Berlin's interfilm Festival 2011 highlight Asian and Southeast Asian shorts

Award-winning Asian and Southeast Asian shorts are highlighted in the 27th International Short Film Festival Berlin (interfilm Festival). From 15 to 20 November 2011, the six-day short film festival showcases 500 shorts in 50 programmes, 6 competitions and several cinemas (Volksbühne, Babylon, Passage Kinos, Central Kino, Roter Salon, Grüner Salon). This year's special focus will be on Switzerland and East- & South East Asia filmmaking. Other highlights include wide-angle views on Environmental Shorts, ShortFriday, project presentations, events and a host of film-related gatherings.

Entitled Heidi Revisited, the Swiss focus includes the following sections: Nightmare Alps -Pure white mountain peaks often conceal human and animal abysses, sometimes turning seemingly harmless train trips, living-room idylls and flirts above the clouds into dark scenarios.This programme was compiled in cooperation with Internationalen Kurzfilmtagen Winterthur; Fondue Animée -An overweight cow as an orchestra stage, wood-shavings in a sexual act, a muezzin in a cuckoo clock. Pure Swiss lunacy! Maybe Switzerland should move to the South Pole?; Satire Pronto -A hilarious concert full of fortissimi! We take you to the Moroccan Alps and cosy atomic shelters to enjoy juicy deals and throbbing paunches; and Swiss Kiss -Some keep their darlings in the garage, others live their lives in a completely backward fashion. In order to fully comprehend these relationship conflicts one has to view the brain as an ensemble piece.

While the Asian focus, East by South East Asia, includes the following sections:

Everyday Insanity

These protagonists are the playthings of their everyday existence between child labour, flying lightness and the desire to stay true to one's self. Some times they succeed and sometimes they have to give in to destiny. more

The Last Laugh

Pretty weird stuff! From an Oscar nominated film where a tree grows out of someone's head to a cook who prepares himself! The protagonists in this programme attempt to stay on the surface of things... more

Change of Perspective

A surreal drug trip or serious societal critique can change our point of view. Here's an array of unimagined perspectives with themes including love and religious conflicts or even the deceptive peace of a morning ritual. more

TaiwAnimation

As richly varied as a kaleidoscope. The diversity of Taiwanese animation knows no bounds. more

ChinAnimation (with talk by Prof. Giesen)

Watercolours and Kung Fu, presented by Rolf Giesen Chinese animation, is once again a prominent feature in the festival programme. In the year 180 AD, Chinese inventor Ding Huan created the world's first moving image with the Zoetrope. Shadow theatre came to Europe via the Silk Road and paved the way for cinema. Chinese fairytales inspired European storytellers and ultimately Walt Disney. Now the pendulum is swinging back: China has rediscovered the art of animation.Rolf Giesen, President of the International Animation, Comic & Games Museum in Changchun, China draws a line from early silhouette animation and classic short films by Te Wei (the master of watercolour animation who passed away in 2010), right up to more recent student and professional work from the renowned Beijing Film Academy and Jilin Animation Institute, which with 9,000 students is the largest institution of its kind. As such, China is a slow and ancient cultural nation that has opened itself to a fast-paced, transitory media world whilst striving to stay in tune with the peaceful chimes and tones of old master Te Wei. more

The festival is organized by interfilm Berlin. Established in 1982, the festival boasts of a growing number of contacts in the international cultural and short film sectors. This has enabled interfilm to promote the short film format to an ever wider audience.

One of their primary goals is to search out skilled and creative filmmakers and bring their work together - presenting them in an international, culturally political framework in order to best facilitate the exchange of imaginative ideas. interfilm offers a wide variety of short live-action, animation and documentaries to enthusiastic audiences who value the short film format in its own right.

It is the second oldest German short film festival (after Oberhausen), and is recognised as the second most significant and oldest international film festival in Berlin after the Berlinale. More than 5.000 films with a maximum running time of 30 minutes are submitted each year. Of those, approximately 400 films are selected and organised into different thematic programs. These include; international, German, animation, documentary and children’s films. 'Focus On' highlights productions from specific countries or regions. Beyond that there are also special sections devoted to areas such as music videos, commercials, experimental films, historical films and retrospectives.