Ladies and gentlemen, we're now going to start with the opening ceremony of the Linz International Short Film Festival. Thank you very much. Yeah. We are sorry for the delay. It's just some filmmakers are just arriving to Linz and they have to check in in the hotels and have to find their ways over here. So we wait for some minutes. But now we're going to start. And yeah, it's my great joy and honor that I welcome you all to the celebration of creativity, storytelling, and above all, diversity. I am Michaela Schausberger. I'm an Austrian actress and I'm going to be your host for this afternoon for the opening ceremony. Please give me a warm applause. Thank you very much. You know, we actors and actresses, we always need the applause. It's the only thing we get sometimes. So this year our festival theme highlights the rich variety of human experiences bringing together voices from across the world to share their unique perspectives through the powerful medium of short film. I'm absolutely delighted to say welcome to the seventh edition of the Linz International Short Film Festival 2024. As it is an international festival, we're gonna host most of the part in English. I hope that's fine for you. It seems so. If there is any problem, of course, we try to translate for you. Diversity is at the heart of our festival. It reminds us that every story matters, regardless of the language in which it's told or the culture from which it emerges. in which it's told or the culture from which it emerges. Film, as an art form, has the unique ability to cross borders, break down prejudices and invite us into the lives of others, allowing us to see the world from new and different perspectives. Over the next few days, we will embark on a cinematic journey that celebrates the richness of this diversity. From intimate personal stories to bold social commentaries, each film reflects the incredible talent and vision of filmmakers who push the boundaries of storytelling to inspire, provoke and connect us. This festival is more than just a series of screenings. storytelling to inspire, provoke and connect us. This festival is more than just a series of screenings. It is a space for meaningful exchange, where we gather as a community to celebrate the beauty of differences, engage in conversations and explore the complex yet deeply human emotions that unite us all. I'm honored to have each of you here this afternoon, and I'm excited to begin this journey with you. Let us celebrate the voices that will fill the space, the boundless creativity, and the story that remind us of our shared humanity. Welcome again to the Linz International Short Film Festival 2024. Let the journey begin. Thank you. This was a wonderful text written by the director, actually, of this film festival. I'm just telling you that she is the creative mind of it. But now I would like... Sorry, I have to change. I would like to welcome Magistra Margot Nassal here up on stage. She is the State Cultural Director of Upper Austria. Please come up on stage. Thanks very much. Warm welcome to Linz, welcome to Upper Austria for the 7th edition of the International Short Film Festival. It's a great pleasure to see you all again, or maybe not see you because it's a bit bright up here. It's the seventh edition, as it was mentioned, I think from the preparation, I saw it's as international as it's never been before. 2,700 entries from what I heard and more than 100 countries are participating with 75 films that are making it up on the screen. And it's very exciting to see you all in Linz, back in Upper Austria for the seventh edition. Congratulations to the whole team. Congratulations to the directors, Parisa and Ashkan, for this festival. I remember for the first time when I met the directors, when they said they want to grow. It was a difficult time back then when we were first in contact. It's time that we don't want to remember back being international was not so easy and it's great to hear that so many people from abroad are coming back to Linz and Upper Austria for this time I'm excited I'm excited to see when people are coming here to have short films screening and to see the results from young filmmakers to the more experienced ones. It's a fantastic genre that brings people together, that brings pictures up on the screen. And I congratulate the team once again. I see it's the International Short Film Festival, so I'll keep my words short. Have a good time. Have a good party. Great festival. And thanks again for coming. Thank you very much, Margot Nassal. And our next speaker is Almir Balihotic. He's in representation of Executive Deputy Mayor Dietmar Brammer. Please welcome him on stage. You're absolutely right. It's bright. I'm not that fluent as you, but I have prepared my little words here. So ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it's my pleasure and a great honor to speak on behalf of the Executive Deputy Mayor Dietmar Prammer to greet and welcome you to this wonderful event here in Linz. Welcome and