Curtas Vila do Conde 2014: definitely not offside

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em… Although it’s maybe a little over the top, that could be one of the slogans for the 22^nd edition of the Vila de Conde Short Film Festival (Curtas Vila do Conde), which kicks off tomorrow (and runs until 13 July), taking place at the same time as the final week of the inescapable Brazil World Cup. And in an attempt to capture the Portuguese audience, which tends to be fairly obsessed with “the beautiful game”, those organising the event have decided to break down the dichotomy between art and sport, and instead celebrate football and the impact that it has on society and film.

Therefore, a 2004 experimental short by Portuguese director Miguel Gomes (Tabu) and the documentary Forza Bastia, shot by Jacques Tati in 1978 and edited by his daughter Sophie Tatischeff in 2000, will feature among the works that can be seen in the short-film screenings of the “Offside” special section. Within that same section, there is also a scheduled screening of The Second Game, the latest feature by Romania’s Corneliu Porumboiu, and two “film-concert” events: in one of these, Victor Rua and Chris Cutler will provide a musical interpretation of the images created by experimental Portuguese director Edgar Pêra, and in the other, the group Sensible Soccers will perform over archive footage from collector Pedro Maia. And this is all because we expect nothing less from cinema than the ability to stir up just as many emotions in us as the goals that Cristiano Ronaldo ended up not scoring in the World Cup.

This nod to football is just one of the attractions of an edition that will also pay tribute to Michelangelo Antonioni in the Solar Cinematic Art Gallery and will present a programme dedicated to American indie director Kelly Reichardt (River of Grass).

As in every edition, this year’s festival will again feature the traditional international and national competitions. Foreign directors such as Nicolás Pereda, Valérie Massadian, Laurent Achard and Radu Jude will be back in the Vila do Conde competition this year, while the sidebars reserved for domestic production – the competitive and Panorama sections – include well-known names like Teresa Villaverde, Sandro Aguilar, Rodrigo Areias and Gabriel Abrantes, rubbing shoulders with other talented newcomers who are set to be discovered at the festival and whose progress can be followed over the next week on the Cineuropa Shorts platform.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 

The Dam Keeper – Robert Kondo / Dice Tsutsumi
USA

Person To Person – Dustin Guy Defa
USA

Cambodia 2099 – Davy Chou
France/Cambodia

Radio Atacama – Victor Cerdán
Spain

The Obvious Child – Stephen Irwin
UK

It Can Pass Though the Wall – Radu Jude
Romania

The Immaculate Reception – Charlotte Glynn
USA

The Claustrum – Jay Rosenblatt
USA

Le jour nous écoute – Félix Dufour-Laperrière
Canada

Afronauts  - Frances Bodomo
USA

Jutra – Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre
Canada

Hotel and a Ball – Laila Pakalnina
Lithuania

The Chicken – Una Gunjak
Germany/Croatia

The Numberlys – William Joyce/Brandon Oldenburg
USA

Cloro – Marcelo Grabowsky
Brazil

Sem Coraçao - Tiao / Nara Normande
Brazil

Audition – Bob Byington
USA

Peine Perdue – Arthur Arari
France

Playhouse of A. – Benjamin Schindler
Germany/USA

Emergency Calls – Pekka Velkkoainen/Hannes Vartlainen
Finland

Habana – Edouard Salier
France

En août – Jenna Hasse
Switzerland

Panique au village: la buche de noel - Vincent Patar/Stéphane Aubier
France/Belgium

America – Valérie Massadian
France

Giant – Salla Tykka
Romania/Finland

Le Tableau – Laurent Achard
France

El Palacio – Nicolás Pereda
Canada/Mexico

Three Stones for Jean Genet - Frieder Schlaich
Germany

Tant qu’il nous reste des fusil à pompe - Caroline Poggi/Jonathan Vinel
France

Washingtonia – Konstantina Kotzamani
Greece

NATIONAL COMPETITION

First Light – Mariana Galvao
Portugal/Canada

Hospedaria – Pedro Neves
Portugal

Zeroville – Sérgio Pedro Ribeiro
Portugal

Le Boudin – Salomé Lamas
Portugal/Germany

O Canto dos 4 Caminhos – Nuno Amorim
Portugal

Levantamento – Jacinto Lucas Pires
Portugal

O Triângulo Dourado – Miguel Clara Vasconcelos
Portugal

Os Sonâmbulos – Patrick Mendes
Portugal

Cinema – Rodrigo Areias
Portugal

O Pesadelo de Joao – Francisco Botelho
Portugal

False Twins – Sandro Aguilar
Portugal

Sara e a Sua Mae – Teresa Villaverde
Portugal/Bosnia

Miami – Simao Cayatte
Portugal

Fuligem – David Doutel
Portugal

Outono – Marco Amaral
Portugal

Fortunato – D’Aqui Até S. Torcato – Joao Rodrigues
Portugal

Taprobana – Gabriel Abrantes
Portugal