In Clermont-Ferrand, the 46th edition of the International Short Film Festival gives pride of place to women

The Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, the largest event of its kind in the world, opens Friday February 2, 2024. It will highlight women, in a 46th edition impacted by financial constraints.

It’s an unmissable event in Auvergne. The Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, the largest event of its kind in the world, will take place from February 2 to 10, 2024. With more than 500 screenings spread across different programs, this 46th edition will highlight women.

“Women will be present everywhere: in films, at the heart of discussions, professional meetings or conferences offered to the public, and finally on stage”, underline the organizers. Behind the lens or in front of the camera, they will be at the heart of the event, including a retrospective entitled “Rebellious, Portraits of rebellious women”, bringing together films from 12 countries, from 1971 to 2021. Fiction, animation, comedies, thrillers: the three competitions, national, international and Lab, will offer 133 short films, chosen from 9,400 registered films. Eleven women members of the jury, directors, journalists, screenwriters, will be responsible for deciding the winners.

Unlike other years, it is not a country that the festival will highlight, but a continent: Europe. And more particularly 24 European directors, like the Swiss Corina Schwingruber Ilic, who torpedo the consumerist failings of society in “All Inclusive”.

For the third year, the prize for best Queer film will be awarded to a film from one of the three competitions which, beyond LGBT themes, “will present an opening onto a world resistant to standards”according to the organizers.

The Short Film Market, a meeting place for the short format industry, will take place from Monday February 5 to Friday February 8.

A subsidy halved

For the first time in its history, the festival was forced to reduce the number of programs in its competitions. Thus, the national selection will go from 12 to 10 programs, and the international, from 14 to 12. The price of tickets also had to be slightly increased. “It is indeed the three difficult years that we have just gone through that have forced us to make these decisions”, declared President Eric Roux. The 2021 edition had to take place online and the next one was disrupted by health measures.

The subsidy from the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region to the festival was also reduced by half in the spring. Going from 200,000 to 100,000 euros, on a total budget of 3.2 million euros.