A top-notch international jury – with actress Arta Dombroshi from Kosovo, director of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen Lars Henrik Gass, and Philippine director Khavn de la Cruz – will pick the award winners in this year’s short film section. The Berlinale Shorts will screen 28 films from 17 countries, eleven of which will be running in the Competition, and vying for the Golden and Silver Bears for Best Short Film. The entire programme automatically qualifies for the DAAD Short Film Prize and receives a nomination for Best European Short Film. Markus Kavka will present the awards in CinemaxX3 on February 10.

Germany is making a strong showing this year with five formally complex films. In Christoph Giradet and Matthias Müller’s new film contre-jour, “the way we regard the world and how it regards us in return breaks into disturbing fragments” (K. Tieke). Humorous in the telling, but formally more reticent is Lola Randl’s Die Leiden des Herrn Karpf. Der Geburtstag – a short film about the loneliness and estrangement of the urban individual. Three wilful productions underscore the specialness of Belgium’s narrative culture. And then there’s the East, which is not a country, but a direction. This trend is illustrated by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy’s Diagnoz from the Ukraine and Alexander Karavayev’s Devyat proloyotov vmeste from the Russian Federation, which depict the current political and economic situation in very different ways, as well as Jan Andersen’s vostok’ from France, whose title is already programmatic.

David OReilly, who won Special Mention in last year’s Short Film Competition, is back with his new digital animation Please Say Something, a film about a relationship of another kind. In Birth, Signe Baumane shows how being pregnant can feel. The Indonesian film Trip to the Wound by Edwin, who is a member of this year’s Forum NETPAC jury, will screen out of competition. The film is an artistic and political statement on the freedom of art in times of radical censorship.

The Berlinale Shorts is pleased to announce that the winner of the Prix UIP at the 2008 Berlinale, Darren Thorton’s Frankie (Ireland), won Best European Short Film at the European Film Awards in Copenhagen in December 2008.

The Berlinale Shorts jury:

Khavn De La Cruz (Philippines)

With more than 70 short films and features, this director is one of his country’s most important underground digital filmmakers. De La Cruz, who participated in the Berlinale Talent Campus 2005, is also a writer and musician, as well as director of the Philippine MOV International Digital Film Festival. With his production company Filmless Films, he has made many works, including Mondomanila: Institute of Poets, a surreal cinematic reflection on Philippine society.

Arta Dobroshi (Kosovo) 

With her role in the screen drama Lorna’s Silence (winner of Best Screenplay at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival), this young actress achieved her international breakthrough and a nomination for the 2008 European Film Awards. Born in Pristina, Arta Dobroshi has played many stage roles in her country, as well as a leading role in the prize-winning German-Albanian production Magic Eye (2005), a film about the situation in Albania in 1997, when it was rocked by unrest.

Dr. Lars Henrik Gass   (Germany)

Lars Henrik Gass studied literature and theatre. Since 1997, he has been director of the renowned International Short Film Festival Oberhausen. Until 2007, he was also a member of the German Short Film Award jury. He has written many essays on photography and film, and teaches at a number of universities and academies. In 2001, Gass published his book “Das ortlose Kino. Über Marguerite Duras”.

The 2009 Berlinale Shorts programme:

I / 86 min

Bric-Brac, Gabriel Achim, Romania, 18 min

VU, Leila Albayaty, Belgium, 28 min (Competition)

Princess Margaret Blvd., Kazik Radwanski, Canada, 14 min

Kaїn, Kristof Hoornaert, Belgium, 16 min (Competition)

Please Say Something, David OReilly, Ireland, 10 min (Competition)

II / 79min

The Illusion, Susana Barriga Rodríguez, Cuba, 24 min (Competition)

A Mango Tree In The Front Yard, Raveendren Pradeepan, France, 11 min (Competition)

BaDerech Hachutza, Elad Pankovski, Israel, 17 min

Dish, Brian Krinsky, USA, 15 min

Birth, Signe Baumane, Italy/USA, 12 min (Competition)

III / 77 min

26.4, Nathalie André, Belgium, 15 min

Renovare, Paul Negoescu, Germany/Romania, 24 min

Diagnoz, Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, Ukraine, 15 min (Competition)

contre-jour, Cristoph Giradet, Matthias Müller, Germany,11 min (Competition)

Trip to the Wound, Edwin, Indonesia, 7 min (Out of competition)

The Island, Trevor Anderson, Canada, 5 min

IV / 86 min

Jade, Daniel Elliott, Great Britain, 15 min (Competition)

Karai norte, Marcelo Martinessi, Paraguay, 19 min

Pure, Jacob Bricca, USA, 5 min

Devyat prolyotov vmeste, Alexander Karavayev, Russ. Fed., 20 min (Competition)

Musafir, BW Purba Negara, Indonesia, 17 min

Die Leiden des Herrn Karpf. Der Geburtstag, Lola Randl, Germany, 10 min

V / 90 min

Buenas Intenciones, Ivan Lomelí, Mexico, 18 min

Laitue, Nicolas Brooks, UK, 10 min

Havet, Jöns Jönsson, Germany, 25 min (Competition)

der prinz, Petra Schröder, Germany, 15 min

vostok’, Jan Andersen, France, 17 min

Mama L’Chaim, Elkan Spiller, USA, 5 min

The Golden Bear to
O zi bună de plajă by Bogdan Mustaţă (Romania)

The film raises questions about its issues rather than bring resolution to them. It does so in a very precise and unpredictable way.
We feel that it is one of the most precious things when a film stays with you and keeps unravelling long after the final credits have ended.

The Silver Bear to
Udedh bun by Siddharth Sinha (India)

The Silver Bear goes to Udedh bun for its modern narration. A sharp focus that relies on a harmony between images and sound rather than words.
We are also sensitive to the new erotica brought to the traditional figure of the desired woman in the history of cinema.