Canada’s short filmmakers in the virtual spotlight at Clermont-Ferrand

28 • 01

Short films will take the spotlight at the 43rd Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, taking place this year as an online event, January 29 through February 6, 2021, alongside the Short Film Market from February 1 to 5! Canada will be at both fest and market, with six shorts in competition (including two coproductions); a selection of Short Film Market Picks and more!

Five shorts in the International competition:

  • Joanna Quinn’s Affairs of the Art: This U.K -Canada coproduction is an animated comedy about a 59-year old factory worker-slash-artist named Beryl, produced with the National Film Board of Canada.
  • Sarra El Abed’s Ain’t no Time for Women (Y’a pas d’heure pour les femmes): Set in Tunisia on the night of an election, this documentary brings us into the perspectives of women gathered at a hair salon.
  • Salar Pashtoonyar’s Bad Omen: Making its international premiere, this tale of a tailor in Afghanistan trying to get her prescription glasses won Best Canadian Short at the Vancouver International Film Festival!
  • Lev Lewis’s Every Day’s Like This: This film has been making waves on the festival circuit, from the Toronto International Film Festival to VIFF, Festival du nouveau cinéma (FNC). It’s also heading to the Slamdance Festival.
  • Zoé Pelchat’s Moon (Lune): Can romance bring redemption when a cook (who used to be in prison) asks a customer out? This filmmaker’s short film debut picked up a Special Jury Mention at VIFF! (It follows her 2018 series Dominos, which snagged a Canneseries prize for Best Digital Series.)

Next up, in the Lab competition:

  • Daniel Gray’s Hide (Caché): This France-Hungary-Canada coproduced animated short (with the National Film Board of Canada) uses a game of hide and seek between young brothers as a scary metaphor for disconnection, when one hides so well he stays hidden for always, isolated. 

Canada’s Short Film Market Picks:

  • Omar Elhamy’s Foam (Écume)
  • Philippe Arsenault’s A Birthday (Un jour de fête)
  • Annie St-Pierre’s Like the Ones I Used to Know (Les grandes claques)
  • Yoakim Bélanger’s The Walk (La marche)
  • Paul Shkordoff’s Benjamin, Benny, Ben
  • Hamza Bangash’s Bhai
  • Diana Thorneycroft’s Black Forest Sanatorium
  • Sandra Desmazières’s Like a River (Comme un fleuve)
  • Clifton Thomas’s Hunting with Vince
  • Claude Cloutier’s Bad Seeds (Mauvaises herbes)
  • Connor Gaston’s Ohrwurm
  • Sasha Argilov’s Personals
  • Jason Todd and Charles-Émile Lafrance’s Sous l’artillerie des moteurs
  • Nisha Platzer’s Vaivén

ImagineNative Short Focus:

  • Tom Mcleod’s Greed Story and Audrey’s Story
  • Lisa Jackson’s Lichen
  • Evelyn Pakinewatik’s Mooz Miikan
  • Alisi Telengut’s The Fourfold
  • Banchi Hanuse’s Nuxalk Radio
  • Glenn Gear’s Katinngak
  • Theola Ross’s Êmîcêtôcêt – Many Bloodlines

Psst: Check out Canada’s market program Not Short on Talent and Québec’s programme (Québec en courts/SODEC) here.

Showcasing our Canadian talent

Mark your calendars for January 31! Canadian filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée will offer a master class online as part of the Short Film Conference. And February 1, virtual attendees who’ve signed up for Short Film Wire won’t want to miss a talk by Jean-Christophe J. Lamontagne of h264 Distribution.

Bonus: Short film market participants are invited to come and meet the Canadians during the online Clermont-Ferrand’s Happy Hour on February 3.

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