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Drumroll, please!

The wait is over; we proudly present the official selection of OFF – Odense International Film Festival 2019. Selected for this year’s competition, among 3.264 submissions, are 121 wild, provocative, ravishing, wistful and sharp short films, submitted from almost every corner of the world – from South Africa to Switzerland, from Canada to Columbia. A total number of 39 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 2019.

For the complete list of selected short films 2019 click here: Official Selection OFF19

Tuesday morning marked the deadline for submitting a short film for this year’s festival in Odense. And with exactly 3.264 short films submitted for OFF19, the festival has a new record on its hands. Between 2018 and 2019 the number of submissions has increased by almost 25 %, a fact that certainly calls for celebration! Festival director Birgitte Weinberger believes the cause for the boost in submitted films lies partly in the festival’s most recent succes story:

Last year, the Irish short film Detainment won our Academy Award-qualifying HCA Award, the Grand Prix of our Main Competition, and went straight to the selection jury of the Academy . And, as you may know, Detainment ended up being nominated for an Academy Award. I guess a lot of filmmakers, national and international, has been inspired by the succes of Detainment and has decided to submit their films for our festival this year.

A hard-working jury

To watch and analyze the submitted short films is a hard-working jury. The jury comprises animator Sara Koppel, writer Christian Gamst Miller-Harris and festival director Birgitte Weinberger. Over the course of the next weeks the jury will select about a 100 films for the OFF19 competition programme. Come may, the selected filmmakers will be notified and the official competition programme will be announced.

Have you submitted your short film for this year’s OFF – Odense International Film Festival? If not, it’s time to get a move on! Submission deadline is only a week from now; on April 1, we’re closing the window for film makers to enter their work into our selection process.

If you, and your short film, want a chance of being part of the official competition programme at OFF19, you’ll find relevant information and further details HERE

Submission for this year’s competition opened almost three months ago, and within this brief period of time the number of submitted short films have literally gone through the roof. And it’s not over yet, although deadline for submitting a short film for OFF19 is fast approaching: April 1 is coming up!

As of yet, films from all over the world have made their way to our office, and we welcome each and every one of them, eyes open and arms wide. To pree-screen all submitted films is a diligent pree-jury, putting in more than 30 hours of watchwork each – some jury members even 80 hours – to make sure that all submitted film are being carefully evaluated and (some) eventually selected.

Following April 1, our special selection jury will continue the efforts of our pree-screening team – stay tuned for news on the selection process and the official announcement of films in competition at OFF19.

Now, the submission of film to OFF19 is OPEN.
Now it is time to send us your funny, interesting, breathtaking and crooked shortfilms! We are looking forward to receiving them.

You submit your film on FilmFreeway – click HERE to submit your shortfilm.

Read HERE to learn more about rules and requirements.

At the 2018 edition of the festival, this year’s Artistic Profile, the alternative film education Super16, presents a splendid programme, focusing on the film industry as a team effort. The team. The collective. The spirit of communion.

The Super16-programme contains 12 events, focusing on both the flock and individual, LGBTQ+, continuing work relationships, improvisation, the film language of the future and so much more. They take stock of their own generation, explores dramedy, hunts desire with desire, says goodbye to the closed multi-cam education, and lets us get lost in the absurdity of the world. During the festival, a new experiment will begin, which will underline the need for artistic freerange, both for the personal creative thought and the ideas we share with each other – an experiment that will become the new manifest for Danish film!

“We hope that our programme will give the audience a desire to explore the film environment that exist right now, and we are looking forward to extend the festival community and share it with you – all here in Odense, who, once again, lends its heart to us.”

You’ll find the entire Super16-programme at the festivals website, where you can read more and book your ticket.

OFF – Odense International Film Festival has received a donation from the Spar Nord Fund of 125.000 DKK. The donation will be used for a series of talks during OFF18, where the audience can experience interesting film professionals discussing the art of film.

Since 1975, audience has experienced short film from all over the world at Denmark’s oldest and only Oscar-qualifying film festival. OFF18 will be no exception – almost 3000 films from more than 100 countries have been submitted to the competition. The festival also offers a variety of masterclasses, concerts, workshops, debates, programmes for kids and youth – and not least the Talks, which are supported with 125.000 DKK by the Spar Nord Fund.

