The Usual Suspects

Panel Talk

On a lazy afternoon in Spring 2018, a Facebook post penned by Massimiliano Nardulli stormed the usually relatively peaceful social media timeline of many (short) film festival programmers. He wrote:

“I’m very troubled by the role of film festivals in some countries. As a programmer who has been doing this job for around eleven years, I’m surprised to observe that not only do some festivals not help that much with the development of different cinematographic approaches for new filmmakers, but they also make a strong contribution to destroying the storytelling and the connection with a larger audience. The industry might end up having festivals showcasing films only of the “usual suspects” of the festival circuit—the friends and the friends of the friends, the followers of the sacred word of festival gurus, and the copycats of the so-called new cool wave. I’m afraid this will become a glass bead game of complacency and self-centredness.”

During this panel discussion, the crux of his statement is tackled: Are major short film festivals all showing the same films? Listen to what Daniel Hadenius-Ebner (Vienna Shorts), Anne Gaschütz (Filmfest Dresden), Massimiliano Nardulli (TSFM, Less Is More) and Rich Warren (Encounters Film Festival) had to say. Moderated by Enrico Vannucci.