MONTREAL, Ten short films from France, Great Britain, Argentina, the United States and Canada have been chosen as finalists in the NFB Online Short Film Competition Cannes Special 2007. The finalists were selected from among 1149 films registered with the Short Film Corner, the meeting place for short films at Cannes.
This year’s competition, organized by the National Film Board of Canada, is in its third year. The contest – presented in collaboration with the Short Film Corner and Youtube, in association with MusiquePlus – gives the public a unique opportunity to join in the fun and frenzy of Cannes by inviting Web surfers to vote.
The NFB Online Short Film Competition Cannes Special 2007 will be online from May 11 to 21, in French and English, at www.nfb.ca/cannes, www.youtube/onfnfb.
The winning short will be chosen by public online voting based on a one-to-five-star appreciation scale. Canadian voters also have the chance to win one of five copies of Norman McLaren: The Master’s Edition, the completely remastered works of the legendary filmmaker. The director of the winning short film will receive a professional DV camera and a portable computer with post-production software.
The finalists are:
* Invertation by Nuru Rimington-Mkali (United Kingdom). In adjoining apartments, one bleached with light and the other shrouded in darkness, two figures are trapped in looping monologue about the only question worth asking. Where does the answer lie?
* Tear in the Eye by Bertrand Lesné and Antoine Levannier (France). Police officer by night and mother by day, a woman discovers that her husband has been cheating on her for several months.
* Eau Boy by Eric Gravel (Canada). A young man who has suffered from excessive sweating since birth is blown away by a strange encounter.
* Mi Terruno (My Piece of Land) by Daniel Gil Suarez (Argentina). A young man disillusioned by society claims a small piece of land for himself and is willing to defend it at all costs.
* Teat Beat of Sex by Signe Baumane (United States). Three light-hearted animated vignettes on sex, from a woman’s point of view.
* Withdrawal by Mark Conn (United Kingdom). Among the grit and grime of central London, a seemingly homeless woman sits near a cash machine and dreams
of a life away from the streets, but how far will she go to see that dream come true?
* Julie Goes Away by Julien Hérisson (France). After spending the night elsewhere, a young man returns to his apartment to find his ex-girl friend waiting for him.
* Tarot by John Condon (United Kingdom). A mysterious Gypsy tarot reader deals the cards for her nervous customer. What secrets will they reveal?
* Day Off by Jérôme Jourlait (France). Ngavii, a young Himba boy from Namibia, walks 20 kilometres to school. But today the teacher is not there, stuck in the nearest city 110 kilometres away
* The Christmas Trophy by Pascal Thiebaux (France). A young man is accused by a family of dangerous maniacs of being the descendant of a hunter who apparently killed and stuffed Santa Claus.
