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The wait is over; we proudly present the official selection of OFF – Odense International Film Festival 2021. Selected for this year’s competition, among 3.229 submissions, are 123 wild, provocative, ravishing, wistful and sharp short films, submitted from almost every corner of the world – from Guatemala to Switzerland, from Poland to Taiwan. A total number of 36 countries are represented in the competition programme this year, and we’re looking forward to welcoming each and every one of them at our festival in August 2021.

Life during a worldwide pandemic. Old age and loneliness. Sex and love. Whimsical animated lines and imaginative documentaries. The competition program’s 123 selected short films come from far and wide, both visually and in terms of content.

Read more about the 123 selected films here

See the full list of the official selection here

‘Another Round’ is the fourth Danish feature to win the Oscar for best international feature.

“We wanted to make a movie that celebrates life.” Vinterberg dedicated the movie and his Oscar speech to his daughter who passed away in 2019.

Thomas Vinterberg visited OFF in 2019 and won at OFF in 1994 with the shortfilm “Drengen der gik baglæns”.

Congratulations to Thomas Vinterberg and the team behind “Another Round”. We wish you all the best ❤

A new, strong partnership between the Danish THE WHY Foundation and OFF – Odense International Film Festival focuses on the global, worldwide plastic problems with a call for a special competition for OFF21. 

OFF and THE WHY invite filmmakers from all over the world to give their take and perspective on the issues – how big are they, what can be done, what is already being done and everything else, one might have in mind.
The new WHY PLASTIC? Short Films competition will have 10 selected films, which will be screened at OFF21 where the winner will be announced along with the other winners at OFF.

• Max length: 2 minutes
• Submission deadline: 1^st of June 2021
• Completion date: 2020 or 2021
• Films in this competition must focus on the topic of plastic within the following themes:
  • PLASTIC SOLUTION
  • PLASTIC IN NUMBERS
  • PLASTIC IS EVERYWHERE
  • THE HISTORY OF PLASTIC
  • THE SIZE OF PLASTIC
  • PEOPLE AND PLASTIC
• Free submission through FilmFreeway 
• Prizes: 1st prize: Prize of €2500, 2nd prize: Prize of €1250, 3rd prize: Prize of €500
• The films are to be part of the global impact campaign “WHY PLASTIC?”, starting in October 2021. More information about this campaign HERE. 
• Read more about the rules and terms about submission HERE.

THE WHY Foundation is a charitable organization that supports sustainable development by securing free access to reliable information for millions of people around the world. We produce and distribute documentaries & multimedia content about human rights, democracy, justice and equality.
Read more about THE WHY Foundation on www.thewhy.dk

Meet Josephine! OFF20 was her first time attending a film festival:

The best thing was definitely to meet so many other young people at my age, who also makes movies – it was nice to meet people in their right element: the movies. At OFF I was able to get feedback from my peers all of a sudden and it was great and easy to meet new people over the short films – because it was the reason we we’re all there. OFF20 was my very first film festival and it was a great first time film festival experience: it was straight forward and inviting to go to Odense and be a part of OFF.

Foto: Line Svindt

Ulrich and Judith has been visiting OFF – Odense International Film Festival for decades. This year, at OFF20, they couldn’t participate in the festival in Odense due to COVID-19, but luckily OFF had a digital festival as well. Here is their experience with OFF20 – the digital festival:

Odense International Film Festival has been a part of our DNA since 1979. For two people, who spend their long work life either at a school or in a cinema, this festival, this celebration of films, is just very special. It is where you have been able to meet the odd and the different, the ground breaking and some times incomprehensible. We have been along for the whole ride, from OFF being a pure animation festival to also featuring international adventurous short films to the current edition with Academy Award-qualifications in both the international main competition, animation competition, the documentary competition and the Danish competition. Now with a well defined duration limit on 30 minutes. And with the amazing brand OFF, of course. To us, OFF rhymes with GOD.

