Festival SPOTLIGHT – Clermont-Ferrand: the short film capital of the world!
Festival Formula knows as well as anyone just how many short film festivals there are in the world – more than 12,000 listed on FilmFreeway alone – but when you go to Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, with its dedicated Short Film Market, you really feel it.
Experienced by Festival Formula
Written by Mark Brennan
Short film, put simply, is massive.
We had the opportunity to host an exhibition stand in this year’s Short Film Market, which in turn hosts stands from film organisations and even other film festivals from around the world. It was a melting pot of different cultures and backgrounds blended together with a shared love and appreciation of short film. It is a global family that reunites at the end of every January, in a town that could not be more supportive of the medium and those who visit to celebrate it.
There were representatives from Korea, Cuba, Spain, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Canada, and the Baltics, to name a few, and after a few years without UK representation in the market, Festival Formula became the de facto UK stand…
And we loved it.
The camaraderie between all was apparent on arrival, and only increased when each stand hosted its own ‘Meet and Greet’ – a scheduled hour during which traditional delicacies (usually alcoholic) from the host country were offered freely to delegates. Festival Formula followed suit by dishing out a Beefeater gin & tonics and Scottish shortbread and, given the popularity of our own Meet and Greet, we may need to invest in another bottle or two next year!
When the long day on the market is done, every evening there is a party thrown by either one of the host nations in the market or by Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival itself. When people talk about finding their tribe, if you love short films, this is the place to look.
Most rewarding for us as strategists was the opportunity to speak face to face to filmmakers from all over the world and tell them about what we do and why we do it. At the same time, it was fantastic to meet with and learn about more film festivals and other organisations to explore how we might collaborate in future. It was also a chance to catch up with familiar faces who come together from their corner of the world for this particular event.
All this, of course, does not even begin to describe the incredible number of screenings, workshops and events that make up the Clermont-Ferrand programme. It is a festival that is worth attending even if you do not have a film selected for screening. Having said that, by submitting at all, you have the option to include your film in the Videotheque library, which festivals programmers do browse, is available online, and which you can promote while in attendance.
The town of Clermont-Ferrand itself is also perfectly suited to host this event, with a 1500-seater cinema called Théâtre Jean Cocteau, galleries, museums, restaurants, shopping centres and bars galore. Not to mention the huge turn out of local audiences to celebrate the shorts on show.
All in all, we had a wonderful time at Clermont-Ferrand, recommend it to filmmakers everywhere, and can’t wait to return in 2024.
We hope you can join us!