On Thursday, 19 November, the Creative Europe Centre seminar on short films took place between 10.00 and 18.00 at the E1 Hall of Cankarjev dom. The seminar was conducted by a guest lecturer, Srđan Vuletić, member of the Kingfisher Award jury, an award-winning filmmaker and professor of film direction and screenwriting at the Sarajevo Film Academy. The MEDIA Subprogramme Manager, Sabina Briški, initially directed attention on some international opportunities for young filmmakers – there were approximately 70 attendees –, and went on to introduce the lecturer who first focused on the formal characteristics of short film. Vuletić pointed out that short film and full-length film were rather distant relatives instead of brothers, and aspects of one format cannot be simply transliterated into another one. He summoned up the characteristics of short film in several effective maxims, foregrounding the reduction of initially devised structure: “Reduce.” Everything superfluous to the story and message (as well as characters) needs to be abandoned, and what remains organised according to the criterion of the visual: “Do not tell – show!” A good short film should be effective even without dialogue. In the second part of the seminar, the director stressed the importance of building the so-called ‘feeling of a coherent whole’ and heightening the tension throughout the film, the gist of which is: “Never go back.” He also explained that only a few shorts per year succeed in attaining that delicate balance. He advised the responsive participants to stay attuned to the zeitgeist and base their storylines on current issues, and, most importantly, to be daring and fearlessly challenge the established limits. 

Written by Andraž Jež

Photo Iztok Dimc

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