Clermont-Ferrand Festival of Short Films

January 26- Feb 3

The 23rd edition
of "the Cannes of short films" has a new building to call its own and offers
enough movies to choke a horse or drive a mad cow sane. The carefully curated
and insanely well-attended annual event got underway January 26 and presents
its coveted and often quite generous slate of awards on the night of Feb 3.

It often seems
like every college student in town is playing hooky to stand in line as a prelude
to swarming into one of the far flung screening venues. But the proof that Clermont-Ferrand
is vital beyond its sheer entertainment value for scruffy youth, is the ever-increasing
presence of serious professionals at the market, which celebrates its 16th edition
this year. It's not unusual for film buyers from Korea or New Zealand to stop
off here en route to Berlin.

Some 600 French
films were submitted for the National Competition. Of these, ten percent made
the final cut. Programmers received 1650 entries for the International Competition;
76 made the program. Clermont-Ferrand is supposed to salute "short" films but
French shorts, in particular, are stretching out like Silly Putty.

French entries
are increasingly likely to be long and dreary rather than short and sweet. This
year's major retrospectives highlight shorts from Spain and from prolific South
Korea. Tributes are devoted to Hitchcock and to France's own Chris Marker. The
fest's new headquarters at place Michel-de-l'Hospital is a year-round repository
for archival info on short films. In a lovely gesture, the building is named
for Marker's seminal short: La Jetée.

Lisa
Nesselson