Talking Shorts
Welcome to ! We write about short films, produce long reads on short film programmes, and feature talks with filmmakers → all fully immersed in the European circuit of festivals, which is home to our workshops and discussions.
Reads Notes

Home is Where it Hurts

Essay by Savina Petkova

Through the symbol of home, Vienna Shorts’ programme “When Will They Ever Learn? Testimonies from Today’s War Zones” ruminated on the scars of war trauma.

Talks Interviews

Digital Romanticism

Interview with Samira Elagoz, Z Walsh by Lina Heimann

In You can’t get what you want but you can get me, a slideshow of screenshots and photographs depicts how filmmakers Samira Elagoz and Z Walsh fall madly in love. In this interview, the artists discuss their teenage-esque love story, virtual foreplay, and the hypersexualisation of trans* people in media.

Reads Focus

Media Revisited

Essay by Eneos Çarka

Championing the legacy of filmmakers like Harun Farocki and Chris Marker, contemporary filmmakers reclaim the computer screen as a site of reflection and resistance in a time when algorithmic culture and censorship define our mediatised society.

Reads Focus

The 24-Hour Footage Machine

Essay by Sarah Fensom

The growing presence of surveillance practices has been a source for filmmakers for years. In this essay, Sarah Fensom examines how subverting the datafication of human life can be turned into political resistance.

Films On The Circuit

Shadows

Where Shadows Hide and Visions Speak

Review by Heather Bradshaw

The naive hopefulness of Shadows’ young protagonist permeates its difficult subject matter, where a young girl’s voice sparks the vivid rebellion of its animated vessel.

This month

Festivals

Curtas Vila do Conde – International Film Festival

12—20.07.2025
Curtas Vila do Conde – International Film Festival is one of Portugal’s most prestigious film festivals, reaching its 33rd edition in 2025. Assuming that the main objective is the promotion and diffusion of cinematographic and...

Discussions

Working with partner festivals, we organise panel talks, keynotes, and other formats to foster discussions. Recordings are published here to continue the conversation online.

What’s the Point of Solidarity

with Benita Bailey, Vic So Hee, Rachel Pronger, Mateja Meded
We often use the word solidarity, but do we really understand what it means today? From its politically charged use in the former GDR to its revival during the COVID-19 pandemic, solidarity has taken on many shapes. This panel explores how...
Discussions

Don’t Break the Chain. From Production to Distribution of Short Films.

with Céline Roustan, Juliette Canon, Elena López Riera, Thomas Hakim, Savina Petkova
How best can film festivals, programmers, residencies, distributors, and sales support short films in their making? This panel talk proposes to take a closer look at the production-distribution cycle as a chain, that is as strong as the...
Leiden Shorts
Discussions

Rethinking the Short Film Format in a Shifting Media Landscape

with Julian Ross, Jade Wiseman, Niels Putman, Oana Ghera
Traditionally seen as stepping stones to features, short films now hold a more complex and valuable place in today’s screen culture. This panel challenges old paradigms and explores how shorts function as a creative and professional form...
Filmfest Dresden
Discussions

Bound by Limits

with Diego Armando Aparicio, Hoda Taheri, Sarah Dombrink, Ocean Hale Meißner, Vincent Förster
Film festivals bring together diverse voices and cinematic styles from across the globe, reflecting both local and international realities. But what happens when films addressing urgent social and political issues spark controversy instead...
We are using cookies for analytics purposes.
See our Privacy Policy