greetings. I hope you had a great and pleasant trip to Linz and I hope also that your visit here will be filled with a lot of great memories that you can share with others. Take the chance to deep dive into Linz and to visit and enjoy the beautiful places. The International Short Film Festival has become a permanent and featured item on our city's calendars. It has become an essential part of the culture DNA here in Linz. 75 short films over four days, that is impressive and challenging. I'm sure that all of them are special in many ways and I salute you for your remarkable content that you have created and delivered to the audience. Still, it's a competition. I truly wish you all the best. Good luck to be awarded for your extraordinary contribution. Congratulations abroad for the winner, whoever that might be. Thank you so much. Have a great evening and a beautiful day. I thank you. And the stage is yours. Thank you very much, Almir Balihotich. We continue with our speakers list before then our director is coming up to stage. But before that, I would like to greet Markus Reindl. He's in representation of the City Council for Culture, Tourism, Creative Industries and Markets. Markus Reindl. Okay, even shorter, I guess. So it's getting shorter all the time. Thank you, welcome on behalf of City Councilor Doris Lang-Meierhofer and on behalf of Linz Kultur. It's great to see that the Linz International Short Film Festival became this integral part of the festival season here in Linz and it enriches our city's culture life with its program every year. Art can change lives for sure and festivals can change as well many things especially a city and this is what the Linz International Short Film Festival has done. It has brought its varied and diverse program to the city and not only enriched it, but it transformed the city into a vibrant metropolis and a hotspot for film. And not only during the festival, but beyond that. And that's what's so great about that. So I'm looking forward to spending the next few days with you in the cinema and uh under the spell of this great festival thank you very much thank you very much it's all short short short but very good thank Okay, now I would like to welcome Magistra Marie-Louise Schnurrpfeil here on stage. She is the Managing Director of Linz Tourism. Please give her a warm welcome. my side as well. It's a pleasure to be here on stage for the very first time. In preparation of that, I thought I'd give a little remembrance to Marilyn Monroe, who was also, I think, in some sort of skirt in one of her movies. I'm a huge fan of the cultural scene here in Linz. It's for me, in my second year being a managing director of Linz Tourism, still a first time, also this tonight's occasion. I'm in awe of what is going on all year round. It's really a very rich cultural program, very many active cultural activists, and sometimes we get visitors from abroad, and I'm very glad that you guys all made it here. We have challenging times in terms of transportation, so for the ones who came by train, still be patient when you're traveling home. But for the ones who are here for the very first time, I invite you not only to explore the city, but also to visit us at our tourism office. It's just turning right twice and then you're on the main square. you on the main square. I hope you come back here not only for the festival but also to maybe find some inspiration here in the city of Linz for another project. To me personally it seems that the shorter the span of time you have the more it triggers the creativity of the filmmakers and the film enthusiasts and I hope that in this connection between the audiences and the filmmakers, you will keep finding the innovation and you will keep finding the inspiration for your future projects to come. And yeah, remember us here in Linz on this axis between Salzburg and Vienna as a very vibrant city, I hope, as a very adventurous city and full of courageous people. And yeah, lovely to have you and thank you for all your work. Thank you very much. It was already a good advertisement for Linz. And our last speaker, like in this setting, is Mag. Jörg Pfaffenzeller. He's chairman of the Upper Austrian Chamber of Economic, Film and Music. Please come up on stage. Thank you very much. So, that you all were so short, I have time now for half an hour. No, I will stick to my notes. You said two minutes and I'll try to do this. Well, welcome, dear filmmakers, guests, ladies and gentlemen. I'm a film lover and a musician myself, and I had the honor to compose some film music as well in the past 10 years. So I truly understand and share your passion for film and especially for short films. It's a great pleasure to say a warm welcome here for all of you. And as you said, I'm the chairman of the film and music industry in Austria from the Chamber of Commerce. And yeah, short films, what do short films have in common with commercial films? They're compact, they're concise, and often tell complex stories and touch us emotionally