We can safely say that it has been a good year in short films, because the process we have gone through in order to finally present this year’s international program has been a tough one!
But, no matter how difficult the final phase, this is also how we hope the process will be – and for that we have our global community of filmmakers to thank.
We have experienced 2,939 stories in all genres, formats and expressions. 791 hours (if viewed non-stop; 13 days) of love, joy and laughter, humor and seriousness, frustration, anger and sadness – the whole range of human emotions in an equally large pool of combinations. The result is a balanced and exciting program, a selection we are proud to present.
The joy of telling stories is just as prominent as the urgency in getting them told, and this year’s submitted films are largely proof of the fact that we live in a world torn by conflicts. War and genocide, global warming and the climate crisis, capitalism and contempt for elected politicians, and how internet and our phones connect us, yet have become the root of alienation and declining empathy. In the midst of all this, it’s easy to feel helpless, and we are grateful for the filmmakers’ ability and bravery in highlighting the humanity in their work – that which feels so personally relatable, activates empathy, and offer us challenges and insight into the light and dark sides of what it means to be human.
Telling a story in a limited amount of time is not easy, and the same is true having to go from 2,939 entries to the 74 films that make up this year’s international competition programme.
To the 2,865 filmmakers who unfortunately did not make it through the final cut: The competition was fierce in a sea of great films, and we want to thank each and everyone for the experiences you have let us take part in.
To the filmmakers and teams behind this year’s selection – 47 short films and 27 short documentaries – our thank yous are as big as our congratulations:
We cannot wait to get your stories up on the big screen in Grimstad, where we know they will find a great home and an enthusiastic audience!
Sabina Jacobsson is a filmmaker and visual artist, graduating from The Academy of Fine Arts in Trondheim in 2000. She is an award-winning artist working in film, photography, drawing, and installation, and has had several solo exhibitions and screenings both in Norway and internationally. She also works with scenography for dance and theater performances and is a regular lecturer at Oslo fotokunstskole. Several of Jacobsson’s films have screened at the Norwegian Short Film Festival, most recently in 2021 with her documentary Ideas & Doubt and the animated Trash Mail.
Photo: Tina Holth-Jacobsson
Bard Ydén has worked with film festivals since 2003, and is editor and programmer for the Norwegian Short Film Festival since 2018. He is the Festival Director of Oslo/Fusion Int. Film Festival since 2007 (minus a one-year break), has consulted and curated for Norwegian and international film festivals, and has extensive jury experience. In 2017, he co-founded The Faroe Islands’ Int. Minority Film Festival, from 2018 to 2022 he was part of the organizing team for the European Film Market’s Horizons Start-Up program at Berlinale, and he is currently part of the New Dawn committee – an international production fund to support more diversity in film production.
Photo: Margarete Strandberg
Armita Keyani is a Norwegian filmmaker from Rælingen municipality with bachelor degrees in Film and Television studies from Wales, and Contemporary Art from Tromsø Art Academy, as well as a degree from Nordland School of Arts and Film. Her films are mostly dramedies set in unusual situations to explore larger themes. Her films have won several awards, including Vimeo’s 2019 Comedy of the Year award in 2019, has screened at several Academy Award qualifying festivals, such as Tribeca, Palm Springs Int. ShortFest and The Norwegian Short Film Festival.
Lars Daniel Krutzkoff Jacobsen is a Norwegian filmmaker and a former film consultant at the Norwegian Film Institute (NFI). At NFI he worked with short films, but he was also one of the first consultants in their new development program for drama series and feature films, called NEO. He has made two feature films and twelve short films. Famously credited for being the filmmaker who brought the “trash film” genre to Norway, he is also an active participant in the public debate.
Ingrid Liavaag is a Norwegian director and actor, working within film, performance art and in hybrid forms. She has a masters degree from Oslo National Academy of the Arts, and an exam from Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris, where she also studied scenography at Laboratory of Movement Study (L.E.M). Liavaag co-founded the international theater company LiLiRe, as well as the film collective Peggy Høy. Her short film, The Director, co-directed with Linda Gathu, won the Norwegian Film Critics’ Association’s Award at the Norwegian Short Film Festival in 2022.
Foto: Julie Hrnčířová
Julie Pichard has a degree in film editing and has worked extensively as an editor in France and Norway. She has also studied cultural project management and was coordinator for Institut Français at the French Embassy to Norway. Julie started as guest coordinator for the Norwegian Short Film Festival in 2019 and took over as Festival Producer in 2020.
