Next Monday, March 20, short film registration closes at the Cannes Market: the Short Film Corner. So, it is a good time to review the post I published last year about this market and the comments that were made.
If you have already registered or are considering doing so, it would be advisable to review the key aspects of this market to fully understand what registration entails and how to make the most of it.
The first and most important thing is that it is not a selection at Cannes. The Short Film Corner is part of the Market and not the Festival. Although the same form is used, you are not registering for the Cannes Film Festival. This must be clear.
In the Market there is no selection process; however, those responsible for the market reserve the right of registration. In this way, they are not obliged to accept all the registrations they receive and can reject some for various reasons. Each year they usually accept more than 2,000 short films.
The registration fee is €85 and provides access to several services, all of them professional:
- Including your short film in the Video Library so that it is available to accredited professionals and can be seen in the catalogue.
- Access to the conferences and workshops organized during the market.
- Access to the Cannes Market professional platform, Cinando, where you can see all the contact details of the professionals accredited at the Cannes Market.
- There is the possibility of paying separately for a room and organizing a private screening at the market.
You must keep in mind that it is very difficult to make your short film visible among so many registrants. There are institutions that are partners and have a privileged place both on the viewing platform and on the website. Therefore, it is important that you travel to the festival, prepare graphic material to support your short film, and promote it during the market. Be careful with advertising on social media and the use of the logo; avoid saying that you are selected at Cannes, as there are programmers who reject this type of action since it is not a seal of quality.
If you are going to pay the registration fee and commit to this market, I think it is important to understand that it is a training space for young filmmakers, as it allows you to learn how a market works from the inside, meet accredited industry professionals, and attend conferences and meetings.
The registration requirements are few: a production date after June 2016, a duration of less than 35 minutes, and not having the short film available online.
You have to prepare well before going; organize meetings in advance and plan activities, for which access to Cinando is essential. One of your objectives is for accredited professionals to see your short film so that you can obtain feedback from them.
If you are clear about what it means, you can make the most of your attendance at the Short Film Corner, but if you go thinking you have been selected for Cannes, you will end up wasting your time.