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Women's Words Competition: there's hope!

Chloé Ponce-Voiron, President of the Jury of the Women's Words Competition, is a director and co-founder of the Women's Foundation. She has a dream, or rather a hope, which she shares with us here:

"If I have the hope that one day there will be no need to create categories specifically dedicated to women's rights, this Competition, which I am lucky enough to chair, is still necessary. But joyful!

Necessary because too few films still address these issues, and without stereotypes. And joyful because it is the reflection of a new sorority that makes women showcase women. It is not so much a competition as a spotlight on projects that may remain in the shadows, wrongly so, because they are victims of a society that still has bad reflexes.

The 8 members of the jury will have the privilege of debating 20 films, without having to ask us if they pass the famous Bechdel test, if women are sufficiently represented and without clichés and if the artistic and technical team is sufficiently female. We will only have to worry about cinematic qualities.

And one day, no doubt, the specific competitions will no longer be necessary, so I will be moved to tell how, in my time, we have contributed to making cinema intrinsically feminist and inclusive. One day...

In the meantime, let's meet in the cinema to experience a beautiful moment of cinema, quite simply.

Oh yes! Especially since Chloé Ponce-Voiron is accompanied by a fabulous Jury : journalist and author Laura Raim, producer Hélène Mijavile, author Reine Prat, Deputy Mayor of Tours Élise Pereira-Nunes, director Victoria Neto and author Valérie Rey-Robert.

This Women's Words Competition travels all over the world through our network of international cities: in France in Agde, Paimpol and Pays de Morlaix, but also in Mont-Dore and Fort-de-France, in Djibouti and Montreal, and finally in all our cities in Romania (Arad, Baia Mare, Bucuresti, Cluj-Napoca, Iasi, Oradea, Pitesti, Rasnov, Sighetul Marmatei and Timisoara).

The Award Ceremony will take place on Friday 9 June at 7.30 pm, at the Cinémas Studio in Tours (France), after the competition screening, in the presence of the jurors and the directors! Tickets are on sale online and at the reception of the Cinémas Studio.

Long story (very) short

It's all very well announcing the opening of the Très Court's 25th edition, but in fact, where does the festival come from?

What are its origins? Who created it? How did the creators manage to set up this project? Actually, some members of the team didn't know anything about our beginnings... that's why we investigated this festival whose story starts with a huge rake.

 

It all began in 1998 when Marc and Pascal discover very short films at the Tourné Monté Super 8 festival. The principle is simple: participants shoot scenes of their film in order of editing during 3 minutes with a Super 8 camera. Filmmakers and public discover films all together during a festive evening. Charmed, the two friends propose the festival to join them to enter in the digital era. They take a big knock-back but they are not discouraged at all. No matter, they will do it themselves.

The association Tout en Très Court was born one year later with the idea of organizing an annual party of screenings and awards ceremonies. The two founders scoured Internet and all VHS tapes in search of the best films under 4 minutes. By word of mouth, filmmakers and production companies sent their Très Courts to participate at the event. After collecting about 50 films, the festivities begin.

The festival inaugurates its first edition on October 21, 2000 at the Forum des Images in Paris. The room is packed with spectators who applaud between each film. With all the excitement of the audience, everyone has a good time.This evening marks the beginning of the Très Court adventure which, each year, offers an extraordinary collective experience and the discovery of a little known cinematographic style in 14 different countries.

The Très Court is a format that allows you to go far. For the audience, watching a very short film means going beyond your usual passivity, it means being active, laughing, crying, discovering, getting a slap in the face, understanding, loving and feeling a whole bunch of emotions that make you feel alive. For filmmakers, making a film under four minutes means opting for spontaneity, concision and efficiency.

Marc and Pascal have resumed their main professional activity, writing and illustrating comics for one, computer science for the other. They left the helm to our new captain, Anne-Sophie, who is happy to lead the Très Court alongside Paul, Célia, Sarah and Julie. The history of the Très Court continues to be written in the present with the 25th edition planned for June 2 to 11, 2023 throughout the world.

Want to participate to the festival? You have until February 19, 2023 to send us your movie of less than 4 minuntes. So don't wait any longer and embark with us for the adventure of the Très Court.

The 25th edition is open!

"Happy birthday Très Court, happy birthday Très Court..."