in just a few minutes. And therefore, this art is a vital part for the culture and creativity, creative economy. For me, and I think for many of us, the borders between art and commerce do not exist. Especially we are in both worlds as artists, we're in both worlds and for us it's just one world. And I think that's also a good motto for this festival. Yeah. In Upper Austria, the film and music industry holds great importance and faces a lot of challenges. Of course, at the moment, economic challenges, but also cultural challenges and sometimes also political challenges. And that's why my team and I work consistently or constantly on good and general conditions for our branch. Festivals like this are crucial in showcasing the diversity of the international film scene and present our region as a place of creativity and innovation. It's a driving force for creative exchange and the economic development of our industry so the prepared words in the end I would like to thank everyone here for coming, for his engagement in the film business and the sponsors and the organizers and I hope we will have a very nice and inspiring festival. And I wish you all the best for it. And thank you very much. Thank you all very much for coming, speaking up here, all the departments. And now I would like to tell you something behind the festival. There is the Close Film and Kulturverein. It is a non-profit close film association. It was founded in 2018 by Parisa Gassemi and Ashkan Nebatian with the aim of promoting art, culture and especially film. To achieve this goal, the Linz International Short Film Festival has been held annually since 2018. So, you know, the seventh edition already. In the core team, you find the festival directors Parisa Rasemi. Is that correctly pronounced? Ashkan Neematian. For corporations, there is Clara Schultes. At the guest office, you meet Angelika Stürzl. Graphic design does Mariam Baradaran. Okay, yeah, I try, I try. And production and event assistant is Majd Zsukker. And now I would like to welcome Parisa Gasseme here on stage. Please give her a very warm welcome applause. No, this light is everywhere. Hallo und willkommen alle. Ich bin sehr glücklich, alle von euch hier zu sehen. Ich werde mein Statement lesen und dann ein bisschen darüber sprechen, was alles kommt. Ich versuche es auch etwas kürzer zu machen, weil es ein Short Film Festival ist. Von der Angelegenheit an hat das Linz International Short Film Festival einen kulturellen Dialog in allen Fassaden erwischt. with a commitment to diversity as a mean to promote solidarity within society. In a world made by war, hatred and deep injustice, this message has become more urgent than ever. Our festival transcends the boundaries of a film event. It stands as a manifest for cultural dialogue, a space where mutual understanding and solidarity can flourish. We believe that short films are a powerful medium to explore and reflect the nuance of diversity and intersectionality in our contemporary landscape. The alarming rise in violence against women, the systematic discrimination of the LGBTQ plus community and the ongoing treats to fundamental human rights must not leave us indifferent. These harsh realities demand decisive actions. As intersectional feminists, we are deeply convinced that art and culture are powerful instruments of resistance and transformation. Every film, every narrative, and every creative voice that resonates within this festival contributes to the foundation of a more just and solidaristic world. Lens ISFF embodies the richness of diverse perspectives and the respectful exchange that are essential for building bridges and transcend social boundaries. Of the 75 selected films, 53% are from women and non-binary filmmakers, while 47% are from women and non-binary filmmakers, while 47% are from men. It's really good that we see. I would add here, we don't say, okay, we want to select more films from women and non-binaries, but there are more films from there. and I'm Binary but there are more films from there and it is really beautiful to see also many many more female filmmakers in short films because the years that we started it was really hard that we find also films from female filmmakers. So we are really happy that there are so many good films also because it's really a man-dominant film industry. And we are convinced that the future is female. This is also important. this is also important yeah and I want to say so we also received so many films with this thematic of the feminist films also queer films they were like recent years were more and more queer films also there so we have also decided to have one queer and feminist day in our festival which we did it last year for the first time and this year will be the second edition of the queer and feminist day which will be also tomorrow and yes we will we organize this with in cooperation with women women office of the city of the lens and also rainbow city network of the city lens and now that we are there i can explain