Brest European Short Film Festival

Annual short film festival in France

Brest European Short Film Festival

The Quartz Theater in Brest

Location| Brest (Brittany), France
Founded| 1986; 38 years ago (1986)
Most recent| 8–13 November 2022
Awards| Grand Prix du film court
Hosted by| Côte Ouest Association
No. of films| about 200 each year[1]
Language| International
Website| filmcourt.fr

The Brest European Short Film Festival (French: Festival européen du film court de Brest) is a film festival dedicated to short films, happening every year in Brest, in the Brittany region in France. It has been organized by the Côte Ouest Association since 1987 and is open to everyone, school groups and professionals.

Since 1992, films from all over Europe are competing at the festival to light and wins recognition for the viewpoint of young European filmmakers.[2] Prizes are awarded by several jurys. Besides the official selection, several themed screenings and workshops are dedicated to the young audience.

Known as the second best short film festival in France, Brest unites around 30,000 professionals and filmgoers.[3]

## History[edit]

### Beginnings[edit]

In 1984, Brest film director Olivier Bourbeillon organizes a short film night at the Mac Orlan theater.[4] In 1986, Gilbert Le Traon, who became director of Brittany Film Archive in 2000, joins Olivier Bourbeillon in the organization of the first edition of " Brest Short Film Festival ". The festival lasts three days and two nights during springtime.[5] Five programmes and around two dozens French speaking films are screened at the Mac Orlan theater gathering an audience of around 700 people.[6] In 1987, the newly created Association Côte Ouest takes over the organization of the event.

### Competition[edit]

British films enter the selection starting 1989 enabling the creation of the European competition in 1992.[6] Starting 1995, the festival strengthens its European dimension by inviting a new European country each year and doing numerous screenings focusing on a specific country. This is how many exchanges with European cities such as Hamburg (Germany), Vila do Conde (Portugal), Tampere (Finland) happened.[7]

From 1999, the Estran contest supports screenwriting of short fictions and helps Breton directors.[8]

Opening Night of the festival in 2016

### Attendance[edit]

In 1989, the Quartz national stage hosts for the first time the festival gathering 6,000 viewers. In 1995, celebrating its 10th anniversary, the festival gets past 17,000 viewers.[9] In 2005, festival goers celebrate the 20th anniversary of the event.[10] In 2013, 14,000 young audience entries are recorded.[11] For the 30st edition, the festival aims at 30,000 entries is six days[12] and in 2016 around 28,000 entries are counted.[13]

### Celebrities[edit]

Claude Zidi is the first president of the festival's jury.[6] Among its most well-known guests, the festival hosted Joris Ivens, Michelangelo Antonioni,[6] Mathilda May,[14] Hilton McConnico, Hippolyte Girardot, Marion Cotillard,[15] Sylvie Testud, Élisabeth Depardieu,[16] Peter Mullan, Richard Bohringer, Vincent Lindon, Gérard Darmon, Caroline Loeb, Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, René Vautier, Véronique Jannot, Pascal Légitimus,[14] François Ozon,[17] Keren Ann[18] and Breton artists Étienne Daho[16] and Yelle.[19]

### Discoveries[edit]

The festival has enabled the highlighting of numerous directors who then got involved in making successful feature films such as Arnaud Desplechin, Cédric Klapisch, Éric Rochant, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Mathieu Kassovitz,[6] François Ozon,[20] Pascale Breton,[21] Fred Cavayé, Gérald Hustache-Mathieu, etc.[22]

## Organization[edit]

The organizing team on stage

### Côte Ouest Association[edit]

The festival is organized by the Côte Ouest Association which was created in 1986. The event is part of its main missions which are the broadcasting of films mostlyshorts and image education mainly for the young audience.[23] For ten years, from 1996 to 2007, Côte Ouest oversees the national Cinéville system " Un été au ciné " with outdoors screenings.[24] The festivals aims at promoting young filmmakers both European and French as well as introducing the widest audience possible with cinema.[23]

### Official selection[edit]

After eight years as artistic director of the festival, Olivier Bourbeillon hands over to Gilbert Le Traon and Mirabelle Fréville.[25] When they leave in 2001, the artistic direction becomes collective and is handled by a total of seven people.[26] Starting 2007, selection committees watch all the submitted films.[27] Between 2009 and 2013, the organization reaches out to Bernard Boulad to be the artistic director of the festival.[28] From 2011 to 2015, Massimiliano Nardulli takes care of the programmation searching for emergent talents and European productions all year.[29] He is replaced in 2016 by Arthur Lemasson.[30]

