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23rd edition of the Très Court: here we go!

Organising an international film festival during a pandemic is no easy task, believe us!

 

However, this is what the Très Court team has managed to do. Yes, against all odds and viruses, the 23rd edition will take place from 4 to 13 June in some sixty cities spread over the five continents.
 
The team also succeeded in setting up their 48h Très Court Environment Challenge, a cinematographic and civic challenge which consists of candidates making a film of less than 4 minutes in only 48 hours, on a subject related to the environment. The start is set for Friday 4 June at 7pm sharp.

Nearly 140 films of less than four minutes from all over the world have been selected to make up the 6 selections of the festival. The twenty or so finalist films of the 48h Très Court Environnement Challenge will complete this list on Tuesday 8 June at 6pm.

And to whet your appetite, here is our trailer!

All screening dates, information and online access can be found on the programme of each city.

The Awards Ceremony will take place on Sunday 13 June at 9pm at the 7 Parnassiens cinema in Paris and will be broadcast live on our partner Imago TV. It will take place after the public screenings of the finalist films of the 48h Très Court Environment Challenge at 5pm and of the International Competition at 6.30pm.

The other selections of the Très Court - They Dared, Documentary, French, Family, and the Women's Words Competition - will be accessible from June 4 to 13 from the Paris page with the code to be found on the City of Paris website!

Zoom on the Très Courts that give a voice to women

There are many ways to defend women's rights: through political action, associative life, demonstrations, awareness-raising, the international day of March 8 of course, but also through artistic and especially cinematographic means.

 

This is why, for twelve years now, the Très Court International Film Festival, which honors films of less than four minutes from around the world, selects, broadcasts and rewards the best short films that question the place of women in our societies. And not only on March 8th :)

This Très Courts format is precisely designed to go to the essential and offer, through these films, a feminine look at our world, its flaws, its qualities, a fair and sensitive look, a sharp look. And we really need it! Some of these films are gathered on our platform Women’s Words, which you can consult at will.

In June, at the time of the festival, we will propose a new selection of about twenty Very Short films in our Women’s Words competition. Our 100% female jury, composed of delegates from the Ministry in charge of equality between women and men as well as women activists, will award the Women's Rights Prize. In the meantime, we invite you to discover four award-winning Très Courts in recent years, to be seen on our Facebook page or on our YouTube channel.

On the program:

Recursos humanos - Joan Alvarez Llados (Spain)
Women's Rights Award - 15th edition - 2013
An example of a job interview not to follow.

To London - Alberto Gallego Ortiz (Spain)
Women's Rights Award - 16th edition - 2014
Between a mother and a daughter, a particularly touching story.

I am ordinary machismo - Fabrice Roulliat (France)
Women's Rights Award - 18th edition - 2016
Even at school, prejudice is hard to overcome.

Not a pizza order - Cécile Ragot (France)
Women's Rights Award - 19th edition - 2017
An emergency call to 911 (American emergency services) shows the complexity of certain sensitive cases.

Chronicle of the Très Courts

How do you prepare a film festival in times of pandemic ? In joy and good mood. Firstly because June is far away, and by then bars, restaurants, museums, cinemas, theaters, dance halls will once again welcome their cherished audience (positive thinking), but above all because working around films of less than four minutes from all over the world is a real joy.

 

That said, in concrete terms, what the daily life of the two festival coordinators looks like, Anne-Sophie and Cheyenne? Here is the course of a Very Short (or rather Very Long) day.  

8 AM. While Anne-Sophie reads her e-mails from home, Cheyenne, also a babysitter in her spare time, takes the children to school. Then direction the hyper luminous office of the Point Haut located in the agglomeration of Tours. If the rear base of the festival is still in the 20th district of Paris, the HQ is based this year on the banks of the Loire River, because it's pretty.  

9 AM. Anne-Sophie arrives in her Modus, already three times out of the garage, and Cheyenne struggles on her bike, braving the light foggy rain typical of the Tourangeau winter.

9:10 AM. Passage through the great hall of Point H^ut where artists in residence are rehearsing their next show. Clubs fly, fireworks explode, actors warm up, musicians sharpen their instruments, all under the astonished eyes of the two coordinators who enjoy themselves before reaching their office. On the agenda: e-mails, phone calls, video-conferencing to present the Festival to cities around the world (and there are many of them).

10:30 AM. Exchange on Discord with Paul, the great chief of technique, and Marc, the director and founder of the Très Court. The first stayed in Paris (say, when are you joining us, Paul?) while the second moved to a city called Die, in the Drôme this summer. Which makes us a funny ParisToursDie.

