This week, the Berlinale short film selection was announced, featuring 24 short films, both international and world premieres. Each time a competition of this importance is announced, I usually check the percentage of world premieres.
The minimum requirement for Berlin is an international premiere, but a world premiere is highly valued, as is the case in other festivals.
This is the list you can see on the Berlinale website, which takes place from February 9 to 19:
- Altas Cidades de Ossadas (High Cities of Bone), João Salaviza, Portugal, 19’ (WP)
- Avant l’envol, Laurence Bonvin, Switzerland, 20’ (IP)
- The Boy from H2, Helen Yanovsky, Israel / Palestinian Territories, 21’ (WP)
- Call of Cuteness, Brenda Lien, Germany, 4’ (WP)
- Centauro (Centaur), Nicolás Suárez, Argentina, 14’ (IP)
- Cidade Pequena (Small Town), Diogo Costa Amarante, Portugal, 19’ (IP)
- Coup de Grâce, Salomé Lamas, Portugal, 26’ (WP)
- The Crying Conch, Vincent Toi, Canada, 20’ (WP)
- Ensueño en la Pradera (Reverie in the Meadow), Esteban Arrangoiz Julien, Mexico, 17’ (WP)
- Estás vendo coisas (You are seeing things), Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca, Brazil, 18’ (IP)
- Everything, David OReilly, USA / Ireland, 11’ (WP)
- Le film de l’été (A Summer’s Film), Emmanuel Marre, France / Belgium, 30’ (WP)
- Fishing Is Not Done On Tuesdays, Lukas Marxt & Marcel Odenbach, Germany / Austria, 15’ (WP)
- Fuera de Temporada (Out of Season), Sabrina Campos, Argentina, 23’ (WP)
- Hiwa, Jacqueline Lentzou, Greece, 11’ (WP)
- Os Humores Artificiais (The Artificial Humors), Gabriel Abrantes, Portugal, 30’ (WP)
- keep that dream burning, Rainer Kohlberger, Germany / Austria, 8’ (WP)
- Kometen (The Comet), Victor Lindgren, Sweden, 11’ (IP)
- Martin Pleure (Martin Cries), Jonathan Vinel, France, 16’ (WP)
- Miss Holocaust, Michalina Musielak, Poland / Germany, 22’ (WP)
- Monangambee, Sarah Maldoror, Algeria, 18’ – Out of competition
- Oh Brother Octopus, Florian Kunert, Germany, 27’ (WP)
- The Rabbit Hunt, Patrick Bresnan, USA / Hungary, 12’ (IP)
- Street of Death, Karam Ghossein, Lebanon / Germany, 23’ (WP)
The countries with the highest presence are Germany with 6 and Portugal with 4 selected short films. This year, no Spanish short films have been selected.
What is the percentage of world premieres?
Very high; of the 24 selected short films, 17 are world premieres and only 7 are international premieres. This percentage is similar to previous years. This means that if you do not reserve the world premiere, the chances of being selected are greatly reduced.
To prepare your festival strategy, it is important to carefully analyze these cases. Although some festivals only have an international or national requirement, they usually take world premieres into account, making selection very difficult if we do not reserve this premiere. Some festivals mention this in their rules, but many others do not, which is why it is important to review their programming.
The selection criteria are very relative, and no single rule can be established. However, if we are objective and analyze the Berlinale short film selection in recent years, the trend is consistent.
Keep in mind that being selected for these festivals is increasingly difficult.
If you want to aim for participation in a festival with an international or national premiere requirement, always reserve the world premiere over the international premiere, whenever possible.