The festival only accepts fiction films for the official competition and the short films must not be over 30 minutes-long.[31] The French competition features first films or school films only.[32] Around 2,000 films are submitted and 200 to 250 are screened at the festival.[1] 70% of those films come from all over Europe and 25 to 30 European countries are represented. A total of 70 films are part of the different competitions of the festival while 40 films compete in the European section.[33]

### Sections[edit]

The official competition separates European productions from French cinema. Until 2012, the " Cocotte-minute " competition screened films inferior to six minutes.[34] Since 2013, the " OVNI " competition (UFO competition) rewards the uniqueness and creativity of films included in a special programme.[35]

There are also special screenings and themed screenings such as the "Made in Breizh", that is to say films produced and/or directed in Brittany. Besides the competitions, the Midnight Show section is dedicated to the genre movies,[36] the Brest Off section also presents the audience with several genres since 1993.[37] The Panorama Animation is dedicated to European animation films. Three or four programmes are dedicated to the young audience (starting age two).[38]

Jury of the 31st edition in 2016.

### Jury's constitution[edit]

The festival's jury is made up of five people. The personalities appointed come from different cinema backgrounds and they award four to five prizes.

The "passeurs de courts" jury promotes short films in 39 Breton cinemas.[39] The young jury is made up of students specialized in cinema. The press jury gathers local and national journalists, the France 2 jury is made up of professionals of France Télévisions. The Beaumarchais-SACD foundation also awards a prize as well as the audience by filling out voting papers at the end of each screening.

### Awards[edit]

The official jury awards the " Grand prix du film court " as well as several other awards : a European prize, a first film prize and a special prize. The France 2 and the Beaumarchais prizes award films from the French competition. One film from the OVNI competition gets a prize from the ShortsTV channel and the SundanceTV channel awards one film of the Brest OFF competition.[40]

## Around the Festival[edit]

Space dedicated to the film market

### Reach[edit]

The Festival is considered to be one of the most important short film festivals in France, coming second in terms of entries.[41] It screens a selection of films coming from European countries such as Norway, Switzerland, Iceland or Eastern countries.

Around 500 professionals attend and 200 volunteers are involved in the festival.[11] Since 1997, the festival's film market gathers a selection of 300 films made available to professionals all week long.[42]

### Medias[edit]

In 1990, French partners get involved enabling the festival to grow : the Gan Foundation for cinema, Kodak (photography prize) and "Histoires Courtes" on Antenne 2.[43] TV channels buy some awarded films and promote the festival in special programmes such as Court Circuit on the Arte channel, "CineCinecourt" on CinéCinéma,[44] "Comme au cinéma" and "Histoires Courtes" on the France 2 channel.[45] The Festival also had among its partners Canal +, France 3 and Arte.[46] In 2014, the partnership with Canal + gets replaced by the ShortsTV channel dedicated to short films.[33]

