Short Films at the Berlinale

As in Cannes, the 53rd Berlinale has given the short films an extra program and has named an independent jury to award quality. But since the shorts ran before the feature film presentation in the competition, some in the audience (critics too) tended to arrive late ­ after the short film had run its course. Let it be said that those indolent late-comers missed some memorable films that cannot be readily seen in commercial cinemas ­ but at the Berlinale.

       The International Jury ­ Andreas Dresen (Germany), Phyllis Mollet (France), and Thom Palmen (Sweden) ­ awarded the Golden Bear for Best Short Film to Stefan Arsenijevic’s (A)Torzija (Slovenia), a tragic tale set in the tunnel dug under the airport runway during the siege of Sarajevo (1992-95). The Silver Bear was shared by Lucia Cedron’s En Ausencia (In Absentia) (Argentina), a moving study about the inner feelings of a pregnant young Argentinian woman living in exile; and Stepan Koval’s Ischov Tramwai (The Tram No. 9 Run) (Ukraine), a delightful animation film about a tram rumbling along its route through a town.

Dorothea Moritz