27th Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival: January 30 to February 4, 2005
The Market is celebrating its twentieth anniversary

Created in 1986 by the Festival organisers to encourage the short film industry, the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Market has become the leading market of its kind.

The leading market of its kind

In twenty years, the Clermont film market has become as important for short films as the Cannes film market is for feature films, and maybe even more so: it is a stage which focuses on encounters between the industry’s players as well as being a unique space dedicated to selling and viewing of short films.
Of course remains to be followed th erecent efforts of Cannes Market towards the Short Film Industry (short film corner).

Twenty years, it is the age of maturity and the coming of age of digitization. Beginning with a modest video library equipped with a few VCRs to show all the films being presented in the selection, Clermont is nowadays a server showcasing a vast choice of short films, from which professionals can consult from thirty-five video units. Of the 4,015 films registered at Clermont this year, professionals will be able to access 1,615 of them.

In the past twenty years, the need for such a space has never diminished, on the contrary: “This year, yet again” comments Anne Parent (Film Market), “I had to refuse stand space as I didn’t have a spare square inch”.

The Market (reserved to professionals) is a key element in contributing to the expansion of the short film industry creating a time and space for short film users. Buyers (mainly from television channels), project developers, advertising people coming to discover new talent will be among the 2,800 professionals expected to visit this year. A hundred and fourteen companies will be attending (1/4 French and 3/4 from all over the world with a heavy concentration from Europe), filling up the forty spaces. Clermont is more than a window to present the work of French and foreign professionals, it is the place which sells the most shorts in the world. “Today”, explains Roger Gonin (Sauve qui peut le court métrage), “we have proved that there is a market for short films, which would have been unthinkable a few years ago”. In terms of volume, the largest consumer is European television. Even if, according to Roger Gonin, “It is not easy to know the exact number of films sold and how much they were sold for”.

At Clermont-Ferrand, the main production comes from Europe, though each year a larger wave arrives from Asia. It should be noted though that with its 513 American short films, Clermont is also the largest market for American short films, as there is no structure as large as this one the other side of the Atlantic. Amongst the films which sell the best are the gap-fillers: normally very short animated films without dialogue. However, each year there are less and less films based on the usual twist at the end, comments Roger Gonin. The die is changing. There is now a strong demand for highly original films from the television channels.

It is true that the short film/television channels stakes often dominate the proceedings, but the market is also here to showcase the visibility of the exhibitors, to encourage encounters, to professionalize the selling of short films and to defend the wealth and diversity of this sector.

Donald James