about the whole program a little bit Jetzt, dass wir da sind, kann ich ein bisschen über das ganze Programm erklären. Wir haben hier ein Filmscreening im City Kino, in dieser Saal, Salon, Hall, oder ich weiß nicht, manchmal kommt das deutsche Wort in meine Meinung. come in my mind first. Yeah, we have film screening and every night after the whole film screening we will meet each other at the Kunz University. Some of you were already there for the reception buffet and after film screening every night we will meet each other there with other filmmakers who are there and jury we will talk about the film there is also cocktail so it's kind of discussion about films and everyone is welcome to talk about the film that we watch and during the day and then there is party there and we will have some DJ and have some music and dance Yeah, and as I said next day tomorrow will be the queer feminist day and we will start with the feminist film critic at morning master class by Nose-Head body. She is one of our jury members. She is from Iran but she is living in France and unfortunately she couldn't join us because of paper like for passport. I think her passport is there and yeah cannot travel out of France. And as she is also a political activist, she just went out from Iran to France and now she still cannot come out from France. But we will have an online video call with her for our masterclass tomorrow. for our masterclass tomorrow. And I would also invite two other jurors who are here with us on the stage so you can also see their faces, get to know them, and then I will go on with the rest. So please, a big applause for Katharina Fahrenleitner. And Wiltrud Haeckel. Thank you. If you allow me, I would like to say a few words about you to introduce you to the audience. So yeah, you can see I'm gonna start with Katharina Fahnleitner. She's an Austrian actress who completed her acting studies at the MUC in Vienna. She has worked in both independent films and in cinema and television productions. On stage, she explores theater and dance. She has performed in productions at Theater Arche Wien and in various plays at Schauspielhaus Wien. Her films have been showcased at Renovate festivals, including the Viennale, Diagonale, Sarajevo Film Festival, Diagonale, Sarajevo Film Festival, Max Oefels Prize Film Festival and Go Short Film Festival in Nijmegen. How do you? Sorry. Okay, where is that? It's in Netherlands. Netherlands. Okay. Nijmegen. Maybe. I'm sorry. Yeah. Katharina is a virtuosal artist who captivates audiences with her talent and presence please give her a warm welcome applause again would you like to say something about that would you like to add something yeah it all comes out of Parisa's mind as far as I know I received a biography from them but it's not not everything that they are doing in it so i add everything to that i don't know maybe i think we don't see what we we do ourself yeah yeah that's true that's true outside other can see that you were in very many film festivals and it's not there in... So I add. Great, great. I think you did a good job, Parisa. Okay, now let me talk... Sorry. About Wildrud Hackl. She's a cultural worker, artist, researcher, author and lecturer. She also organizes events in the field of art, arts and cultural policy, gender politics and feminism. Hackl completed her studies in experimental design in 2001. She worked for nearly 20 years as a journalist for TV, radio and print media, also as a university assistant and from 2014 to 2023, she served as the director of the Upper Austrian Society of Cultural Policy. She is currently pursuing her PhD at the University of Art and Design Linz, focusing on constructions of femininity and water through the lens of European water women and works as a university assistant in the Department of Aesthetics and Pragmatics of Audiovisual Media. Okay, that's a tough one. I'm sorry for that. I hope it was nearly correct. Okay, please give her a warm welcome applause again. It's Rottakel. Would you like to add anything? We should write a speech on Parise and how she works. I'm a big admirer. We can do that then for the award ceremony. Probably you can do. We should do. That would be a good idea. Parisa did already mention her, but the third jury member who cannot be here on stage at this festival okay she cannot be present because she did not any travel documents but I would like to say something about her as well Noshat Badi is that correct yeah very good thank you is an experienced film critic, researcher and instructor with over two decades of experience in cinema studies, particularly in the areas of feminist film theory. As the editor-in-chief on Cahiers du Féminisme, the first Persian-French website dedicated to feminist perspectives in cinema within the Persian speaking world she has been at the forefront of shaping discourse on gender and representation in films she holds a master's degree in art research and has contributed extensively to both Iranian and international film publications