## See also[edit]

* France portal
* Film portal

* List of film festivals in Europe
* Brest, France \- Finistère, Brittany

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b "Le Festival européen du film court a 28 ans". Ouest-France. 28 July 2014.
2. ^ "Brest European Short Film Festival". Festagent. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
3. ^ "What's on in France: Ten things to do in November". The Local. 30 October 2015. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
4. ^ "Film culte. "Une vie en forme d'arête : Boris Vian"". Ouest-France. 19 April 2014.
5. ^ "A Brest, une longue histoire autour du court-métrage". humanite.fr. 13 November 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
6. ^ a b c d e "Film court. Une âme bretonne et des bobines". Le Télégramme. 10 November 2010.
7. ^ "dates clés". Ouest-France. 5 November 2005.
8. ^ "L'Estran a lancé de jeunes réalisateurs de courts". Le Télégramme. 10 August 2016.
9. ^ "Association Côte Ouest". cottereau.cedric.free.fr. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
10. ^ Masi, Bruno (12 November 2005). "Brest en dit long sur le court". Libération.
11. ^ a b "Bilan du 28e festival européen du film court de Brest". planete-cinephile.com. 24 November 2013. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
12. ^ Coquil, Alain (12 November 2015). "Film court à Brest. Les recettes du succès". Le Télégramme.
13. ^ Le Roy, Steven (14 November 2016). "Festival du film court. Une réuswebsite sur la corde raide". Le Telegramme. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
14. ^ a b "Film court. Coup d'oeil dans la rétro..." Le Télégramme. 10 November 2015.
15. ^ "Festival du film court". brest.fr. Archived from the original on 27 October 2016.
16. ^ a b "Un jury de très haute tenue". Le Télégramme. 29 October 2004.
17. ^ "11e Festival du court métrage de Brest". lesinrocks.com. 27 November 1996. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
18. ^ Jacq, Chris. "Festival européen du film court de Brest 2003". objectif-cinema.com. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
19. ^ "Brest. Festival européen du film court : Yelle, la Bretonne du jury". letelegramme.fr (in French). 27 October 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
20. ^ "Les 50 qui font bouger Brest. Vie culturelle". L'Express. 2 May 2002. p. 4.
21. ^ Chassigneux, Clarisse (19 November 2001). "A Brest, le court à du nerf". Libération.
22. ^ Péron, Didier (18 November 2002). "A Brest, courts métrages aux allures de longs". Libération.
23. ^ a b "Festival du film court : un jeune public verni !". Le Télégramme. 27 October 2007.
24. ^ "Opération Cinéville : les enfants font leur cinéma". Le Télégramme. 22 April 2005.
25. ^ "Olivier Bourbeillon. Passionné tout court". letelegramme.fr (in French). 7 November 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
26. ^ Le Roy, Steven (6 November 2005). "Olivier, Philippe, Gilbert, Gaëlle. La passion du court". Le Télégramme.
27. ^ Le Roy, Steven (5 April 2011). "Cinéma. Le départ volontaire de Philippe Coquillaud". Le Télégramme (in French).
28. ^ Guiziou, Frédérique (27 September 2013). "L'association Côte Ouest vire le directeur artistique du Festival européen du film court de Brest". Ouest-France.
29. ^ Monin, Camille (11 March 2015). "Massimiliano Narduli. Brest, la programmation, le soutien aux auteurs émergents". formatcourt.com.
30. ^ "Brest Côte Ouest : nouveau logo, nouveau programmateur". Côté Brest. 21 June 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
31. ^ "Règlement / Regulation - Filmcourt - Le festival de cinéma du court métrage de Brest". www.filmcourt.fr. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
32. ^ "Festival. Le film court sur son trente-et-un". Le Télégramme. 29 October 2016.
33. ^ a b Guiziou, Frédérique (10 November 2014). "29e édition du Film Court: l'Europe accourt à Brest". Ouest-France.
34. ^ "Festival européen du film court". Le Figaro. 13 November 2003.
35. ^ "Finnish dance film wins in France". www.danceinfo.fi. 15 November 2016. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
36. ^ Le Roy, Steven (8 November 2016). "Brest. Le film court sur son 31". Le Télégramme.
37. ^ "Festival du Film Court. Un vrai cinéma !". Ouest-France. 30 October 2013.
38. ^ "Brest. Du grand cinéma en format court". cotebrest.fr. 12 November 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
39. ^ Juillet, Anne-Cécile (14 November 2015). "Film court. Le " maille " en héritage". Le Télégramme.
40. ^ "Brest. Le palmarès du 31e Festival européen du film court". Ouest-France. 12 November 2016.
41. ^ Bergman, Dorine (1997). "Nouveaux entrants dans l'industrie cinématographique. Le court métrage comme voie d'apprentissage". Réseaux (in French). pp. 55–56.
42. ^ Le Droff, Jean-Marc (15 November 2013). "Festival du court. Les pros font leur marché". Le Télégramme.
43. ^ "Festival Européen du Film Court de Brest | Archives | court métrage - cinéma - vidéo". www.filmcourt.fr. Archived from the original on 18 November 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
44. ^ "Rencontres d'Averroès". Le Monde. 1 November 2002. p. 3.
45. ^ "Les rendez-vous du Mag Télévision. 11 November". L'Express. 6 November 2003.
46. ^ "La vie des médias. Brest, côté courts". Le Monde. 11 December 2000. p. 3.

## External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brest European Short Film Festival.

* Official website
* Brest European Short Film Festival on Facebook
* Brest European Short Film Festival at IMDb
* Brest European Short Festival Festival at unifrance.org

48°23′21″N 4°29′7″W﻿ / ﻿48.38917°N 4.48528°W﻿ / 48.38917; -4.48528
*[No.]: Number