Organised by the team behind the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the 14^th edition of the Prague Short Film Festival is set to bring a feast of shorts to audiences in the Czech Republic. The programme promises a number of audience favourites – including 2018s Palme D’or winner for Best Short All These Creatures (Charles Williams, Australia) – and new discoveries amongst its competitions and retrospectives.

The International Competition, which runs across four programmes, will include Sandhya Suri’s The Field (France/India/UK). The impressive and powerful account of an Indian woman who lives a double life already comes with strong reputation on the circuit thanks to award wins at the likes of Toronto and Leeds. Another film with an award winning pedigree is Dawid Badzak’s Tremors, a staccato and raw account of teenage life which won Best International Film at the 2018 Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, while Summer and All The Rest (L’été et tout le reste) (Sven Bresser, Netherlands), another evocation of young life, continues an impressive festival run after premiering at Venice in 2018.

Prague Shorts also highlights some of the best domestic product in its National Competition and includes Reconstruction, a disturbing tale of a teenage criminal who reconstructs the terrible crime he has committed. Ondřej Novák and Jiří Havlíček’s film is based on a true story and saw the duo become the first Czech directors to enter the competitive section of Locarno’s Pardi di domani for 17 years. Also on hand will be the Czech Film Centre to showcase its annual Czech Short Film Collection.

Festival retrospectives will include Quinzaine 50 which, on the 50^th anniversary of La Quinzaine des Réalisateurs, will present a selection of recent short films that exemplify the journey of discovery that makes up the parallel section to the Cannes Film Festival. The selection will include Rate Me (UK, 2015), Fyzal Boulifa’s bold and provocative deconstruction of gender and identity in a social media obsessed world. Quinzaine programme Laurence Reymond will also attend the festival to present industry event Quinzaine 50 – How The Films Are Chosen, which will examine the “hows” and “whys” of getting a film selected for the programme.

Portuguese filmmaker Gabriel Abrantes will also come under focus in From Gabriel With Love, a selection of the intellectually challenging – and often very funny – short films from the filmmaker whose recent feature film debut Diamantino [+lire aussi :
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A filmmaker who has already left an indelible impression on the world is Ingmar Bergman and Bergman Revisited will see how six contemporary Swedish filmmakers have been affected by his legacy 100 years since he was born. The compilation includes the playful short Bergmans Reliquarium directed by Tomas Alfredson, the director of Let The Right One In [+lire aussi :
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interview : John Nordling
interview : Tomas Alfredson
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With a section for more experimental fare alongside special sections focusing on sex, schlock and humour (and one for children who might not be able to handle the other ones), the Prague Short Film Festival is a chance to catch up with those films that already have people talking alongside discovering a few that will do so in the months to come.

The 14^th Prague Short Film Festival runs from 23-27 January at the Svetozor and Pilotů cinemas in Prague.