Official competition selections for the 46th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival have been announced. Organizers note that the record-high number of submissions this year forecasts a “return to normal” with production picking up after years of COVID challenges. More than 9,400 films were entered for consideration from around the world, including 2,000 French productions. The festival will take place February 2 to 10.
Grand Prix winners of the Clermont-Ferrand International and National competitions qualify for the Academy Awards short film categories.
In the International Competition, audiences can discover 66 films hailing from 52 countries — including the following animated projects:
- Almost Forgotten | Miguel Lima, Dimitri Mihajlovic | Portugal
- Beautiful Men | Nicolas Keppens | Belgium, Netherlands
- A Crab in the Pool | Alexandra Myotte, Jean-Sébastien Hamel | Canada
- Ghost of the Dark Path | Fish Wang | Taiwan
- Matta and Matto | Bianca Caderas, Kerstin Zemp | Switzerland
- Miisufy | Liisi Grünberg | Estonia
- Wander to Wonder | Nina Gantz | Netherlands, France, Belgium
- The Miracle | Nienke Deutz | Belgium, France, Netherlands
- Nun or Never! | Heta Jäälinoja | Finland
- Villa Madjo | Elen Sylla Grollimund | Belgium
- The Waiting | Volker Schlecht | Germany
Showcasing French creativity, this year’s National Competition received 1,957 entries, including far-flung co-productions with Colombia, Morocco, Japan, Quebec, Belgium and others. Only 2.3% of the submissions made the cut of 45 films. Animated fiction and documentary competitors include:
- 27 | Flóra Anna Buda | France, Hungary
- Father’s Letters | Alexey Evstigneev | France, Russia
- Margarethe 89 | Lucas Malbrun
- Maurice’s Bar | Tom Prezman, Tzor Edery | France, Israel
- On the 8th Day | Théo Duhautois, Alicia Massez, Elise Debruyne, Agathe Sénéchal, Flavie Carin
- La Perra | Carla Melo Gampert | France, Colombia
- The Purple Season | Clémence Bouchereau
- Pushing Up Daisies | Chloé Farr
- Summer 96 | Mathilde Bédouet
Clermont-Ferrand also disclosed the films in the Lab competition section, which will spotlight the work of social and political activist filmmaker Chris Marker and the return of up-and-coming Taiwanese director Pang-chuan Huang to the festival. Animation in the spotlight of this section includes:
- Alien0089 | Valeria Hofmann | Chile, Argentina
- All Gucci My Broski | Harry Plowden | U.K.
- The Choolers: Fish & Meat | Monsieur Pimpant | Belgium
- Criss Cross | Tomáš Rybár, Nina Rybárová | Slovakia, Czech Republic
- A Kind of Testament | Stephen Vuillermin | France
- Miserable Miracle | Ryo Orikasa | Japan, France, Canada
- Such Miracles Do Happen | Barbara Rupik | Poland
- Via Dolorosa | Rachel Gutgarts | France
- Wild Summon | Saul Freed, Karni Arieli | U.K.
- World to Roam | Stephen Irwin | U.K.
Visit clermont-filmfest.org for more information and to discover all the competition selections.
