
- Ours by Morgane Frund
- 10 Missed Calls by Coline Confort
- Incidences by Mischa Hedinger and Michela Flück
- The Deceased by Philipp Veiga Amaro
- Cyril & Louise by Alexandre Schild
- capricorn sunset by Johannes Binotto
- Think Something Nice by Claudius Gentinetta
- Dust Away by Dea Gjinovci and Tanita Rahmani (USA/Switzerland)
- Flores del otro patio by Jorge Cadena
- The Mason by Matteo Gariglio
- The Parade by Michail Galanopoulos (Switzerland/Greece)
The jury of the Swiss Competition consists of senior programmer and editor for the Norwegian Short Film Festival and co-founder of the Faroe Islands International Minority Film Festival Bard Ydén; Swiss director Elie Grappe and festival distributor, sales agent and founder of Kino Rebelde María Vera.
SPARKS I & II
With this program, the festival hopes to spark a passion for the medium of short film. The shorts in both the Sparks I and Sparks II sections represent a broad range of current filmmaking. Moreover, the selection is meant to appeal to multigenerational audiences and inspire discussion.
- Fledge by Hani Dombe and Tom Kouris (France/Israel)
- Crushed by Ella Rocca (Switzerland)
- Tsutsué by Amartei Armar (France/Ghana)
- Au revoir Jérôme! by Adam Sillard, Chloé Farr and Gabrielle Selnet (France)
- Datsun by Mark Albiston (New Zealand)
- Jules & I by Anne Ballon (Belgium)
- The Invention of Less by Noah Erni (Switzerland)
- Discussion animée entre entendeurs de voix by Tristan Thil (France)
- Ana Takes a Stand by Sydney Buchan (Germany/Portugal)
- Haulout by Maxim Arbugaev and Evgenia Arbugaeva (United Kingdom)
- Klimax by Bea Hoeller (Germany)
- Ours by Morgane Frund (Switzerland)
- The Flying Sailor by Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis (Canada)
Los Estados Andinos, Israel, and Kurdwin Ayub are in Focus this year.
From magic realism to essayistic documentary, from family relations to social critique, from landscape footage to mega cities: the eight programs of Los Estados Andinos bring a variety of realities to the big screen, raising uncomfortable questions about issues that currently confront the seven Andean nations of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.
Three of the four programs dedicated to Israel address issues of identity and memory: “Reflections on Identity,” “Replay Memory,” and “Borderline,” with the latter referencing national borders as well as mental states in a conflict zone where daily life offers many shades of grey between simple black and white. The fourth program is dedicated to the theme “Mother/Daughter.”
Commemorative practices, reflections on identity, family relationships, and borders in both the geographical and mental sense – these are four weighty and highly complex themes in a country like Israel. The shorts in the “Country in Focus” explore the past and present of this still young nation, illuminating the historic premises of its existence, the ubiquitous conflicts on multiple fronts, the militarization of everyday life, and family relationships within this context.
Kurdwin Ayub, this year’s “Person in Focus,” is one of Austrian cinema’s most interesting voices. Her works address gender roles, identity and migration, patriarchal structures, youth culture, and the fast pace of our time – always in an authentic and personal manner. In addition to a Master Class with the director, a program of her shorts as well as her feature-length film, Sonne (2022, awarded as best first feature at Berlinale) will invite critical reflection.
Moreover, the festival will present an array of films in various non-competitive sections such as “Swiss Film School Day,” which is a presentation of from Switzerland’s film schools, with live feedback and an award show; “Hors Concours,” which presents recent shorts from Zurich, Switzerland, and around the world screened out of competition as well as other highlights: team favorites, an email dialogue, and “Expanded Cinema.” Indeed, additional curated programs will showcase the wide range of short filmmaking: “Death by Sports” is a cinematic homage to the absurdity of sports; the cult program “Dismissed” features films that didn’t make the competition selection despite being dear to at least one member of the selection team; and “Films in Dialogue – Re: Dear Oleksiy …” is a program that evolved intuitively and collaboratively from an email dialogue between John Canciani and Ukrainian filmmaker, author, and activist Oleksiy Radynski.
In the “Expanded Cinema” section, the medium of film moves into new spheres. Installations, performances, and an outdoor stroll through town will broaden our horizons: Swiss artist Hannes Schüpbach will present a performance with cellist Flurin Cuonz and Werner von Mutzenbecher, whereas the collective A Wall is a Screen from Hamburg will make familiar locations in the city appear – quite literally – in a new light. Speculative fiction, postapocalyptic worlds, and immersive video installations by creatives such as North American artist Alice Bucknell or the Swiss team frölicher | bietenhader | pifragile will also invite exploration.
The full program can be found on the festival’s website: https://www.kurzfilmtage.ch/
