Seven international short films inspire audience and expert jury

For four years now, an annually changing team of students from the master's program Sports, Culture & Event Management has been organizing the Kurzfilmfestival Kufstein as part of a business project of the FH Kufstein Tirol. This year the theme of the festival evening was: "Nature is our playground": What is the mutual relationship between man and nature?

International short films in competition

From a total of 208 short films submitted from 46 countries, the festival team selected seven short films to be shown on the big screen on Thursday, November the 04^th. Head of programming and host of the evening, Lena Röder, says about the films: "We thought long and hard about this year's theme and came to the conclusion that "Nature is our playground" is not only a hot topic, but also offers a lot of room for different interpretations. The short films selected reflect just that. Filmmakers from Brazil, the USA, France, Bulgaria, Germany and Turkey show very different aspects from their personal perspective."

The Raifeissen jury award and the audience award

This year's expert jury, consisting of Angelika Pagitz from Cine Tirol, Emanuel Bachnetzer from Sandhill Pictures and media maker Lisa Luginger, presented the Raiffeisen Jury Award, worth 300 euros, on the evening. A special mention was made for the short film "Fount" (original title: Bulak, Turkey, 2021; director: Evrim İnci) about the loss of home due to flight. The Jury Award was won by the film "Thin Ice," a project produced in 2020 by six students in France. The animated short follows a reporter and his cameraman on a questionable expedition to Antarctica, where they document a species of bird thought to be extinct. Very clearly, the audience was shown the effects of strong consumerism on the other side of the world.

The audience's opinion was also sought. The audience award of 200 euros went to the documentary "From Trash to Treasure: Turning Negatives into Positives" (USA, 2020; Director: Iara Lee) about inhabitants of Lesotho who have decided to fight waste, pollution and (social) disadvantage by recycling and thus not surrendering to their negative environmental conditions. Instead, they proactively create something positive out of it.

Stimulating accompanying and educational program

Accompanying the Kurzfilmfestival, the organizing team developed an ongoing educational program, which is available online especially for schools and teachers and for all interested parties beyond the event. The head of the educational program, Katharina Görlitz, explained: "We asked ourselves: Is nature really our playground? And who can answer this question for our regional nature in Tyrol? In order to bring the topic into the classrooms, we interviewed a total of 8 experts from different sectors. From professional skiers to foresters - all interviews as well as a short documentary are available on YouTube. The educational program also includes a workbook with suggestions, games and discussion questions."

A well-rounded evening

The audience as well as the expert jury were enthusiastic about the varied program of the evening. The project supervisor, Prof. (FH) Dr. Verena Teissl, Professor (FH) of Cultural Management & Cultural Studies at the FH Kufstein Tirol, about the festival: "The team has perfectly picked up on the potentials of festivals and implemented them - bold films, a concern and a lot of atmosphere."

To be continued

In March 2022, this year's team will hand over the project to next semester's master's students.

Link 

• Masterstudiengang Sports, Culture & Event Management