The Talks were first introduced last year at OFF with big success. The audience experienced acknowledged film professionals, discussing short film and love, ambitions and motivation, and the role of film in society – all in a cosy and intimate atmosphere.

– We think the OFF Talks sound like an interesting project, which will be exciting to develop further for the benefit of all guests at OFF18, says Jesper Fruerlund, director of Spar Nord Odense.

The 125.000 DKK from the Spar Nord Fund means, that OFF can explore and develop the concept of the Talks at the festival. It enables the festival to invite interesting and relevant professionals from the film world to Odense, og this pleases Festival Director and Head of Programme, Birgitte Weinberger:

– We are simply so happy and proud of this very generous donation from Spar Nord. The Talks at OFF are a natural development of the values of the festival, where we constantly strive to expand our horizon and explore each other and the world we live in. Conversation and intimacy are key values central to OFF, and we are looking forward to presenting the Spar Nord Talks this August.

Odense International Film Festival can unveil the selection for OFF18. 111 short film have been carefully selected and will constitute the competition of 2018. OFF18 will take place from the 27^th of August to the 2^nd of September in Odense.

OFF has received more than 2600 short film from 101 countries. Out of these, 111 short film from 35 countries have been carefully selected to participate, when Denmark’s oldest and only Oscar-qualifying film festival kicks off in Odense.

Among OFF18’s selected films, you will find last year’s winner of the Danish Competition, Jesper Dalsgaard (Übermensch), while the OFF-veteran Jesper Quistgaard, who has participated five times previously, is selected for the Danish Competition with his film “Soccer Judge”. As usually, a number of famous actors’ feature in this year’s competition films. Amongst others, you can experience the star of The Square Claes Bang in Michael Søndergaard’s “Hotel Boy”, while Kristian Håskjold’s “A Worthy Man” has Troels Lyby on the cast

High level among the submitted films
The pre-jury, consisting of head of festival Birgitte Weinberger, scriptwriter Christian Gamst Miller-Harris and animator Sara Koppel, has watched more than 649.75 hours of film and can now reveal this year’s films. This year, the festival received 200 films more than last year, which emphasizes the festival’s rapid development and international position. Head of festival Birgitte Weinberger is both happy and proud of the selection:

“We have seen an extremely high level among the enrolled films, which has made the selection of the 111 films very, very difficult. Of course, we aim for the best films, but also for diversity. We wish to bring the whole world to OFF and OFF out into the world. We would like to present a slice of reality as it may look – and I think we do that successfully with this year’s program, which extends widely in both nationalities, themes and narratives. “

See a list of all the selected films here

It is with great pleasure Odense International Film Festival reveals, that when OFF18 kicks off in August, it is with four Oscar-qualifying categories. The new Documentary competition can now also send a short film to the jury of the Academy Awards. 

OFF is Denmark’s only Oscar-qualifying film festival and has previous years sent the winners of the Main Competition, Danish Competition and Animation Competition to the selection jury of the Academy. Now, OFF can reveal that this year one more winner will be sent to Hollywood; the winner of OFF’s new Short Documentary Competition.

The new Oscar-qualifying category helps consolidate OFF’s position and importance, both nationally and internationally, and this pleases the Mayor of Culture and Urban Development of Odense Municipality, Jane Jegind.

“I am extremely pleased and proud, that Odense International Film Festival gets another Oscar-qualifying competition. It clearly shows, that the development of Odense not only takes place physically – it is also cultural. In addition, it is a great recognition of the country’s oldest film festival, which has managed to renew and develop its position as the short film center of Denmark. It is impressive to follow this development year by year,” she says.

The Short Documentary has always been welcome at OFF, but this year OFF will bring the short documentary into the light, and fully focus on its intense and challenging genre. The new competition will include two new awards: Best Documentary Short, which is Oscar-qualifying, and The Soapbox Award, given to the documentary which has used its platform best to challenge its audience. With the two new awards, a total of 13 awards are given during OFF18.

Odense International Film Festival takes place from the 27^th of August to the 2^nd of September 2018. All competition viewings are free. Ticket reservation can be done via www.filmfestival.dk.