Interfilm Presents Its 40th edition

by Mats Antonissen // Oct. 29, 2024

Interfilm—Berlin’s international short film festival—returns for its 40th edition from November 5th to 10th. The festival, which will take place in various venues throughout the city, presents a diverse program of screenings, workshops and events. As always, the selection aims to show narrative short films that take on pressing topics of the present, with this edition’s particular focus on the relationship between the body and film. Themes like representation, politics, race, desire, queerness and consent, as they pertain to the body, are explored in a variety of styles; from documentary, fiction and music videos, to experimental and animation films. Relatedly, an evening of screenings and discussions on short film and accessibility will be held at Pfefferberg Haus 13.

Andy Madjitey, Joyce Esi Junada: ‘Gbonyo Party’ / Dead Person’s Party, Ghana, 2023, 04:14 min, film still // Courtesy of the artists

The evening of November 5th marks the opening night of the festival. At Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, the different juries tasked with assigning the festival’s various awards will be presented, as well as some sneak-peeks. This year, directors compete in the sections International, German, Documentary, Green Film and Eject_XXIV (‘The Long Night Of Weird Shorts’). These sections are again divided into thematic subcategories. ‘Stories in Motion,’ from the International Competition, for example, gathers shorts from Senegal, Iran, Malaysia, Portugal, France and Germany that deal with travel in one way or other. Pfefferberg Theater, ACUDkino and Rollberg Kino will play these films throughout the week.

Gustavo Arteaga: ‘Falling for Greta,’ Wales, 2023, 11:16 min, film still // Courtesy of the artist and Interfilm

Interfilm also participates in the European Short Film Audience Award, an initiative of 10 like-minded festivals that intend to introduce the best shorts of the past year to audiences across the continent. In this context, you can see Ukrainian filmmaker Halyna Koziutynska’s documentary on squatting in derelict homes in the Carpathian Mountains, for example, as well as a fictional monologue on the effects of racism delivered on Brussels public transport by Simon van der Zande, and a short animation involving vegetable gardens and nuns courtesy of Finnish director Heta Jäälinoja.

Avril Besson: ‘Queen Size,’ France, 2023, 18:56 min // Courtesy of the artist and Interfilm

Beside competitions, there will be a handful of genre specials in this 40th edition. Among these: essay films examining the status of reality and truth in moving images today, queer shorts revolving around desire and identity, coming-of-age stories for young adults and a retro section dedicated to films made on 8mm. The latter section, ‘Alle Macht der Super 8,’ pays homage to Interfilm’s inception as a festival exclusively dedicated to Super 8 and contains a dozen works from the 80s made for the most part in or about Berlin.

Katarina Peters: ‘Zentri-Fuge/ Centrifuge,’ Germany, 1985

A couple of events and workshops are scheduled alongside the screenings. InterForum is the festival’s discussion program oriented towards professionals and will, among other topics, host conversations on depicting diverse human bodies, abortion, trauma and Jewish identity, as related to shorts in the selections. More informally, there will be karaoke and quiz nights at Roter Salon, a birthday party on November 9th and, lastly, the award show and celebratory screening wrapping up Interfilm 2024 on November 10th at Volksbühne and Kino Rollberg.

Berlin Art Link is offering 1×2 tickets for the screening ‘Alle Macht der Super 8’ taking place on November 9th at 9 pm at Unterfilm Clubkino. In order to enter our raffle, check out the instructions below. Winners will be drawn at 2pm on Friday November 1st and contacted via DM.⁠