On “Arab Shorts”
The future of short films is on the Internet. While short films have difficulty going through classic distribution channels – movie theaters and TV stations are not interested in short films for structural reasons, DVDs need the obligatory stars to sell – they are ideally suited to the Internet. They are easy on the precious resources of both bandwidth and viewers’ attention spans, and since short films are not saleable to begin with, they fit well with the free-of-charge culture of virtual space.
Still, many open questions remain: Few artists are really comfortable in an environment composed of platforms offering countless videos and films such as YouTube etc., and while bizarre amateur videos of all-too-human embarrassing situations and mishaps reach more viewers than many a Hollywood movie, high-quality artistic works often receive little or no attention, with 100 or even fewer views being quite common. Therefore it was, and is, the main goal of “Arab Shorts” to offer an editorially suitable platform for independent, young Arab films.
"Arab Shorts" continues to be an experimental project also in its second year. When we began in 2009, there were many unknowns. Would the filmmakers want to put their films online? Would people come to the festival when they could view the films at home? Would there be any interest in the films afterwards, outside of the Internet?
We are happy to report that we can answer all these questions in the affirmative. Generally, filmmakers have been pleased to present their films online, attendance at the festival in Cairo was excellent, and there was such a demand for the films also after the festival that we put together a touring program for screenings in movie theaters. We are also happy that the success of “Arab Shorts" in 2009 makes it possible to continue the project into 2011. Otherwise, many films in the “Arab Shorts" program that are now seen by thousands of people would not have reached an international audience. We have set ourselves new tasks for the current program. We relaxed the strict categorization by national cinematographies, so every curator was free to put together either a country-focused or a cross-border program. In a globalized world and given artists’ nomadic biographies, it is, after all, often difficult to determine a film’s “nationality.”
By inviting German festival experts – from big-scale events such as the Berlinale, the transmediale, and the DOK Leipzig but also from specialized start-ups such as ALFILM – and by setting up a panel discussion and a viewing lounge featuring current filmic works, we put more emphasis on the project’s process and networking aspects. The idea is to build networks, but not exclusively in the virtual space of the Internet.
I would like to thank all contributors, artists, curators, and cooperation partners for making this exciting project possible!
Still, many open questions remain: Few artists are really comfortable in an environment composed of platforms offering countless videos and films such as YouTube etc., and while bizarre amateur videos of all-too-human embarrassing situations and mishaps reach more viewers than many a Hollywood movie, high-quality artistic works often receive little or no attention, with 100 or even fewer views being quite common. Therefore it was, and is, the main goal of “Arab Shorts” to offer an editorially suitable platform for independent, young Arab films.
"Arab Shorts" continues to be an experimental project also in its second year. When we began in 2009, there were many unknowns. Would the filmmakers want to put their films online? Would people come to the festival when they could view the films at home? Would there be any interest in the films afterwards, outside of the Internet?
We are happy to report that we can answer all these questions in the affirmative. Generally, filmmakers have been pleased to present their films online, attendance at the festival in Cairo was excellent, and there was such a demand for the films also after the festival that we put together a touring program for screenings in movie theaters. We are also happy that the success of “Arab Shorts" in 2009 makes it possible to continue the project into 2011. Otherwise, many films in the “Arab Shorts" program that are now seen by thousands of people would not have reached an international audience. We have set ourselves new tasks for the current program. We relaxed the strict categorization by national cinematographies, so every curator was free to put together either a country-focused or a cross-border program. In a globalized world and given artists’ nomadic biographies, it is, after all, often difficult to determine a film’s “nationality.”
By inviting German festival experts – from big-scale events such as the Berlinale, the transmediale, and the DOK Leipzig but also from specialized start-ups such as ALFILM – and by setting up a panel discussion and a viewing lounge featuring current filmic works, we put more emphasis on the project’s process and networking aspects. The idea is to build networks, but not exclusively in the virtual space of the Internet.
I would like to thank all contributors, artists, curators, and cooperation partners for making this exciting project possible!
Marcel Schwierin