11:30 AM. Photo session around the organic teddy bears engaged this year to be the actors of the visuals of the festival swarming here and there. The teddy bears are very professional: they are easy to handle, and even accept to be swallowed on occasion.

12:30 AM. The long-awaited lunch hour around a large table (very feminine) with the Polau teams (Arts and Urban Planning Department), town planners, architects, designers, creators of board games... We talk mainly about cooking recipes, works in progress, and a little bit about the Covid, it must be admitted.

1:30 PM. Coffee, and get to work. Cheyenne is preparing the next posts for Instagram, while Anne-Sophie is thinking about the development of our Paroles de Femmes platform and is starting to organize our 48h Très Court Environnement Challenge.

2:30 PM. The two coordinators start dreaming about the next jury of the festival and on behalf of the next president (Maïwenn? Agnès Jaoui? Julia Ducournau? Blanche Gardin?) with glitter in their eyes (it stings a bit).

3 PM. While Cheyenne drinks her 10th coffee of the day, Anne-So smokes her 10th cigarette. It's bad, but it restores energy.

4 PM. Anne-Sophie is so focused on her computer that she presses the keys on her keyboard with great fury and intensity. As for Cheyenne, she answers the emails sent by the many Nigerian directors who wish to participate in the festival but cannot afford to. Cheyenne is happy to remind them that registration is free, and will remain free.

5 PM. Short break to watch films already registered. They are a little less numerous than last year (the health crisis has passed by) but between 2,000 and 3,000 films are waiting at the gate! Fortunately, a great pre-selection team is in charge of seeing, rating and commenting on the Très Courts. Spoiler: some are nuggets.

6 PM. The day is over, it's time for Anne-Sophie and Cheyenne to go home and lead the video conference with the members of the pre-selection team who, during the aperitif, come to discuss the films in particular, and life in general.

Nine films to celebrate the New Year

Quietly, in backstage, we had programmed a series of screenings of the best 2020's Very Shorts around the world, from Chambray-lès-Tours to Panama, from Bastia to Romania, from Canada to Greece, from El Salvador to Saint-Paul-lès-Dax, simply because we wanted to be together in front of a big screen and in front of films that warm the heart. 

And then, it was all cancelled.

Everything? No. The strength, the power, the rightness of the Très Courts are far from being cancelled. More than ever, we are going to need parties, joy, cinema, emotions. More than ever, we need to support those who denounce the failings of this troubled world, those who invent other stories and build imaginary worlds that are alternatives. More than ever, we are going to strengthen our engagement on two subjects that are very important to us: Women's Rights and the climate emergency.

More than ever, we are going to share.

And it starts now with a Very Short programme to be seen on our YouTube and our Facebook:

  • Decembre 18: The Gallery Experience
    A little girl has a magical experience when visiting a gallery with her father for the first time. An animation from the United States by Jinghan Tian that echoes the current closing of museums.
  • Decembre 20: Strength
    This film highlights the feminine strength seen through the eyes of a weightlifter. It is made by two English women, Agathe Barbier and Hedvig Ahlberg.
  • Decembre 22: Collapsolove
    Anton becomes an ecologist to seduce a collapsologist. Will he succeed? A French film by Vincent Buschi and Camille Chaudron created for the Défi 48h - Environnement.
  • Decembre 24: Tu vas faire quoi ? (What are you gonna do?)
    Gédéon loves his family, he loves to cook, the meal should go very well and yet ... A French film by Lucie Benhamou and Arthur Fenwick. Merry Christmas to all of you!
  • Decembre 26: Trauma
    A young woman is sexually abused in the metro. She stays upset, and a strange creature is watching her. A French film by Vladimir Roszak.
  • Decembre 28: The Turning point
    This English film, directed by Steve Cutts, explores ecological destruction, climate change and species extinction from a different angle.  
  • Decembre 30: Rien à sauver (Nothing to save)
    A survivalist’s car breaks down. Bad luck, someone will have to help him. A film directed by the Frenchmen Julien Aveque and Victor Hérault and created for the 48h Challenge - Environment.
  • January 1st, 2021: Métanoïa
    A Beninese philosopher talks about violence and love. A film from Benin by Luc Godonou Dossou. Happy New Year to all of you!
  • January 3rd, 2021 : PERIOD.
    Let's talk about menstruation. A Danish film directed by Émilie Thalund and produced by Brigitte Rask.  

Nine films to celebrate the end of this year and salute the arrival of the next one, which we wish you as sweet as it is challenging.

