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On February 27th, I was busy at the Berlin International Film Festival when I received a call from director SHIM Chan-yang who was at the closing ceremony for the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. SHIM told me that Minsu Kim in Wonderland picked up the Special Jury’s Choice Prize. Director SHIM had submitted his film to the competition section of the shorts festival in France this year and attended the festival along with some of his production staff and enjoyed new experiences to their heart’s content. Seeing them enjoy their time made me think that the film festival actively interacts with young directors.  

 
Just a few days ago, director SHIM was very eager to know why the film festival picked his film. In his Expresso talk, which is a program that makes time for directors, reporters and viewers to come together for a discussion, director SHIM said that he would like to know what people thought about his film. In fact, Minsu Kim in Wonderland was rarely screened except for last year’s Seoul Independent Film Festival. The award news reminded me of the time I visited the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival several years ago. That year, Guest earned director YOON Ga-eun the Grand Prize in the international competition section. Guest wasn’t so popular at the domestic film festivals either. But the film took home the Grand Prize at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival which is culturally and environmentally different from Korea’s film festivals.  

Obviously, there is a cultural gap. Such a gap does not discriminate against Korean films. On the contrary, it serves as a new opportunity for Korean films. Minsu Kim in Wonderland deals with topics easily understandable in Korean society such as the North Korean issues, discrimination against Southeast Asian laborers and an unreasonable attachment to learning English. The theme of the film was received as a black comedy in Korean society, but the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival regarded the film as a unique fantasy film. In Korea, the audiences saw that the film had a mixture of realities and fantasies but with more weight to realties whereas at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, they said that fantasies and imagination outweigh realties in the film.     

 

 

Crowned as ‘Cannes Film Festival of Short Films’
It is as plain as pikestaff that the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival offers short film directors good experiences. Over one thousand spectators flock to Jean Cocteau Cinema in Maison de la Culture which was built when Andre-Georges Malraux was active. The theater was built purely for the purpose of watching shorts. This fact struck directors SHIM and NA Young-kil impressive. They thought that it would impossible for over one thousand people to fill a theater to watch short films unless it was the Lumiere Theater in Cannes. The Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival has been nicknamed the ‘Cannes Festival for Short Films’ not because the event is held in France but because numerous people throng into the theater to watch short film.

This year, Korean films were screened in various sections of the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. The Hole, a CHOI Bong-su animation, was presented in the LABO section which features experimental and witty films. Before The Hole was invited, the LABO section screened many other Korean animations. This is not because LABO specializes in animations but because there are many works among Korean shorts that were full of imagination. I had dinner with director CHOI before I left Clermont-Ferrand with Korean distributors such as Indiestory, AniSEED and Central who opened their market booths during the festival. Director CHOI doubles as a webtoon artist. Chatting with CHOI and seeing his witty character over the dinner made me realize why The Hole is such an interesting film.  

The Hole is a short animation about a situation that happens at a table. A monster appears from the darkness and a man shivers in fear. People at the table disappear one after another. What is the monster? Although The Hole is an animation mixed with stereotypical elements such as a monster, dinner and baits, this work keeps audiences in suspense and surprises them with a dramatic turn of events. A film with such openness in interpretations reflects the wide range of selection made by the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.

The Ecole Program made for teenagers featured Gunther by director Erick OH. Gunther is an anthropomorphized character made of a sausage. Its brilliant movement and appearances steadily catch the eyes of viewers. Director OH is well known in the Korean animation industry. He made headlines due to his previous work Way Home (2008), and since then, had worked as a Pixar animator. In addition, Safe directed by MOON Byoung-gon was screened in a special section sponsored by SNCF, who is in charge of train and railroad services in France. Korean films were shown not only in the competition section but in various programs throughout the 2015 Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.

This year, a special program of selected Chinese short attracted much attention from the attendees. It is said that Korea and Clermont-Ferrand will hold an event to feature each other’s shorts in honor of the 130th anniversary of the diplomatic tie between Korea and France in 2016. Next year, we can expect a special Korean shorts program.

Clermont-Ferrand Film Market Becomes 30 Years Old
Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival began as a domestic short film festival and evolved into an international one. This year’s catalogue says that its international and domestic competition sections entered the 27th and 37th years, respectively. The LABO marked its 14th anniversary this year while its market is now 30 years old.  

 

30 years is quite a long time, and it could also mean time for a change. The most notable change is a shift in generation. Roger GONIN retired this year. He had been in charge of the market for a long time and maintained strong connections with many film festivals in Korea. GONIN even served as a judge in the Korean short competition section of the Jeonju International Film Festival. Members of its organizing committee stepped down after leading the festival for over 30 years. During the period, Korean shorts and Clermont-Ferrand have built an amicable relationship via the Busan International Film Festival, the Jeonju International Film Festival, the Asians International Short Film Festival, the Busan Asia Short Film Festival and the Seoul international Extreme-Short Image & Film Festival among others. Even so, two Korean companies dropped out of the market booth this year.  Short film markets are hard to come by in Korea. Canal Plus, a main sponsor of the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival buys and broadcasts a certain number of short films. Its program is quite popular. But in Korea, shorts are less recognized and popular.

 

This year, SHIM Chan-yang’s Minsu Kim in Wonderland and Hosanna directed by NA Young-kil were not given an opportunity to test their value in the market although they were invited to the international competition section. The Distribution Team of School of Film, TV and Multimedia at the Korea National University of Arts who is the distributor of Hosanna did not take part in the market this year. Director SHIM Chan-yang barely made his way into France as Amuse, a company that distributed short films, shut down its short film business. This crossed off SHIM’s dream to distribute his film through Amuse.    

It is a rare case that Hosanna was invited to the Clermont-Ferrand and also to the short film competition section of the Berlin International Film Festival while Minsu Kim in Wonderland won a major prize at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. The two films could have seized more opportunities including traveling to other film festivals and overseas markets. But the absence of their distributors deprived them of such opportunities. Support is urgently needed to submit them to more film festivals and screen them in more countries.