Yes! In 2023, the festival will celebrate its 25th edition. Of course, it doesn't make us younger, especially when we realize that the Très Court was born in the 20th century, in 1999 exactly, before some members of the team were even born. That said, 25 years old is the ideal age to move forward in life, full of sap and desire. And we are very lucky to be sharing this crazy adventure with you.

Who could have predicted such a beautiful and long life to an event created in the last century, at the time of VHS tapes and the beginnings of the Internet? Certainly not the two founders of Le Très Court, Marc and Pascal. At the beginning, the two friends just wanted to share this incredible format of films of less than three minutes and to promote a little known cinematographic style. So they surveyed all the production available to them and imagined a festival whose first edition took place at the Forum des images. The event was an instant hit and was so successful that it was organized twice in the same year, and two years in a row. This crazy bet between friends ends up being exported in 4 cities, then 10 and up to 100 cities all around the world.

Today, the Très Court has expanded with its Défi 48h Très Court Environnement and its Instant Très Court. So yes, like everyone else, we have suffered from the health crisis, the network of cities has tightened slightly, but the works are still as striking, and, better still, essential - in the sense of "getting to the essence". In this world where everything goes faster and faster, a world that sometimes seems to be going crazy, these Très Courts take a sensitive and deep look and, in very few words and images, they take us into stories that resonate with us for a very long time. They have this incredible strength to appeal to our intelligence and our imaginations, which is, let's agree, precious at this time.

To illustrate their strength, and our state of mind at the beginning of the season, we have created a visual that brings together what we hold dear. We find the importance of nature, cinema and human beings. The ladybug is invited on the poster like a lucky charm. Small and yet so present, it is essential and symbolizes a whole ecosystem to protect. The very small things have their importance, the very short films too.

It is thus full of enthusiasm that we start this new year, with the desire, more than ever, to share it with you. As they say in the planes we won't take anymore, the whole Très Court team welcomes you on board of this 25th edition, and you can count on its crew, Paul, Julie, Célia, Sarah and Anne-Sophie, to offer you an amazing trip.

24th edition: joy and hope in abundance

"Very nice experience that this festival that rises little by little among the great." This sweet word, signed by Keyvan Khojandi, President of the Jury of the International Competition, sums up all the messages received after the award ceremony which took place, for the first time this year, on Saturday, June 11 at the Studio cinemas in Tours.

That day, we had the joy of seeing an audience, mingling with the jurors present, sharing a drink or a slice of local produce, program in hand, smiles on their faces, stars in their eyes. If we had no doubt about the quality of the films shown, we were apprehensive about a reluctant return to the theater. Finally, even if the room was not full, the spectators, under the charm of these films in such a short format, showed so much joy and pleasure in sharing this moment of cinema that it was enough for us to be happy. The same was true all around the world where the festival was welcomed: a public that could have been more nourished but a conquered public.

And it is a real challenge that awaits us for the next few years: faced with the increased competition from streaming platforms that offer films in quantity to be seen from one's bed or couch, we will have to convince people that cinema is definitely not a consumer product. Cinema is above all an art that invites to communion, to share emotions with others, with people we don't know. Le Très Court, just like the other formats, must remind and hammer home this credo, and we will do our best to do so.

The festival is not only a team, an audience or juries composed of film professionals, it is also and above all works and, behind each of them, men and women who express themselves on the world with their own language. Among them, the young filmmakers who take up the challenge of Défi 48h Très Court Environnement. This year again, the result is amazing: in less than two days, the candidate teams have proven their talent through films as vibrant as they are relevant. And meeting them in the flesh, during the awards ceremony, is a perfect opportunity to tell them to continue in this profession. Moreover, if you wish to discover the films and encourage their authors, it is not too late as the twenty selected films will be screened Wednesday, June 29 at 6pm at the cinema Le Lux to Valence.

Similarly, at the screening of our Women's Voices selection held in Paris on June 8, we welcomed Katie Byford, winner of the Women's Rights Award, for her film You look fine. The British director crossed the Channel to receive her award and, by her own admission, had an unforgettable time: "The magic of my experience in Paris has stayed with me, and will stay with me for a very long time," she wrote. I could not have imagined a more wonderful 24 hours. I was deeply moved by the reception my film received."

