Clermont-Ferrand, the world-leading short-form film festival nested in the French region of Auvergne, returns for its 47th edition with a keen awareness of the “vital” role of short filmmaking in our current times. Taking place between Jan. 30 and Feb. 7, the festival will bring together lauded festival winners and new works by “Army of Thieves” actor Noemie Nakai (“Sento”) and “Nothing Compares” director Kathryn Ferguson (“Nostalgie), as well as a doc about living with ADHD narrated by Tilda Swinton (“Impulse: Playing With Reality”).
Speaking with Variety ahead of the festival, festival programmers Laura Thomasset and Julie Rousson say this year’s selection “reflects the world we live in.” “Several films of our international competition express a desire to escape: from the gaze of a Chinese worker seeking hope through his window in ‘Out of Window,’ to the explorations of American and Singaporean heroes in the wilderness in the films ‘When You Will Be Big’ and ‘Buah.”
Thomasset and Rousson stand here for the festival’s larger programming team, which all share equal footing in the non-hierarchical Clermont-Ferrand curatorial structure. The selection process, they say, is linked to the way the team operates, “meaning that it is collective and the result of in-depth cooperative work.”
This year, the programming team selected 137 films from a whopping 8,826 submissions spanning 50 countries. The curators say highlighting any particular titles in the sprawling program is an “impossible undertaking,” but offer a selection of “highly anticipated films across the competitions.” Among them are Luis Hindeman’s “tense, claustrophobic” “Magid/Zafar,” playing the festival’s International competition shortly after winning the BIFA for Best Short; Said Zagha’s “Coyotes,” a “powerful thriller” that premiered to acclaim in Venice, and Dian Weys’s “Vultures,” an “affecting film” that screened at Cannes. The latter titles play the festival’s National competition.
When it comes to the Lab competition, the team draws attention to “Death of a Fantastic Machine,” Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck’s AI-focused follow-up to their 2023 Sundance standout “And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine,” and Nicolas Gourault’s “Their Eyes,” exploring inequalities in the development of self-driving car technology. As for the festival’s XR competition, a standout title is Barry Gene Murphy and May Abdalla’s “Impulse: Playing With Reality,” centering around people living with ADHD and narrated by Tilda Swinton.
Courtesy of Le Court, Camille Dampierre
Camille DAMPIERRE
This year’s Clermont-Ferrand will feature a focus on Southeast Asia, with the festival team noting how the region has emerged in recent years as “one of the most dynamic” in world cinema. “We believe Southeast Asian cinema is witnessing a world in full transformation,” the curators tell Variety, emphasizing the selection is “particularly notable” given it also celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Thai Short Film and Video Festival. As part of the special focus, the festival will welcome Franco-Vietnamese filmmaker Trần Anh Hùng as a member of the international competition jury. The “The Taste of Things” filmmaker will also give a masterclass at the event.
In a sociopolitical landscape where displaced filmmakers are in urgent need of not only financial support but also ease of bureaucracy so they can quickly bring timely stories to the screen, major international festivals have turned their focus to the advantages of short filmmaking. Last year, the Rotterdam International Film Festival’s Hubert Bals Fund launched the Displacement Film Fund, spearheaded by UNHCR Global Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett and geared at championing and funding the work of displaced filmmakers. The first resulting batch of short films, directed by lauded filmmakers including Maryna Er Gorbach and Mohammad Rasoulof, will screen at this year’s upcoming festival in a particularly speedy turnaround.
Asked about how they perceive the importance of short filmmaking in this landscape, the Clermont-Ferrand programmers say the practice “feels particularly vital right now.”
“Short films are often where filmmakers take risks,” they add. “They’re laboratories for new techniques, storytelling approaches, or challenging subject matter. In an era where feature films are increasingly risk-averse — franchises, established IP, proven formulas — shorts preserve space for genuine experimentation and artistic courage. There’s something about the fragmented, overwhelming, fast current moment where a well-crafted short film can cut through the noise with precision. It can make a single point powerfully, capture a fleeting cultural moment, or crystallize a feeling before it passes.”
Asked about the festival’s continued success — Clermont-Ferrand is the second-largest film festival in France, only behind Cannes in terms of audience and professional attendance — the programming team credits the festival’s sustained appeal to its “truly collaborative” nature.
Thinking about the future, the team would like to “keep welcoming young professionals” in their yearly collaborative workshop, The Atelier, a temporary film school open to the public for five days during the festival, as well as expanding into a “venue that matches” Clermont-Ferrand’s standing. “By 2029, marking the festival’s 50th anniversary, we are hoping this vision will materialize through the Cité du Court, a dynamic cultural space and center for emerging filmmakers. With backing from its partners, this development should establish Clermont-Ferrand as the heart of short film cinema.”
