Due to the fact that the submission to 11th edition of Short Waves Festival are now open, our programmers Emilia Mazik and Paulina Wieczorek talked to Film Festival Life and said a few words about the festival, next year’s competitions and what they like in short cinema.
In the introduction written by Andrew Wilkin we can read:
A film may be short, but can still have great impact. That’s the mantra of the fantastic Short Waves, which focuses on shorts and has an open-minded and dynamic approach to its filmmaking. After their big 10th edition, they are preparing for their 11th – a new start into the decade. We spoke (…) on the upcoming edition, touching on topics from their “Outside the Box” theme to their craziest festival stories and the unique Short Waves experience of screenings in other peoples homes.
Asked about what is Short Waves Festival, our selectioners describe:
Emilia: “The most concise film festival” as we call it, for shorts under 45 minutes. It’s quite young but at the same time, we’re very well established. Although it’s definitely not the oldest in Poland! But we are proud to have more submissions and international guests every year.
Paulina: Our way of programming is very open-minded. It’s about visual art and how cinema can impact our lives.
Emilia: The current political situation in Poland is also an influence. More specifically, the general direction Europe is taking to the right, with populism, flood of fake news and such. It’s really important to teach some critical thinking. Programming is not just about the film, but about the art behind it. There’s a million films about the refugee crisis but not all of them are good. Sometimes conflict is essential! It’s a battleground. Let’s quote our dear friends from VIS Vienna Shorts: „WE NEED TO DISAGREE“. Sometimes it’s important to not always agree. Not all ideas are for everyone after all. Paulina: We try to keep the program diverse, so everybody can find something for everybody. And it’s not all about changing the world. We’re also about hope, joy and a celebration.
In the interview they also tacled an issue of next year’s competition and what sort of films are welcomed to the festival. The programmers also talked about submissions categories and what do they like to watch on silver screen.
Paulina: It’s not limited by any type of genre. This edition will be more experimental, even more diverse and definitely exciting as always. We will show the films which bring all kinds of emotions.
Emilia: We want to see some honesty. We can tell when some films were made for festivals. Storytelling is still very important in this age of technical possibilities.
Paulina: Exactly. We are particularly impressed with simple humble stories because this is what make films so relevant and easy to empathise.
Further on the conversation is about Dances with Camera competition, most favourite festival moments from previous editions and information what can filmmakers expect when they visit the festival.
Emilia: So many filmmakers come back to Short Waves – sometimes for the 2nd or 3rd time in a row, it means something! We cover full accommodation, food and drinks, and will take good care of you, introducing you to a whole host of people from the film industry. People can really get to know each other.
Paulina: I think we can call ourselves a rather cosy film festival but still open-minded and outgoing. Our festival club is full until the very morning everyday of the festival. People have long conversations with each other – audience meet the filmmakers and fillmakers meet the industry.
Full interview in english is available here.