Jonas Brenna is an experienced journalist with a backgound from the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). As a producer and program director for video and film at Aftenposten media for the past eleven years, he is known for the reality series Sweatshop (2015), which is still the only non-linear national “Gullruten” television award winner, as well as the short documentary, Kayayo – The Living Shopping Baskets (2016), which received an historic Oscar shortlisting. He is overworked, picky and direct, but always very kind.
Samanta Sokolowski is Argentine born and based in Berlin. Her passion for good stories, people and films, led her to the world of film festivals, where she has worked for over 20 years, currently including for the Berlin International Film Festival and Norway’s Oslo/Fusion. She loves being moved and surprised by daring new ways of storytelling, and for the opportunity to showcase new talents.
Nastaran Tajeri-Foumani (no pronouns) is a German-Iranian non-binary curator, activist, musician and lecturer*researcher, focusing on intersectional*queer*feminism, social justice, anti-discriminatory practice and on queer topics in film and art. Nastaran has moderated for Berlinale since 2011, and held various positions at XPOSED Queer Film Festival Berlin since 2013, as well as moderated political panels and film talks all over Europe since 2010. Nastaran is right now founding an institute for anti-discriminatory consultation for film production.
Toril Simonsen is a fixture in the world of short films. Until 2023, she was manager of International Relations for Short and Documentary Films at the Norwegian Film Institute. She was on the Board of Directors of the Norwegian Short Film Festival 1981 – 2003, and Festival Director 1989 – 1991. She co-founded Nordisk Panorama in 1990, and was co-director of its inaugural edition. She was also on the Board of Directors of Fredrikstad Animation Festival 2001 – 2003, and in 1983 she was co-founder of the Norwegian film magazine “Z”.
Frank Mosvold is a Norwegian filmmaker and creator of the animated TV-series Hubert (26 episodes) and Ella Bella Bingo (104 episodes). In 2020 he adapted the latter into a feature film, which he directed himself. Mosvold has also directed several award-winning short films, including the 2007 Terje Vigen Award-winning An Accidental Story. Mosvold holds an MFA degree in Film Production from Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles.
Foto: Tore Skaar
Jannicke Systad Jacobsen is a director, producer and screenwriter with degrees from the Czech Republic’s National Film School and London International Film School. She works in documentary and fiction, in short and long formats, and notably directed the feature film Turn Me On, Dammit (2011), winner of Best Screenplay at Tribeca and Amanda Award for Best theatrical film, as well as the award-winning short docs The Clown Children (2005) and New York 81 (2022).
Meghna Rao is an independent producer and consultant based in New York. She previously oversaw film and television development at Pushkin Industries. Prior to Pushkin, she worked at Topic Studios where she was involved in a number of features, including The Mauritanian, Spencer, and Theater Camp. She began her career at Left/Right where she helped develop their first slate of scripted television projects.
Silje Poulsen Viki is producer and distributor at Indie Film. She has worked and programmed for several Norwegian festivals, such as HUMAN International Documentary Festival where she was program director from 2014 to 2021, as well as in different positions at the Norwegian Short Film Festival from 2011 to 2017. She has worked at Films from the South, South Fund, and Le Monde diplomatique, and had board positions at cinemas and culture houses. Silje also has an MA in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation from Trinity College in Dublin.
Liv Joelle Barbosa Blad is a director and a scriptwriter. She garnered much acclaim for her series debut, Nudes, which won “Gullruten” for both best youth series and original music. Liv has directed eight short films and her most recent one, Min søster, won “Amanda” for best short film in 2017. Liv is co-owner of Barbosa Film, a company working to lift women filmmakers, while focusing on diversity.
Foto: Caroline Roka
Shahrukh Kavousi is an Iran born director, educated at The Art Academy in Bergen and at Nordland School of Arts and Film. His film debut, the documentary, Tvillingfrisørene fra Bagdad (2004), received honorable mention at both the Norwegian Short Film Festival in Grimstad and the Norwegian Documentary Film Festival in Volda. He has directed several short films and featurettes, as well as producing for others, such as Camilla Figenschous feature film Tauba (2020). Kavousi runs the company Close Up Film AS, and is currently developing both a documentary and his first feature film.
The Norwegian Short Film Festival / kortfilm@kortfilmfestivalen.no
Kortfilmfestivalen i Grimstad
kortfilm@kortfilmfestivalen.no