Katie Byford et des membres du Jury Paroles de Femmes

Katie, à elle seule, nous invite à poursuivre l’aventure pour offrir un espace le plus bienveillant possible, le plus chaleureux possible, à ces œuvres à la fois humbles et puissantes qui préfigurent le cinéma de demain, celui dont on a besoin, celui que nous défendrons, avec vous.

 

The 24th edition in brief and in links :

> Find the whole list of winners
> See again the faces of the members of the International Competition,  Paroles de femmes and the Défi 48h Très Court Environnement.
> Discover the network of cities who bring the festival to life in the four corners of the world
> Greet all  our parteners without whom the festival would not be possible
> Tag all our photos and videos on our social networks : Instagram, Facebook et Twitter.

 

The Très Court is coming to Tours!

You already know: the Très Court International Film Festival has the gift of ubiquity.

Indeed, it takes place during ten days all around the world, in about fifty places spread over all the continents, the selections are translated into English, Italian, Romanian, Greek, Arabic and Portuguese and it's great to know that the films travel with so much enthusiasm!

This year, and for the first time, they will nevertheless land in Tours, on the banks of the Loire, in a mythical and incredibly beautiful cinema: the Studio cinemas. The largest art house cinema in Europe will host the International Competition and the selected films of the Défi 48h Très Court Environment challenge on Saturday, June 11. The screenings will be followed by the award ceremony in the presence of the members of the Juries, and it will be the occasion to party with some very nice people in this place protected by the city walls.

Discover the Jury of the International Competition >
Discover the Jury of the Défi 48h Très Court Environment challenge >

On the program for Saturday, June 11:

  • 5:30 pm: screening of the International Competition
  • 8pm : buffet
  • 9pm: screening of the films selected for the 48h Très Court Environnement Challenge, a challenge supported by the City of Tours, the Centre Val-de-Loire Region and the Groupe Les Verts/Ale.
  • 10:15 pm: awards ceremony

And if you are in the area of Tours on Friday, June 3rd, day of the launching of the festival and the 48h Très Court Environnement Challenge, we give you an appointment to celebrate together the beginning of this event at the Point H^ut from 6:30 pm.

Useful information:

Cinémas Studio
2, rue des Ursulines
37 000 Tours
Regular Studio rates for one screening
Special rate for the 2 screenings: full 12€40 / Studio member 8€20

Point H^ut
20, rue des Grands Mortiers
37 700 Saint-Pierre-des-Corps
Free on reservation at contact@trescourt.com

Women are the future of the 7th art

"We now dare to say it: women are the future of the 7th art".

This is the conclusion of the editorial of Nathalie Masduraud and Valérie Urrea, presidents of the Jury of the Women's Words 2022 Competition, and here at Le Très Court, we are totally in phase with this affirmation!

You will find this editorial in the program distributed during the screening of the Women's Words Competition which will take place on Wednesday, June 8th at 7pm at the cinema Les 7 Parnassiens in Paris. This new selection of films of less than four minutes, mostly made by women, for women, honors women's points of view, portraits, testimonies, stories of life, struggles, small or big victories. Far from clichés and commonplaces, regardless of age, culture or nationality, women speak out with humor or gravity and show a diversity of women's universes testifying to the reality of the world.

And so it is an honor to welcome Nathalie Masduraud and Valérie Urreas, creators and directors of the series H24 broadcast on Arte, as Presidents of the Jury. Accompanied by film professionals and feminist activists, they will present the Women's Rights Prize and the Special Mention at the end of the screening. This exceptional evening, co-organized with Les 7 Parnassiens and in partnership with the Secretary of State for Equality between Women and Men, will conclude with a glass of friendship and sisterhood in the patio of the cinema.

The ticketing is online, don't delay in reserving your seats!

Useful information:     
- See you at 7pm
- Cinema Les 7 Parnassiens, 98 Bd du Montparnasse, 75014 Paris
- Full price: 11 € (French only)
- Reduced rate: 8 € 
- End of the show around 9pm

Revolution

Every year, the Très Court faithful ask us what the theme of the festival is, and every year we answer the same thing: there is no predefined theme, we "only" select the best of the film production of less than four minutes from all over the world. However, this year is a bit different. We received many films that deal with the end of the world, with humour or gravity, with the strength to denounce the end of the reign and a planet that is going to hell, let's face it.