The Covid-19 stopped our serial participation at the festival, and 2020 became the first year where we couldn’t embrace Odense and OFF physically. But we weren’t the ones to cheat our selves from experience rare gems from all over the world. In our isolation on Møn, far far away from Odense, we listened to Carl Nielsen every morning and come the afternoon we dressed up in our red OFF t-shirts and watched three to four OFF20 programs on OFFstream. We’d spend every evening fighting over which movie was the winner of the day – we made a special rating system, where five stars where awarded to the brilliant and zero to the not so great, but there were zero zeros giving.

It was an intense, matter-of-fact and exciting week with new experiences, analysis and discussions. OFF is a life style and a meditative state. She is beautiful and able to be enjoyed at a distance. But of course she needs to be embraces and shook, she needs to be squeezed tightly and kissed the correct surroundings in Odense with parties, glitter, fellowships, gatherings. That damn Corona. But the devine OFF is not something that Satan will ever be able to shut down.

Here we go! For the 46^th time the submission for OFF – Odense International Film Festival has opened! Now is the time for Danish and international filmmakers, aspiring as well as established, to submit the short films, they hope can make it to the official selection of OFF21.

Firstly, by submitting you film, you will secure a slot before the eyes of the OFF pre-jury. In the spring of 2021 the pre-jury well send a few hundred short films to the OFF selection jury, who will then watch and evaluate the films before deciding which short works of art will be a part of the official selection of OFF21.

Submission

Short films in all genres with a maximum duration of 30 minutes are eligible for submission. The production has to be completed in 2020 or 2021. Submission deadline is the 1st of April 2021 – but there is an early bird-discount for films submitted before the 1st of January, 2021. Read more about submission, deadlines and technical specifications HERE.

Foto: Kristian Gade

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners of OFF20:

Grand Prix – HCA Award:

Nominees: “Nina” by Hristo Simeonov, “Wade” by Upamanyu Bhattacharyya & Kalp Sanghvi, “Miss America” by Pepi Ginsberg

Winner: “Nina” by Hristo Simeonov

OFF Storyteller Award:

Nominees: “On the Boat” by Baizak Mamataliev, “Registration” by Michael Borodin, “Los Bengalas” by David Valero Simón

Winner: “On the Boat” by Baizak Mamataliev

OFF Artist Award:

Nominees: “Wade” by Upamanyu Bhattacharyya & Kalp Sanghvi, “22.47 linie 34” by Michael Karrer, “Kachalka” by Gar O’Rourke

Winner: “Wade” by Upamanyu Bhattacharyya & Kalp Sanghvi

OFF: Short Film Candidate for the European Film Awards 2020: “Nina” by Hristo Simeonov

Best Danish Short Film:

Nominees: “Uden at blinke” (“In the Blink of an Eye”) by Katrine Brocks, “OsWorld” by Phillip Hedegaard Povlsen, “Barnepigerne” (“The Nannies”) by Signe Barvild Stæhr

Winner: “Uden at blinke” (“In the Blink of an Eye”) by Katrine Brocks

FilmFyn Talent Award:

Nominees: ”Barnepigerne” (“The Nannies”) by Signe Barvild Stæhr, ”Pinkies Begravelse” (”Pinkie’s Funeral) by Simon Mortensen, “Manifest” by Assa Rytter

Winner: “Barnepigerne” (”The Nannies”) by Signe Barvild Stæhr

Børge Ring Award:

Nominees: “Orgiastic Hyper-Plastic” by Paul Bush, “Naked” by Kirill Khachaturov, “Mizuko” by Kira Dane & Katelyn Rebelo

Winner: “Orgiastic Hyper-Plastic” by Paul Bush

Animation Talent Award:

Nominees: “Totem” by Katrine Glenhammer, “New People” by Sia Søndergaard & Steen Rasmussen, “100.000 Acres of Pine” by Jennifer Alice Wright

Winner: “Totem” by Katrine Glenhammer

Best Short Documentary:

Nominees: “Mama Rosa” by Dejan Barac, “Just a Guy” by Shoko Hara, “City of Children” by Arantxa Hernández Barthe

Winner: “Mama Rosa” by Dejan Barac

The Soapbox Award:

Nominees: “Everything for Riana” by Mihai Dragolea, “Dafa Metti” by Tal Amiran, “Huntsville Station” by Jamie Meltzer & Chris Filippone

Winner: “Everything for Riana” by Mihai Dragolea

Youth Award:

Nominees: “Manifest” by Assa Rytter, ”Kaldet” (”A Calling”) by Christian Bengston, ”First Comes Love” by Mathias Wintersø, Christian Lykking, Marie-Luise Struve, Nicklas Bøhm

Winner: “Manifest” by Assa Rytter

Fyens Stiftstidende Audience Award: “Bonaparte” by Jesper Quistgaard

Pitch Me Baby Main Prize: “Splittet” by Jahfar Muataz

Pitch Me Baby Special Mention: “Kvalt” by Amalie Maria

Robert Prisen Shortlist: ”Bleed” by Hannah Elbke, ”Hvor træerne blokerer for lyset” (”100,000 Acres of Pine”)  by Jennifer Alice Wright, “Kaldet” (”A Calling”) by Christian Bengston, ”Pinkies begravelse” (”Pinkie’s Funeral”) by Simon Mortensen & ”Uden at blinke” (”In the Blink of an Eye”) by Katrine Brocks

Photo: Kristian Gade

We are proud to present our new streaming service, OFFstream.dk! At OFFstream you can dive right into amazing shortfilms in all genres, from all over the world and everything is for free!

Revisit previous festival films

We have gathered an impressive array of short films screened at previous festivals – starting at OFF15 up until today! You will find more than 170 films that will excite you, startle you and amaze you exactly as they did, when you watched them the last time. Now you can watch them when you want and where you want and all it will cost you is your time!

How to go OFFstream:

• To see a collection of all the films, click on the waves in the right corner and click on ‘alle film’. Here you will also find some movies with an ‘OFF20’ label – you cannot access those movies unless you live in Denmark. Read more below.
• If you want to find a specific movie, you can use the search bar. You can also find movies according to country of origin, length, genre and the year, they were shown at the festival. Most of the titles are in English.
• You will get suggestions on new amazing films based on what you previously watched on OFFstream.dk
• You can also choose to watch our curated playlists – click on the wave and then on ‘filmpakker’. For example you can watch previous winner films, get your ANI FIX or watch movies about sex.

OBS: Most of the streaming service is in Danish, but all of the movies have subtitles and mostly English titles. We are aware of the problem and are working on translating OFFstream.

What else is on OFFstream?

OFFstream also contains special packages made in collaboration with Med Skolen i Biografen and this year’s online festival OFF20, who unfortunately in geo blocked and only available if you live in Denmark. If you do live in Denmark, you have access to this year’s amazing online festival: all the 129 films selected for competition at OFF20 as well as video greetings from the directors. You get access to all of this for two weeks (24^th of August to the 6^th of September) for 89 kr.

We are once again very proud of the program for the festival – OFF20 will amaze you, shock you, thrill you and all in all move you!

We have embraced the obsticales and challanges the difficult, worldwide situation has brought, and we can’t wait to show you the results of our creative thinking. As usual we will have a physical festival in the heart of Odense, where filmlovers from all over can enjoy brilliant short films, talks and new experiences.

Because of the global pandemic our venues must only be filled to half capacity, and to avoid ques and overbooked venues a ticket costs 20 DKK pr. ticket.

We promise you, that this year is no different in terms of great experiences – in fact we have a whole new experience, we are proud to present: Our very own streamingservice, OFFstream.dk!

For 89 DKK you can buy online access to all films in competition from 24 of August until spetember 6th. The platform launches in the beginning of august and covers Denmark.

Vi can’t wait to see you here in Odense or at OFFstream.dk – take a look at our spectacular program HERE