By Dov Kornits
What made you want to work with film festivals? Had you heard of St Kilda Film Festival, and what are you looking forward to doing at the festival?
I actually started out working in the music industry and am a huge fan of all kinds of festivals, celebrations and cultural group experiences. I studied film because I was a cinephile and started volunteering for film festivals as it was a great way to attend them, so I never had a specific career in mind, but it naturally came as a logical continuation. When I started working at GIFF I never thought it would be for such a long period, but it certainly is my dream job so quickly became difficult to think about ever not doing it.
I had heard the name of the St Kilda Film Festival – many films we’ve shown or by filmmakers we know were also screened here and it’s a renowned name on the circuit. That said, to be honest I had no idea where St Kilda even was or what exactly is going on at the event so am super thrilled to get the opportunity to find out in person shortly! I have actually never been to Australia so there’s LOADS of things I look forward to seeing. I saw pictures of the venues and being at a screening with 3000 attendants is definitely what got me most excited. And, of course, I am looking forward to the films – I know there’s a great film culture here and we always receive quiet a number of impressive submissions from Australia. Still, I have the feeling I know nothing about the Australian short film world so am looking forward to changing that.
What does short film mean to you? Is it a celebrated genre in Mexico?
Short films have always been a genre that, by definition, allows for more risks and experimentation, a freedom that is often mixed with intensity: a lot of the good short films have so much more to say in 10 minutes than most features.
When you look at student films for example, often these are stories that the filmmaker has been wanting to tell their whole life. Of course, it’s much easier to work independently and move freely when making a short film, so they’re a more rough and pure way to presenting any artistic vision than in a huge production.
In Mexico, where it’s still incredibly hard – until very recently impossible – to find financial support for any type of film project, let alone an independent production, where there’s only two major film schools that admit ten students per year…. while at the same time there’s an incredible wealth of talent and stories to be told, the short form definitely was and continues to be a particularly important medium and way for aspiring filmmakers to start working. Short films definitely played a huge role in building a national film industry that went from 14 productions in 2002 to over 150 features now. A big part of these films are debut features and the people in the industry take shorts seriously because that’s what they were working on very recently and how they learned their jobs.
Mexican audiences in general are very enthusiastic and open as well, but of course, in terms of a distribution model – it’s very hard to find shorts – or even any type of independent films – being screened in a cinema context outside of festivals. But I think it’s a blessing as well that people think more flexibly about how and where to screen or watch shorts. You’ll never have a Cannes Vs Netflix debate in the short film world!
You’ve worked with film festivals and archives. Do you think there’s fundamental differences in how cultures and countries celebrate film or does good film have universal meaning?
Definitely one of the most fantastic things about film is the “universal language” aspect of it. We’ve experienced that a lot with the spotlight countries we’ve invited to Guanajuato – communication and culture are always very different for each region, it can be difficult, and it always takes a while to get through, but meanwhile you watch a film and it is about the exact same feelings and problems you have, and talking straight to you! That’s always amazing to experience anew, and gives you a lot of hope for the world we live in where there’s so many misunderstandings, so much superficiality and it’s so hard to know who tells the truth and what to believe in – of course a film can manipulate you as well but it can also transmit feelings in a way you know what’s important and honest; that immediacy of the medium is so powerful. And since you’re mentioning archives – it also works for history, if you watch old movies even though times were very different, you get a very close grasp of what life felt like.
The films you’re most excited to preview at St Kilda Film Festival and Guanajuato International Film festival this year?
I saw there’s a program of ‘70s Music television which sounds amazing and am curious to learn everything about the filmmaker development program. We have a lot of educational initiatives to connect upcoming talents with the industry at our event in Mexico and those programs are not only extremely important for the next generation of filmmakers but also tend to be the most interesting and rewarding for us – that’s where you discover the most exciting ideas.
The 2018 St Kilda Film Festival runs from May 17 – 26. Check out the official site here.