Next 2021 Edition: Aiming for the horizon

We're not going to lie to ourselves: preparing the next edition of the Très Court International Film Festival under these conditions requires a big dose of enthusiasm.

 

A great deal of energy.

To adapt, to relax. Do not give in to gloom.

To do this, we have found a way out: we have taken refuge in past editions. In other words, 22 years full of cinematographic works of less than four minutes that have moved, made laugh, touched, questioned and sometimes disturbed audiences from all over the world. Every day, within the team, we have fun sending each other our favorite films or those that we had forgotten and rediscovered sometimes with emotion. Seriously, it's a great feeling. It makes us want to go out in search of new nuggets and offer them to you from June 4 to 13 through our five selections: International, Women's Words, French, Family, They Dared.

No question of giving up. We believe in it.

The choice of our visual for the 23rd edition is proof of this. The photo, signed Ellen Kooi, perfectly expresses our state of mind: continue to look into the distance, carried by something bigger than oneself, and if the horizon is not immediately perceptible, it is there.

Call for films: to your Très Courts!

Directors, if you think a good story can be told in less than four minutes, including title and credits, now's the time to submit it!

 

Indeed, the call for films for the next Très Court International Film Festival is open. To register, simply fill out this form. Registration is free, and you can submit as many films as you wish.

The registrations close on February 14th, which gives you some time to make your very short movies if they are still at the project stage. Please go for it, and give yourself a chance to be selected in our selections in competition - International, Paroles de femmes - or out of competition - French, Famille and They Dared “Trash and Glam”. And maybe even win one of our prizes.

The films will be previewed by some thirty film enthusiasts who all have in common to love the Très court, a sensational format that allows you to go from laughter to tears every 4 minutes. It is also the format of a generation, of a time when everything goes fast, when changes - climatic, social, technological - are central to reflection and questioning. Finally, it is a format of emergence, where young talents practice, discover and launch themselves. It's an opportunity for you, directors, to be showcased on the big screen to viewers and professionals from around the world. Because the Très Court International Film Festival travels to the five continents! From Hong Kong to Canada, from Chile to Paris, from Romania to Spain, the festival takes place in June in a ten or so cities in France, 70 cities around the world, making a total of 20 countries represented. Next year, it will take place from June 4 to 13, 2021.

Our lockdown contest

The contest results

 

During the lockdown period, the Très Court team decided to launch a short film contest to promote audiovisual creation in quarantine.
Among the hundred films we received, we selected our five favourites, which will be promoted on our website as well as on social media!

  Falling Down, directed by Swann and Yoann Chesnel. 

  Tic Tac Toc, directed by François Lacassagne and Marion Le Bec.

  Comme Avant, directed by Julien Christophe. 

  Perséverance, directed by Fabien Lemoine.

  Les petits mouchoirs du troisième type, directed by Florent Sabatier.

 

Prize-winning films 22nd edition

Prize winning films 2020

On Tuesday June 9 happened the awards e-ceremony. 
Prizes zere given by the members of the Jury, and filmmakers got to express their impressions live!

The Grand Prix goes to

Housecall


by Josh Penn Soskin (United States)
 

The Originality Award goes to

Symbiose

by Paul Raillard (France)
 

The Animation Award goes to

Charlotte's Daydream

by Marlies Van der Wel (Netherlands)
 

A special mention is awared to

Lovers

by Alexandre Brisa (France)
 

The Women's rights Award goes to

Strength

by Agathe Barbier et Hedvig Ahlberg (United Kindgom)

Watch some extracts

Online festival guide

How to get access to the Festival's selected films?

 

 

1. Go to the festival's map
You can then select the cultural organization closest to where you live. This organization will grant you access to the festival this year!

2. Get the access code.
If you already have one, you can skip this step.
If you do not have one yet, all the information necessary to get one will be indicated.

3. Enter the code.

4. And that's it!
You can now access the 22nd edition's selections.

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Got a question? We may have already answered it in our online FAQ.
For any questions or problem when accessing the selections, contact us at contact@trescourt.com

Live screening

 

Mark your calendars !

 

The Très Court International Film Festival is happy to share a live screening with you.
This screening starts at a set time, so don't be late! 

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Tuesday June 9, 8pm (Paris time - GMT+02:00) :

International competition live screening
This screening will be followed by a live award ceremony with the Jury of the festival.

Enter the screening room 

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For more information on the online festival, check out our dedicated pages:

- The online festival user guide ;
FAQ Festival Online.

For any questions or problem when accessing the selections, contact us at contact@trescourt.com

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