Clermont-Ferrand 2023
Swiss diversity at the world's most important short film festival
22.01.2023
This years’ edition of Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (Jan. 28 – Feb. 5, 2023) is featuring a remarkable selection of 12 short films from Switzerland. The world's most comprehensive festival for short film is presenting 400 films from 50 countries.
Three very different Swiss shorts are part of the International Competition. Matthias Joulaud and Lucien Roux portray a grandfather and grandson on a remote Irish island in their 30-minute documentary RAMBOY. Produced with Akka Films, the Master ECAL/HEAD film received awards at DOK Leipzig and IDFA, among others. The ultra-short animated film BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN? by Julie Ecoffey was produced as a diploma film at HSLU. AS THE LEFT BEHIND by Aurélie Oliveira Pernet (GoldenEggProduction) follows its protagonist through a Portuguese summer ravaged by fires. The Swiss-Portuguese coproduction has already screened at several renowned festivals.
The National Competition features two short feature films coproduced with France. FAIRPLAY by Zoel Aeschbacher (Box Productions) had its world premiere at the Pardi di domani in Locarno and has already received several festival awards. Aeschbacher's debut film BONOBO received the Audience Award at Clermont-Ferrand as well as a Student Academy Award in 2018 and is screening in a Special Screening this year.
Basile Vuillemin's also award-winning short fiction film THE SILENT ONES is a coproduction by Lausanne based Imaginastudio with Belgium and France.
The short film PLEASE MAKE IT WORK by Portuguese director Daniel Soares is screening in the Labo Competition. The film was produced as part of a Locarno Film Academy workshop.
Swiss animation for a young audience
The richness of the Swiss animated film scene nd can be discovered in the six selected films of the Young Audience competition. THE SMORTLYBACKS COME BACK! is the second film featuring the funny Smortlyback characters by Molly Monster creator Ted Sieger. THE RECORD by Jonathan Laskar and THE QUEEN OF THE FOXES by Marina Rosset both won awards at the Annecy Animation Film Festival. MAREA by Giulia Martinelli was produced in the renowned Swiss animation studio Nadasdy Film, as was LOST BRAIN by the well-known animator Isabelle Favez. Finally, IDODO by Ursula Ulmi tells a lovingly illustrated saga from Papua New Guinea.
SWISS FILMS is representing Swiss short filmmaking with a booth at the Clermont-Ferrand Film Market (Jan. 30 – Feb. 3, 023). Discover the many other current short films in our new SWISS FILMS booklet SHORTS 2023.