her work focuses focuses on feminist film theory, challenging patriarchal narratives and advocating for gender equality and cinema. Please give her an applause as well, even if she cannot be here. Okay, Parisa, thank you very much. Thank you. So I think I will go on with the program. With the program and then the talents. Yeah, and as you have seen, the next days will be also on our panel. And tomorrow, Tina Pluck from the Rainbow City Network will be also with us at this panel. And we will discuss with the filmmakers and then party. And the next day there is a masterclass with martina petrovich she will also join us tomorrow i think and she is the head of audio visual croatia creative europe media desk and this master class is more suitable for filmmakers who want to have some tips and tricks for co-production and Europe, especially Euro co-production. And then we will have also, again, the film screenings here and the same panel at the Kunstuni and the Festival Nightclub. And on Saturday Saturday we will have our pitch session I would talk a little bit about our program which comes then at the end to this pitch session we have an initiative which called talent Academy and for three years we have made short film lab which is a film lab for filmmakers who are doing their next film project and this is an international lab for example this and in third lab we had these talented filmmakers with us in this program and we have some online mentoring with by different mentorship international mentorships and then we have a trip to can film festival together with the filmmakers we had already with these filmmakers we were in can at the end of this session we will watch a trailer from our program and then and they have prepared their project and they have seen also the film market the biggest film market in Cannes and also the pitching sessions there and now they will also pitch their project on Saturday here in Linz, also in the Art University at 10am. And one of them will also win an award of of 2000 euros sponsored by Close Film and also the Creative Europe Croatia. And I will also invite you if you are not tied because you just arrived here, I know, the talents on the stage so we Filmmacher hier sehen. Bitte! I'm so curious. Yeah, I tried. One of our filmmakers, Ikra couldn't be there at Cannes, so we postponed it for her because she had some family problems she couldn't really make it last year she was in some of our online sessions and some of them not because she has some problem and we will do it again with her also next year I hope she can join us then next year also here so if you one of you can would just tell something about the talent or you can also introduce yourself your name, it's also here. Say, I am this one. I cannot suppose like this. My name is Martin, I am from Chile and I live in Berlin and I am really happy to be here and to pitch on Saturday. That's it. Thank you. My name is Dennis. I'm here. And I'm also very grateful and thankful to be here. And I'm from Vienna. My parents are from Serbia. But I live in Vienna and I'm very excited to pitch on Saturday. This is me. My name is Anita, I'm a Kosovo creation filmmaker. I'm presenting my film SOS here. This has been a beautiful journey throughout. We've learned a lot from Parisa and Ashkahn. From Khan to Linz, it's been really beautiful and I really hope to be here next year as well. Hi, I'm Alexandra. I'm right here. I'm originally from Ukraine, but I live in Vienna. Thanks for this opportunity. I'm very happy to be here. It was a great journey, as my colleague said. And come see our pitch on Saturday, find out more about our project. Thank you. Hello, I'm Curtis from Australia. I'm very passionate about film and I'm excited to hang out and speak to people about film, because that's what we do. Thank you, Parisa. Then you will go to their pitch on Saturday, it would be great. And also we have a Francisca from Linz, she wouldn't like to come on the stage. I wanted to mention her, she is also here, but she won't come to the stage. And there is also a new initiative, like this is in our talent academy, we have also first feature lab for the first time. So filmmakers will working on their very first feature film. This is we just gonna start this after our festival the the journey will start they are the four filmmakers are selected to the program and the two of them are here i would also invite you to the stage if you like thank you allegra and burak and Burak. You just came here. I have my luggage and everything, so I'm not really back yet. Hello. Hi. So you can also say hello, but you still don't know so much about the program because we just started. still don't know so much about the program because we just started. My name is Allegra Oxborough. I'm not from Argentina. I'm from the US, but that's me. And yeah, we don't quite know yet what our journey is going to be like, but I'm really excited to see the cohort and we'll be spending time together remotely and then in Cannes in May. So thanks for having us. Hi. Yeah. Well, yeah, we don't know what's expecting us but I have been working on this idea for a feature film but a couple of years now and I made a short film before around the same subject and I made a short film before around the same subject. And it feels really great to start this next step as a filmmaker and as the project's life. So thanks for having us and bringing us on stage too. