Love is in the small details.
These days I received the DVD that the Cannes Cinéfondation organization usually sends around this time each year. It is the complete collection of short films that have participated in the Cannes Film Festival, both in the international competition and in the Cinéfondation itself, a section dedicated to short films from film schools.
It is a very carefully produced edition (despite being DVD and not another format) that contains three discs, 18 short films from 23 different countries, with almost 500 minutes of content.
When I spoke about the distribution strategy for short films at Class A festivals, I already mentioned that Cannes is one of the festivals that cares most about short films. Every time I receive this copy, it fills me with excitement; despite being the largest film festival and market in the world, it takes the time to remember film schools and creators, dedicating time and resources to sharing their works. Behind this small gesture, there is a great love for cinema.
And it is that great festivals are driven by the passion to share cinema.
Lorca said it in 1931, in his famous speech delivered at the inauguration of the Fuente Vaqueros library, in Granada:
“When someone goes to the theater, to a concert, or to a party of any kind, if the event is to their liking, they immediately remember and regret that the people they love are not there. ‘How much my sister, my father, would enjoy this,’ they think, and they no longer enjoy the spectacle except through a slight melancholy. This is the melancholy I feel, not for the people of my house, which would be small and mean, but for all creatures who, due to lack of means and their misfortune, do not enjoy the supreme good of beauty, which is life and goodness and serenity and passion.
That is why I never keep a book, because I give away all the ones I buy, which are countless, and that is why I am here, honored and happy to inaugurate this village library, probably the first in the entire province of Granada.”
This year has been very special; among the short films appearing on this DVD is the Spanish short film Timecode, by Juanjo Giménez, which won the Palme d’Or, the first for a Spanish short film in history.
As if that weren’t enough, at the same time I received this copy, we learned the news of Timecode’s Oscar nomination.
It was a wonderful coincidence.
Now begins a lot of promotional work to reach the Oscar; I remember when That Wasn’t Me was nominated, how Esteban, its director, and producers José Luis and David spent a month living in Los Angeles working very hard, alongside a press and communications team.
It is time for all institutions, media, embassies, and many others who work to share our culture and our cinema to unite, without excuses or divisions, to support the producers and director of Timecode. From the experience of That Wasn’t Me, we learned that other countries do not hesitate to support their cinema when needed; if we do not do so, we will always be losing opportunities.
And there have been 6 nominations since 2000, and no Oscar.
We can call them short films or feature films, that’s the least important thing. All films are part of our cinema and our culture. We have a duty to share it.
Books! Books! Here is a magic word that is equivalent to saying: ‘love, love,’ and which people should ask for as they ask for bread or as they long for rain for their crops.