Clermont announces competition titles for 2017

The Clermont Ferrand International Short Film Festival has announced the titles that will make up its three competitions for 2017. The 39th edition of the festival, which takes place from 3rd-11th February 2017, saw more than 8000 films submitted.

The International Competition will see 75 films from 58 different countries. Amongst them will be perennial festival favourite Home (Dir. Daniel Mulloy, Kosovo/UK, 2016) and the powerful Swiss film Bon Voyage (Dir. Marc Raymond Wilkins, Switzerland, 2016). With both dealing with aspects of immigration, it’s unsurprising that many of the great concerns of the current era are explored. EstilhaÇos (Dir. José Miguel Ribeiro, Portugal, 2016) is an animated documentary following the emotional trauma of war while The Nest (Dir. Jamie Jones, UK, 2016) tells the story of a single mother who takes drastic action after she is evicted from her home and replaced by second generation immigrants. But amongst the serious moments, the International Competition still has the chance for more light touches. The Committee (Kommittén) (Dirs. Gunhild Enger & Jenni Toivoniemi, Sweden/Finland, 2016) is a fine satire on political processes while Happy End (Dir. Jan Saska, Czech Republic, 2016) is a dark comic animation and a series of coincidences and death.

The festival’s Lab Competition  – which gives a platform to films with a more experimental bent - sees a number of returning filmmakers to the festival. These include Jonas Odell - whose animated documentary I Was A Winner (Dir. Jonas Odell, Sweden, 2016) is a clever examination of video game addiction set within the world of a game – and renowned British animator Chris Shepherd whose latest film Johnno's Dead (Dir. Chris Shepherd, France, United Kingdom, 2016) examines a man who stews in the injustice of being put behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit. There’s also a chance to see the latest film from British experimental filmmaker Nick Jordan, Thought Broadcasting (Dir. Nick Jordan, UK, 2016)

The National Competition  – which received more than 1700 entries – includes Rhapsody In Blueberry (Dir. Gaëlle Denis, France , 2016) which promises to be an bright and absurd piece of work from the popular French director Denis and Estate (Dir. Ronny Trocker, France, 2016), which was nominated for a Golden Bear at the 2016 Berlin Film Festival.

Other programmes at this year’s Clermont will include a focus on films from Columbia and a selection of films that contain Dark Humour.
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