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you. us on stage too. Thanks. Thank you. Yes, I think we have done all. No, I just wanted also to add something before we go to our partners. We also had an award last year. We started to give this award away, which calls Masajina Amini Award. This is a prize for best queer feminist film. And last year, one of the filmmakers, Giulia Grandinetti, has won the award and she made the award is going to as a grant for the next film project of the filmmaker and she made also her next film. After all, we will also see a trailer of her film. But now I think you can start with this. We're founders. Yes, because a festival does not work without partners, patrons and sponsors. And yeah, so I got a few different categories and I'm gonna announce them. And then afterwards, I will invite you to give them an applause if that's okay for you. So I start with the main partners and patrons. und dann später bitte ich Sie, sie zu applaudieren, wenn das für Sie okay ist. Ich beginne mit den Hauptpartnern und Partnern. Ich werde die Namen jetzt auf Deutsch nennen, weil es zu schwierig sein wird, das zu übersetzen. Das Bundesministerium für Kunst, Kultur, öffentlichen Dienst und Sport, Kunstuniversität Linz, Land Oberösterreich Kultur, Stadt Linz Direktförderung, VDFS, das ist die Verwertungsgesellschaft der Filmschaffenden Österreich, Frauenbüro Linz, Rainbow City Network Linz, WK Oberösterreich Film- und Musikwirtschaft und Linz Tourismus. Bitte großen Applaus. Wir haben auch einige Sponsoren. Das ist die Adar Austrian Directors Association, Ambient Recording, TELTEC, VDFS, EPD Film, Kolig Film and Ray Film Magazine. We got some media partners as well with whom we work together. It's Creative Austria, Dorf TV, which are here and broadcasting live right now. EPD Film, InfoScreen, Kolik Film, Dot Magazine, Radio Froh, Ray Film Magazin, Subtext and Linz Tourismus. Dankeschön. We got two program partners as well, which is Frauenbüro Linz and Rainbow City Network Linz. And we got event and cooperation partners. And this is for UCART, City Kino, Creative Europe Media Desk, Croatia, Dome Hotel, Initiative Film, Kupf Oberösterreich, Festival Scope Pro, Festival of Nations von Lentos Kunstmuseum, Leitson, zeitbasierte und interaktive Medienkunst Bachelorstudium, zeitbasierte Medien Masterstudium und Hunger auf Kunst und Kultur. and then we have some more sponsors this is global print broads which dish fresh data front food macava and peder cola feeling done okay but is do you still want to say something? Is there something on your mind? No, I just say thank you to all of you for being here. Also our small team, which is really small for doing this organization work. Everyone is so multi multitask. So I will say them also thank you. And also to Ashkan, the other co-director who is now in doing this background here. And there is something special, just I thought maybe it's nice to tell that because for the first year as I started we started with the festival for the website I asked my brother if he can do a website for for us and he made the website for the festival at 2018 he was living in Iran and he's just here and he's living in Austria since one year and I wanted also to give him an applause. Bravo! Helping me to think. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, that's it. Thank you. Thank you everyone. Thank you parisa so i would really like to welcome you to the next film screenings then um the next film block starts at uh half past four in this room as parisa said already and also for the next days you're very welcome to watch the films and afterwards to attend the discussions and everything it might be very very interesting and yeah it's gonna be a great festival and as a little appetizer as it is a film festival we're gonna show you some trailers right now we're gonna watch three trailers The first one is the trailer, the official trailer of the Linz International Short Film Festival. The second one is called Mayonnaise. It's a trailer of the award-winning film of last year of the Masa Gina Amini Award. Parisa already mentioned her, made by Giulietta Grandinetti, which will celebrate its world premiere next week at the Roma Film Festival Alice nella Città. And we are very excited about that. And the third trailer we're going to watch now is for the trailer of the short film Lab. Yeah, sorry. Okay. Thank you very much. Enjoy the festival with all its films and all the further program. And yeah, it's just me. Thank you very much for listening. Thank you very much for coming. And I would say, film up, bitte. Thank you very much.