The Oscars, Sex and Oberhausen
The Oscar Night is over. The lucky winners have been announced, all champagne glasses have been emptied and most robes have been taken to the cleaners. The most talked about films are the features, but those winners that really jumped with joy got awarded in the short film category – like William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg above (best animated short film).
Most of the times they are the starting point for a career in features, but there are also people dedicated to the short form. Because there is not really a market for short films, festivals are an extremely important platform for these smaller masterpieces.
The oldest short film festival in the world takes place in Oberhausen every spring. Today, the manifesto of Oberhausen celebrates it´s 50th anniversary. Back on February 28th 1962, 26 filmmakers declared: “†Daddy’s cinema is dead!”. The young filmmakers wanted to finally make their own films, present their own ideas, tell their own stories! 20 years later the Oberhausen Group received the German film prize, and until today some of the signatories are successful filmmakers in Germany.
So there are two good reasons to take a look at what the short film world has to offer…