Berlinale Shorts for 2017 promise to 'Reframe The Image'

The Berlinale Shorts for 2017 have been subtitled ‘Reframing the Image’ and promise to invite audiences to experience new perspectives on film

"A preconceived image, a clichéd notion of something or someone, can only alter its form if my own view of things expands to include a new perspective,” said curator Maike Mia Höhne “All of the films selected for Berlinale Shorts 2017 have in common the fact that they invite one to recalibrate one's own perception."

This year’s selection includes many returns and familiar faces for Berlinale audiences

Jonathan Vinel (Notre Héritage, Berlinale Shorts 2016 & Tant qu'il nous reste des fusils à pompe, Golden Bear for Best Short Film 2014, both created in collaboration with Caroline Poggi) rearranges sequences from the video game Grand Theft Auto V into a new narrative about losing one's friends in his film Martin Pleure.

João Salaviza's new film Altas Cidades de Ossadas follows a Creole rapper on a deep dive into the darkness of night and the aggressive poetry of his lyrics. In 2012 Salaviza took home the Golden Bear for Best Short Film for Rafa, dedicating the award to the Portuguese government:

"We are in a moment where we really don't know what will happen," Salaviza declared at the time, adding that the dedication was contingent on the administration taking a stand to improve conditions for the country's filmmakers. Today the situation in Portugal has improved considerably through structural changes in funding. Indeed, there are four Portuguese productions in the 2017 selection

David O’Reilly (Please Say Something, Golden Bear for Best Short Film 2009 & RGB XYZ, Berlinale Shorts 2008 ), who will also speak about his filmmaking philosophy at the 2017 edition of Berlinale Talents, will present his new computer game Everything. Everything is the complete opposite of how we commonly conceive of games - there are no levels to be reached, instead there is only the possibility to become anyone and everything. The insight acquired along the way represents a reframing.

Other works in the selection include films by Gabriel Abrantes, Salomé Lamas, Victor Lindgren, Lukas Marxt and Marcel Odenbach, Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca, and Rainer Kohlberger

The International Short Film Jury 2017 was announced in December

Included among the films to be screened at Berlinale Shorts 2017 are:

Altas Cidades de Ossadas (High Cities of Bone), João Salaviza, Portugal, 19' (WP)
Avant l'envol, Laurence Bonvin, Switzerland, 20' (IP)
The Boy from H2, Helen Yanovsky, Israel / Palestinian Territories, 21' (WP)
Call of Cuteness, Brenda Lien, Germany, 4' (WP)
Centauro (Centaur), Nicolás Suárez, Argentina, 14' (IP)
Cidade Pequena (Small Town), Diogo Costa Amarante, Portugal, 19' (IP)
Coup de Grâce, Salomé Lamas, Portugal, 26' (WP)
The Crying Conch, Vincent Toi, Canada, 20' (WP)
Ensueño en la Pradera (Reverie in the Meadow), Esteban Arrangoiz Julien, Mexico, 17' (WP)
Estás vendo coisas (You are seeing things), Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca, Brazil, 18' (IP)
Everything, David OReilly, USA / Ireland, 11' (WP)
Le film de l'été (A Summer's Film), Emmanuel Marre, France / Belgium, 30' (WP)
Fishing Is Not Done On Tuesdays, Lukas Marxt & Marcel Odenbach, Germany / Austria, 15' (WP)
Fuera de Temporada (Out of Season), Sabrina Campos, Argentina, 23' (WP)
Hiwa, Jacqueline Lentzou, Greece, 11' (WP)
Os Humores Artificiais (The Artificial Humors), Gabriel Abrantes, Portugal, 30' (WP)
keep that dream burning, Rainer Kohlberger, Germany / Austria, 8' (WP)
Kometen (The Comet), Victor Lindgren, Sweden, 11' (IP)
Martin Pleure (Martin Cries), Jonathan Vinel, France, 16' (WP)
Miss Holocaust, Michalina Musielak, Poland / Germany, 22' (WP)
Monangambeee, Sarah Maldoror, Algeria, 15' - Out of competition
Oh Brother Octopus, Florian Kunert, Germany, 27' (WP)
The Rabbit Hunt, Patrick Bresnan, USA / Hungary, 12' (IP)
Street of Death, Karam Ghossein, Lebanon / Germany, 23' (WP)