Shorts

In a strange town, the relationship of a group of friends is tested when a new person joins them. The manipulative personality of the new group member has worrying consequences and challenges the loyalty of the friends. Are there any elements of this story that are autobiographical? Are the friends based on people you know? The story is inspired by an episode from my late teens when I was living in a student flat in Liverpool. Some of the characters are based on people I knew at the (…)

Detainment is based on transcripts of the interrogation of 10 year-olds Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, who murdered toddler James Bulger in 1993. How did you learn about children’s transcripts? I was 12 when it happened and I grew up hearing about the case. I could never understand how these two ten-year-old boys could commit such a horrific crime. A lot of people will say they were simply “evil”. I think it’s easier to label them “evil” than to try to understand how two ten-year-old (…)

Comment avez-vous appris l’existence des transcriptions des interrogatoires de l’affaire James Bulger ? J’avais douze ans au moment de l’affaire, et j’en ai entendu parler toute ma jeunesse. Je n’arrivais pas à comprendre comment ces deux garçons de dix ans avaient pu commettre un crime aussi horrible. Beaucoup de gens disent qu’ils étaient juste foncièrement « mauvais ». Mais je pense qu’il est plus facile de dire cela que de tenter de comprendre comment des enfants peuvent se rendre (…)

Can you explain your choice of title? Is it a Brazilian saying? It’s not a Brazilian saying. There’s a sentence in a book called Os Cus de Judas (“The Land at the End of the World”), by António Lobo Antunes, a Portuguese writer, which says “triste como a chuva num recreio de colégio” (“sad like rain during recess time” in English) that I really liked. I remembered this sentence when I started thinking about the film. I changed its intensity by adding “mais triste que” (“sadder than”), for (…)

Interview with Veljko Popovic, director of the beautiful, hypnotic and playful Biciklisti. Can you tell us about cycling season? I’m assuming it’s a real event! The spirit of the local people in my hometown is entangled with sports. It can be football, it can be basketball, water polo or cycling. It does not matter, what matters is the iconic position of the sportsman as the alpha male in the pack. He is revered, lusted after and considered to be the best of man. He knows this and is (…)

Interview with Thomas Elley, director of the cryptic and unsettling Bølger [Open Spaces] in the international competition. I assume Open Spaces [the English title] refers to the filming location. Can you tell us a bit more about this place and its community? Yes, it does. The fun thing is that the original title of the film is “Bølger” which is Danish for “waves”. And I hated that title in English, so I went on this big hunt for a new one. Finally, I settled on Open Spaces, which I felt (…)

Interview with the French filmmaker Ismaël Joffroy Chandoutis about his short film Swatted selected as part of the 2019 Lab Competition (L1 programme). A video directed by the students of the ARFIS École, in collaboration with the Brasserie du Court and Mydylarama. Ismaël Joffroy Chandoutis is back at Clermont with a second award-winning short. Café court / Expresso Video - Ismaël Joffroy Chandoutis from ClermontFd Short Film Festival on Vimeo.

Interview with Taiwanese filmmaker Pang-Chuan Huang around his short film "Last Year When the Train Passed by" selected as part of the 2019 Lab Competition (L5 programme). A video directed by the students of the ARFIS École in collaboration with the Brasserie du Court and the Mydylarama team. Pang directed the Grand Prix-winning Retour in 2018. What were you doing last year when I took this photo from a train passing by in front of your house? Café court / Expresso Video - Pang-Chuan (…)

Interview with the Chilian filmmaker Luis Cifuentes about his short film "En Busca de un Tierno Silencio" selected as part of the 2019 International Competition (I3 programme). A video directed by the students of the ARFIS École in collaboration with the Brasserie du Court and Mydylarama. A man returns to Chile after years living in exile to try and find his friend who was disappeared during Pinochet’s dictatorship. Café court / Expresso Video - Luis Cifuentes from ClermontFd Short Film (…)

Argentin filmmaker Inés Gowland talks about her short film "Destete" selected as part of the 2019 International Competition (I4 programme). A video directed by the students of the ARFIS École in collaboration with La Brasserie du Court / Mydylarama. Teresa returns to Argentina determined to sell the family farm, but excessive rain forces her to stay, while allowing Ernesto, the presumptuous man who runs it, to convince her to keep it. Café court / Expresso Video - Inés Gowland from (…)