Oberhausen 2007

The prestigious Short Film Festival celebrated its 53th edition. It's one of the oldest and most renowned film festivals of the world. Generations of filmmakers presented here their first films. "I smoked my first cigarette here", said Wim Wenders. "For years, I saw every single film at the Westdeutsche Kurzfilmtage, looking forward to those days in Oberhausen every year. These events were important for me, for my decision to become a filmmaker." Also today, almost half a century later, short films are, for young filmmakers, a wonderful entrance to the world of cinema. For critics, the festival offers a marvelous platform to discover young talents, to discuss the variety of film forms off the mainstream, and to undertake a step into the future of cinema. Read what Jonathan Rosenbaum, Alex A. Tioseco and Oliver Baumgarten appreciated and discovered in this-years edition of Oberhausen.

The FIPRESCI Prize went to To Be Continued (Kramasha) by Amit Dutta (India, 2007, 22', 35mm). Details
International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, May 3-8, 2007, www.kurzfilmtage.de

Reports

The Rapture. Jonathan Rosenbaum lets himself fall into Amit Dutta’s short film To Be Continued. "Now that 35-millimeter appears to be a format whose pleasures are being overlooked or forgotten, especially in the realm of short films," he writes, "the sensual pleasures of Amit Dutta's 22-minute To Be Continued seem all the more precious. A good many of these have a lot to do with camera movements..."
Collective Consciousness, Collective Conscience. Alexis A. Tioseco considers Pop Culture and Interpretation through Ho Tzu Nyen's The Bohemian Rhapsody Project. "Ho Tzu Nyen, by far one of the most interesting and intelligent artists working in the audio-visual medium in Singapore, has taken on the task of deconstructing the famous Queen song: interpreting and localizing its meaning in his short film".
Art in the Slow Lane. Oliver Baumgarten takes time out to consider Oberhausen’s more contemplative selections. "If there was one theme in the contributions to the International Competition, it was the discovery of slowness. Sixty-four films from 37 countries formed the competition, and a vast majority of these films were designed in a markedly slow way."

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