Till DiLumiere says that more often than not, more can be expressed in a six-minute short than in a two-hour feature film.
Short films are a craft, says the filmmaker and assistant professor at Tainan’s Dayeh University, in the sense that it takes much skill on the part of the director to withstand the urge to over explain and provide superfluous background that doesn’t drive the plot forward.
“It’s a bit like comparing poetry to prose,” DiLumiere says. “As it is difficult to pour all you want to express into a poem, it is an art form to compress a situation to its essence and make it a short film.”
Photo courtesy of Till DiLumiere
GOING IT ALONE
This is the first year that DiLumiere and his team are not working with the Tainan Cultural Affairs Bureau to put on their yearly short film festival, the Cinemaformosa 39 International Short Film Contestival.
“We can make the festival even more community-orientated without having to please any officials,” DiLumiere tells the Taipei Times.
Photo courtesy of Till DiLumiere
DiLumiere has been hosting German film festivals around Taiwan since 2012. Next week, he’s organizing a selection of German short films ranging from animations to documentaries. The festival will be curated by Heinz Hermanns, the festival director of Interfilm Berlin, and will be screened at Taipei’s National Taiwan University.
After the screening, the audience will use their mobile phones to vote for their favorite film. The winner will receive an award at a ceremony in Tainan on May 15.
Having taught German in universities across Taiwan, DiLumiere has noticed that people have become more and more interested in all things German.
Photo courtesy of Till DiLumiere
“It feels like being German has become a lot cooler over the last few years,” DiLumiere jokes.
DiLumiere also believes that the short documentary genre provides a great platform for audiences to learn about other cultures. At the very least, it beats sitting in a cinema for two hours and squinting your eyes to read the subtitles.
“They are great little gems in that they allow viewers to take a glimpse at a foreign culture, in this case, German,” DiLumiere says of the shorts.
Photo courtesy of Till DiLumiere
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