I have been observing the gradual evolution of vertical cinema for some time now, and how festivals and sections dedicated to these works are timidly emerging, as I already mentioned in the post about ideas for organizing festivals.
Vertical cinema challenges a paradigm that has been untouchable in cinema until now: the horizontal screen.
We must be aware that continuous innovation is at the very essence of cinema, both from an artistic and avant-garde point of view, as well as industrial.
Therefore, it is very interesting to see how new ways of viewing and understanding cinema (and audiovisual content in general) are being generated. In this line is the post about the first festivals and sections dedicated to virtual reality that I published more than a year ago. Today it is a section that already exists in thousands of festivals.
In a market that moves more than 10,000 films per year, between feature films and short films, it is necessary to look toward other narrative forms and other formats to open new segments yet to be explored.
If we apply W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne’s concepts for business in the Blue Ocean Strategy, it is increasingly necessary to open new blue oceans, new spaces for innovation, and avoid red oceans, with much competition and where it is more difficult to stand out.
The emergence of new disruptive technologies, such as vertical recordings on mobile phones and tablets, as well as new exhibition windows such as YouTube and Vimeo have helped normalize the 9/16 vertical format, which continues to generate controversy.
Many still think that shooting vertically is a mistake.
The Vertical Cinema Movement
The vertical cinema movement emerged in 2013 from a more experimental perspective and abstract creation through the Vertical Cinema platform, created by Sonic Acts with the collaboration of several leading European museums and cultural institutions.
Fourteen works by several highly recognized artists were commissioned to form a program with a total duration of about 90 minutes, which has toured festivals in out-of-competition sections since 2014, such as Rotterdam, Melbourne, SXSW, Leeds, etc. Interestingly, these works have been screened in 35 mm.
The artists who have participated in this project have been Tina Frank, Björn Kämmerer, Manuel Knapp, Johann Lurf, Joost Rekveld, Rosa Menkman, Billy Roisz & Dieter Kovačič, Makino Takashi & Telcosystems, Esther Urlus, Martijn van Boven & Gert-Jan Prins, Susan Schuppli, Lukas Marxt, HC Gilje and BJ Nilsen & Karl Lemieux.
This project has its own website, where you can see news, interviews and view the works from its Vimeo channel.
Competitive Festivals
From a competitive point of view, some festivals, sections and competitions dedicated to this type of cinema are gradually emerging, from different perspectives. Although still with very slow growth.
In this post I have compiled 6 competitions dedicated exclusively to vertical cinema that allow us to take an X-ray of the situation of this segment:
#1 Vertical Film Festival
This Australian festival is the first festival dedicated to vertical cinema, the first edition took place in 2014. The same year that Rotterdam hosted the Vertical Cinema screenings.
It is biennial, the last edition took place on May 21, 2016, so it has only held two editions so far, in 2014 and 2016. If you are interested in shooting videos in this 9/16 format you can see several tips on their own website
There is currently no information on their website about the new 2018 edition,
#2 Verti Films
One of the first competitive vertical cinema festivals in Europe, the first edition was held on November 3 in Prague. At this time there is also no information about the new edition on the website, although it is expected to take place this year 2018.
In the last edition the registration deadline ended on October 28.
#3 Slim Cinema
The Vertical Film Festival of New York took place in Brooklyn on December 2, 2017 with more than 600 spectators in its first edition. In this case the call was opened on the free platform FilmFreeway.
This festival received about 80 submissions in its first edition, a figure very far from the thousands of films that short film and feature film festivals receive today.
#4 Nespresso Talents
This is the first vertical video competition sponsored by a recognized brand. In 2017 the second edition took place aimed at young creators.
It has a 3-minute limit and a total of 15 works are selected. The prizes range from €1,000 to €6,000 and an invitation to the Nespresso Talents Gala that took place at the Cannes Film Festival. National prize winners also attend the San Sebastián Festival as part of the prize.
In this case participation is much higher, with more than 320 videos submitted from 41 different countries.
#5 Snapchat Shorts Tribeca
Competition for videos made with mobile phones through the Snapchat application, which only allows vertical recording. Therefore, it is also a vertical format video competition.
It could be said that it is an evolution of those first mobile film festivals, which emerged at the beginning of this decade.
It should be noted that this competition is not sponsored by Snapchat, so it is very different from Nespresso Talents. The selection was 5 short films that were screened within the Tribeca Festival last year.
The call was opened in December 2016, but I have not yet seen information on the Tribeca website for 2018, although the registration dates are different from the rest of the festival.
#6 Pi Cortos Vertical Cinema Section
We arrive in Spain, the call is now open for the second edition of Pi Cortos, organized by the Vinalopo Audiovisual Media Association, organizers of the Short Films from Here and There Showcase, in Elda, for more than 10 years.
Vertical videos must have a duration of less than 3:14 and the registration deadline ends on February 20, with prize money of €500.
Interestingly, it is the only call that is open among all the festivals I have analyzed and also the only one that has a registration fee, through the Clickforfestivals platform.
An Opportunity
The evolution of vertical cinema festivals can be a good opportunity as a filmmaker to enter a segment with little competition. As a festival organizer it is an option to create new sections or festivals with a more original and innovative point of view.
What do you think about vertical cinema? Have you made any work of this kind?