This year’s edition of the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival will run from 29 January to 6 February. Both the festival and the accompanying market will be held exclusively online. The latest Polish short films will be promoted by the Polish Shorts delegation, which includes representatives of the most important film institutions in Poland. The international competition is going to feature Damian Kocur’s film “Beyond is the Day”.

The festival in Clermont-Ferrand and the accompanying short film market are the world's largest short film events of their kind. This year, due to the pandemic – and following in the footsteps of many other festivals – the entire event will be held online. The market stands will be replaced by delegations from individual countries who will take part in online meetings, discussions, pitching sessions, presentations, etc.

The Polish Shorts delegation, coordinated by the Krakow Film Foundation, includes representatives of the Polish Film Institute, the Polish National Film School in Lodz, the Krzysztof Kieslowski Film School at University of Silesia in Katowice, the Warsaw Film School, Munk Studio – Polish Filmmakers Association, New Europe Film Sales, KFF Sales & Promotion, the Krakow Film Festival, the Short Waves festival, the Krakow Animation Center, and the Krakow Film Commission. All interested guests accredited to take part in the festival will have the opportunity to learn more about the organisations listed above during the Meet the Polish Shorts Delegation presentation, which is going to take place on Tuesday, February 2, at 11:00 a.m. and will be made available online via the Agora streaming system.

This year, there is one Polish film in the festival's international competition – "Beyond is the Day" by Damian Kocur, produced by Tomcat and Kinghouse. Awarded with the Silver Hobby-Horse at the 60th Krakow Film Festival, the film tells the story of Paweł – a lonely man working on a small ferry. He is stuck in the same routine day after day until he crosses paths with Mohammad, an illegal immigrant. Paweł decides to help him. Finally, there's someone to talk to.

In addition, the market will see the premiere of POLISH SHORTS ONLINE 2020/21, containing fourteen latest Polish productions – seven short films and seven animated films. In turn, 106 Polish films will be available in the market's video library with 31 of them accessible directly from the Polish Shorts tab in the ShortFilmWire+ system. Six films were awarded the title of Short Film Market Pick by the market programmers: Marek Ułan-Szymański's “Good, Elegant Boys”; Yelyzaveta Pysmak's “My Fat Arse and I”; Jola Kudela's “Mrs D.”; Andrzej Cichocki's “A Little Bit of Paradise”; Weronika Jurkiewicz's “The Vibrant Village”; and Zuzanna Grajcewicz's “Venus of Willendorf”.

This year, the representatives of the Krakow Animation Center have been invited to participate in the EURO CONNECTION co-production forum and present their work as Producers in Focus.

The Polish Shorts delegation and the presence of Polish films at the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival and Market is coordinated by the Krakow Film Foundation with the financial support of the Polish Film Institute.

For more information please visit the festival's website.

JANUARY 2021