Forhåndsjuryens uttalelse

It has been a privilege to watch this year’s international short films. Entries have come from every corner of the world, and they are proof that there is great power in the short format. The stories are compelling, entertaining and informative, and they offer new and fresh perspectives. We have been on a thrilling ride also in terms of diversity: In geography, in stories, and last, but not least; representation, in front of and behind the camera. It is obvious to us that breadth in diversity and representation enriches a production. The films we have seen are a display in variation and innovation in themes, dramaturgy, expressions, genres, and formats.
We have experienced pain and hurt, the bitter sweet, the absurd, the comical, the dramatic, the grotesque, and the beautiful - our entire emotional spectrum has been on a fantastic, often animated, roller coaster ride.
Of more than 1600 submitted films we have ended up with 55 films in competition, needless to say we have been forced to make many tough decisions in this process.

This year’s selection of stories will touch and enrich, challenge and entertain, and let us experience - or escape from - the reality, as seen by other sets of eyes.

We have seen it all, yet we hunger for more - and we hope you will feel the same!

Ha en riktig god festival!

The pre-selection committee for international short films is: 

Armita Keyani is a Norwegian filmmaker from Rælingen municipality with bachelor degrees in both Film and Television, and Contemporary Art studies. Her films are mostly drama comedies dealing with human nature’s absurdities, often set in unusual situations to explore the larger themes. Her 2018 graduation film, Welcome Home, screened in competition at Tribeca Film Festival, and won Vimeo’s 2019 Comedy of the Year award. Her latest film, Customs (2021) has screened at several Academy Award qualifying festivals, such as The Norwegian Short Film Festival and Palm Springs International ShortFest, and is still touring the festival circuit.

Elisa Fernanda Pirir was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala. She moved to Northern Norway in 2007 where she started participating in film productions. After graduating film school in 2016, she joined Mer Film as a producer alongside Maria Ekerhovd, and is currently head of the company’s office in Tromsø. She is also Mer Film’s head of television and in charge of all non- European co-productions, as well as the Mer Film Talent development program. Her work has been screened and won awards at many international film festivals, such as Busan Int. Film Festival, Gothenburg Int. Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival and her film Liremu Barana (dir. Caj Cojoc) won the 2020 Golden Chair for Best Norwegian Short Film at The Norwegian Short Film Festival. In 2021 she had two shorts qualifying as Oscar contenders.

Neil Young is a freelance film critic and programmer from Sunderland, UK, based in Vienna. His current outlets include Modern Times Review, Sight & Sound, and Screen International. He works as a programmer/consultant for, among others, the European Film Festival of Palić (Serbia), Vienna Shorts and the Viennale. He is also a filmmaker of several short films, and his feature-length experimental documentary Rihaction premiered at the 2019 Diagonale in Graz, Austria.

Draga Vidovic has worked with film festivals in Norway for more than a decade. She is currently print and film coordinator at the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund; programming, film and print coordinator at Tromsø International Film Festival, where she is also on the programming team for TIFF Junior. She has been with the Norwegian Short Film Festival team for almost ten years, primarily as film and print coordinator.

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 worked as a coordinator for Institut Français at the French Embassy to Norway. Julie started as guest coordinator for the festival in 2019 and now works as the festival's producer.

Anika Salvesen is a Polish filmmaker based in Norway. Anika works with both fiction and documentary, with experimental approaches to cinema aesthetics and non-traditional narrative styles. In 2021 she co-founded film collective and production company Morild Film. From 2022 she works as assistant director and producer at the Norwegian Short Film Festival.

Anita Svingen joined The Norwegian Short Film Festival, one of Norway’s longest running film festivals, in 2006, and took over as Executive Director in 2012. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Film and Television studies from University of Westminster in London, and is former Head of Programming for SBS Radio. She has also worked in TV production for companies such as Rubicon and Dinamo.

Bard Ydén has been editor and programmer for the festival since 2018, but has worked with film festivals since 2003, when he joined Skeive Filmer, now Oslo/Fusion International Film Festival, where he’s been Executive and Programming Director from 2007 to 2016, and from 2018 onwards. He has extensive jury experience, and has consulted and curated for many international film festivals. In 2017, he co-founded The Faroe Islands’ Int. Minority Film Festival, and since 2018 he has been part of the organizing team for the EFM Horizons Start-Up program at Berlinale.