This is another of those cross-cutting cycles enjoyed by those of us who are members of the shared screen, and that we wish to showcase in the programme for the first quarter.
This is another of those cross-cutting cycles enjoyed by those of us who are members of the shared screen, and that we wish to showcase in the programme for the first quarter. We’ve been demonstrating our interest in and support for short film for years now, and the cycle has become something of a fixture. Diversity of film length is another form of creative expression. The notion of the short film as a lesser format was quashed long ago. We’ve said this many times when comparing film to other arts: just as short stories have their place and their unquestionable masters, and just as miniature Japanese landscapes have gone down in the history of art without fear of being committed to the shadow of oil paintings of court life, so too the short film (or those under 60 minutes, on the border with feature productions) is a space with its own rules and its own possibilities and talents within.
Years back, we started looking at the LABO section of the Clermont-Ferrand Festival. Then came a week dedicated to short film that later turned into a month. We’re now in a whole new phase in which short film has a continued presence throughout our programme.
This ‘short universe’ has its very own space for short films: NEST, a section of the San Sebastián International Film Festival which we have been co-organising for more than a decade. Short films are also part of the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera section which sees films of all durations competing for the same prize.
Our first quarter programme includes around 50 short films ranging from silent through to contemporary, from shorts by Kimuak to the short sessions from Zineskola, and from Buñuel’s short pieces to NEST winning shorts from this year's SSIFF, and more.
Beyond this specific programme for the first three months of the year, what we most want to tell you is that short film is, and will continue be a constant on the Tabakalera screen. Short film doesn't need an exceptional place in the programme but rather a constant one. This is about respecting diversity, whether of duration, style or themes.
Short film is its own genre and space, whether as a starting point on a creative path, a place to come back to between one feature film and the next, or a unique and independent space.
PROGRAMME
Going to Bed Under Difficulties, Georges Méliès, France, 1900, 2 min
The Dancing Pig, Pathé Frères, France, 1907, 3 min
The Electric Hotel, Segundo de Chomón, France, 1908, 9 min
The Haunted House, Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline, USA, 1921, 21 min
The Seashell and the Clergyman, Germaine Dulac, France, 1928, 32 min
For Your Beautiful Eyes, Henri Storck, Belgium, 1929, 8 min
Un Chien Andalou, Luis Buñuel, France, 1929, 17 min
Las Hurdes, Luis Buñuel, Spain, 1933, 30 min
España 1936, Jean-Paul Le Chanois. France/Spain, 1937, 34 min
Along the Coast, Agnès Varda, France, 1958, 25 min
In the Best Interest of The Children, Frances Reid, Elizabeth Stevens and Cathy Zheutlin, USA, 1977, 53 min
A question of choice, Sheffield Film Co-Op, UK, 1982, 18 min
Seeing for ourselves-Women working with film, Margaret Williams, UK, 1983, 56 min
Give Us A Smile, Leeds Animation Workshop, UK, 1983, 13 min
School Without End, Adriana Monti in collaboration with the 150-hour training programme, Italy, 1983, 40 min
Jeune femme à sa fenêtre lisant une lettre, Jean-Claude Rousseau, France, 1983-84, 48 min
Venise n'existe pas, Jean-Claude Rousseau, France, 1984, 11 min
The Live and Hard Times of Susie P. Winklepicker , Deborah Hall and the Woman and the Law Collective, UK, 1986, 35 min
Keep in Touch, Jean-Claude Rousseau, France, 1987, 25 min
Casa Ugalde, Patric Chiha, France, 2004, 20 min
Die Herren, Patric Chiha, Austria, 2005, 52 min
Home, Patric Chiha, Austria/France, 2006, 50 min
El sastre, Óscar Pérez, Spain, 2007, 29 min
On Rubik’s Road, Laila Pakalnina, Latvia, 2010, 30 min
Luisa no está en casa, Celia Rico, Spain, 2012, 19 min
The Long Night, Ashmita Guha, India, 2013, 5 min
In the Rain, Arantza Santesteban and Irati Gorostidi, Spain, 2017, 21 min
A better Tomorrow, Haohao Yan, USA, 2018, 7 min
The Speech, Haohao Yan, USA, 2019, 25 min
Gorria, Maddi Barber, Spain, 2020, 22 min
Barbudos, Larry Mankuso and Tucker Dávila Wood, Spain, 2020, 23 min
Dar-dar, Paul Urkijo, Spain, 2020, 10 min
Ehiza, Hauazkena taldea, Spain, 2020, 5 min
El ruido solar, Pablo Hernando, Spain, 2020, 16 min
Interior taxi noche, Silvia Rey and Iban del Campo, Spain, 2020, 15 min
Quebrantos, Koldo Almandoz and Maria Elorza, Spain, 2020, 8 min
I Don't Sleep Anymore, Marina Palacio, Spain, 2020, 22 min
Fiori, Fiori, Fiori!, Luca Guadagnino, Italy, 2020, 12 min
Hidden, Jafar Panahi, Iran/France, 2020, 18 min
Omelia Contadina, Alice Rohrwachter and JR, Italy, 2020, 9 min
Strasbourg 1518, Jonathan Glazer, UK, 2020, 10 min
Stump the Guesser, Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen
Johnson, Canada, 2020, 19 min
A Night at the Opera, Sergei Loznitsa, France, 2020, 20 min
Cualquier ventana en la que esté, Magdalena Orellana, Spain, 2020, 11 min
Catdog, Ashmita Guha, India, 2020, 21 min
I Don't Sleep Anymore, Marina Palacio, Spain, 2020, 22 min