Soho ShortsList

The entries are in, the judges are primed and the projectors are oiled (at least we think it’s that way round) – THE RUSHES SOHO SHORTS SHORTLIST IS HERE!

With entries, requests and interest from 112 countries (1,462 cities!) over 1,159 films have been received, 140 of which have been selected for competition. The 18 countries represented this year include Peru, France, Mexico, Chine, Spain, USA, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, Iceland, Australia, Slovenia, Israel, Ireland, Canada, Luxembourg and the UK. All films had to be under 12 minutes in length without credits and fall into the following competitive categories: The International Award, The Long Form Award, The Documentary Award, The Short Film Award, The Animation Award, The Music Video Award, The Broadcast Design Award and The Newcomers Award.

In keeping with our love of all things filmic and short here at The Reel (especially the film Willow), the festival shortlist is filled with splendid mini-movies, ads and promos that we’ve either seen or are keen to see. The full list of films screening in competition, along with the directors and companies that made the work, can now be seen be seen at www.sohoshorts.com

We caught up with Festival Director Joe Bateman to quiz him on the ins and outs of the selection, and to find out what festival goers have in store from 22nd July.

How do you feel this year's submissions compare to 2008's?

I feel more conscious of the breadth of entries this year. There’s, maybe, slightly less UK driven content (but not hugely so) and we’ve definitely increased our international attention. The standard seems higher and there seems to be more confidence in the narrative. If we had the facility we could have doubled the amount of content we wanted to showcase. It’s a painful experience choosing the final line up.

Why have you chosen to introduce the two new categories?

Every year we look at the volume of work and quietly wish we had more room to show more work. It was clear early on in the entry period that we were receiving more than our usual quota of international entries so we committed to creating a programme for them. At first this was going to be a guest programme, along with our other 12, but then it became clear that with a little extra effort we could deliver the programme in-competition, it was a forgone conclusion. Creating the category meant we could also showcase the strong UK contenders. It’ll also mean that we can provide unique UK Showcases to foreign events, something that we’re currently working on. The Long Form category came about because with the added interest from abroad I was getting a few emails stating “If you were a proper international film festival you’d have a longer running time for your films and except my 20 minute film”, may be that’s a slight generalisation but close enough. I was paranoid enough to think that they had a point, it also meant that any films that may have, dubiously, been hitting the stipulated 12 minute running time now had a legitimate category to compete in.

Can you give us a sneaky heads-up on what events we can expect to see in the festival week, and which ones you're most looking forward to?

Mmm. The opening night premiere feature film will be great, the stand-up comedy should be good too, the ‘all day’ events at BAFTA and London Film Academy will certainly be fun and I’m looking forward to our networking night at The Movieum. We’ve kept a similar set up (to previous years) with the lunchtime seminars and afternoon panel discussions which are always enlightening. We’re also hosting the Advertising Producers Association presenting the CPFE/Shots Young Directors Programme once again and of course the amazing straight 8 programmes. Our two exhibitions, suitably titled DNA and TURD BRAINS, will be fantastic and they’ll be backed up with experimental and very artistic screening programmes. But I think the biggest event for me, and what I always look forward to, is the grand finale, The Rushes Awards Ceremony and the after party! Someone please make sure I get a BIG pint of beer!

Is the legendary Terry Christian hosting the awards show again?

How could he not!

So there we go, shorts, events and turd brains a go-go PLUS Mr Terry Christian! We’ll be there, front row centre, and urge the rest of ya to get involved. The Festival runs over 10 days; Wednesday 22nd July to Friday 31st July, and all the information you could ever wish for can be found on the website - www.sohoshorts.com.