30/01/2003

Over 500 films and a record-breaking 13,000 paying visitors form the backbone of the 25th edition of the International Short Film Festival of Clermont-Ferrand. The world’s pre-eminent specialist event will unroll this year from 31 January to 8 February.
This year’s programme includes three competitions : 81 short films from 49 countries will be screened in the international section, 65 in the French one and 43 in the digital section that includes animation, documentaries and experimental films. The programme is the result of a painstaking preparation by the members of the festival’s three committees : that number is fully justified by the fact that Clermont Ferrand is considered to be a must for 85 per cent of the world’s short film productions. The committees saw a record 3688 short films between September and December.
The Clermont-Ferrand sidebar events include numerous retrospectives dedicated to Algeria, Germany, Venice and Australian Aborigenes. Numerous meetings will allow industry operators to take stock of the state of the market. They include the self-explanatory "The Future of Shorts on French Television" and " Meetings with German Cinema" .
Clermont Ferrand is also known as “the Cannes of short films” will almost certainly launch new talents. Past winners of this event include Jean-Jacques Beneix, Manuel Poirier, Cédric Klapisch, François Ozon and Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

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(Translated from French)