So there is obviously a colour to this 24th edition, and it could be red. Blood red, angry red, fire red, but also red with the hope of seeing new, powerful, concise stories, questioning our human and non-human condition, and reminding us in the end that the Très Court is also about that: telling in a few images the fragility and strength that are ours, with a concern for economy so as not to add noise to the noise, with the sole intention of moving the red lines, so as never to have to cross them.

More than ever we need cinema, this cinema.  So welcome to this 24th edition of the Très Court!

Let's go for the #Défi48h TrèsCourt🌱

Less than 3%: that's the amount of time the media devoted to the climate during this election campaign period. That's very little, isn't it? Does this shock you too?

 

If you are a filmmaker, with or without experience, and you want to prove that we can invent new stories and mobilize for the ecology, then participate in the 4th edition of the 48h Very Short Environment Challenge! This citizen and committed challenge, limited in time and duration, invites you to exercise your talents and to deploy your imagination.

The principle is simple: in two days, from June 3 to 5, you will have to write and produce a film of less than four minutes on a subject related to the environment. To spice things up, you will have to respect four constraints that will be revealed to you at the last minute.

A hundred teams took up the Challenge last year, so why not you? Especially since this year, for the first time, we're opening up an animation selection. If you are an author of animated films, in drawing, 3D or even stop motion, it's time to jump in.

Don't wait any longer: you can now register for the next edition of the 48h Très Court Environnement Challenge and benefit, until April 16th, from a discount on the registration fees.

And to know everything about this new edition, go to the pages of this website and on our social networks.

Spotlight on... Women's words

At Le Très Court, and for a very long time, the issue of women's rights is central. This is why we created, 14 years ago, with the support of the Ministry in charge of equality between women and men, diversity and equal opportunities, the selection Paroles de Femmes. This selection honors the points of view of the other half of humanity.

These films of less than four minutes reflect the lives of women around the world. Militant, scathing or poetic, these short films allow us to better understand the discrimination women are subjected to, but also to feel their strength and their will to fight back.

Each year, we gather the best of the world production for a selection endowed with the Women's Rights Prize awarded at the end of the festival by a jury composed of feminist personalities. Some of these films are available on our Women's Voices platform and are intended to be shared and, if you wish, shown in class or during a conference.

As March 8 approaches, we invite you not only to use our platform but also to discover, on our different social networks, unpublished interviews, portraits of filmmakers and excerpts of these unmissable films. We have also created a special program for the cinemas that are members of l'Instant Très Court. This system allows theaters to show a Très Court film each week before the screening and, since February 23 and until March 8, they have four films from our Paroles de femmes selection that they can offer to their audience:

Je suis Nue

By Alexandra Migien

As a victim of revenge porn, a woman feels completely vulnerable in the public space.

Dans le Bleu de ses larmes

By  Clarisse Pain

Naïa doesn't look like the women you see in magazines. Is it so serious?

Slice of Heaven

By Kourtney Roy

Thelma makes up for a decadent life with glitter under the Miami sun.

Génération Open Your Mind

By Yvonnick Muller et Lauriane Escaffre

A couple argues over a barrette in their son's hair.

 

 

To see these films on the big screen, you just have to find the cinema near you by going to the Instant Très Court website.

See you soon, in theaters or on our social networks 

 

Très Court 2022: the call for films is open!

Why make long films when you can make very short ones?

 

For its 24th edition, which will take place from June 3 to 12, 2022, we are waiting for all your films under 4 minutes. Young and old, film school students or film neophytes, seasoned filmmakers, camera geniuses, send us your works before February 13, 2022.

To register, simply fill out this form. Unlike many festivals, registration is free. You can submit as many films as you want, regardless of genre, style, means or subject. The only constraint: the duration. This way, you give yourself a chance to be selected among the 130 films presented during the Très Court International Festival broadcasted all over the world and to win one of our prizes.

And that's not all: this year we will strengthen and expand the Instant Très Court, our network of cinemas in France which proposes, each week, a Très Court before the screening. If your film is selected, it will also have the opportunity to be discovered on the big screens of our partner theaters. Don't wait any longer, try your luck!

NB: If you have any doubts, do not hesitate to consult our FAQ :)

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