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 27th of August to the 2nd 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. “
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 27th of August to the 2nd of September 2018. All competition viewings are free. Ticket reservation can be done via www.filmfestival.dk.
Every year OFF selects one or more artistic profiles, who get the opportunity to put their own special mark on the festival with a line of events, they are in charge of and participate in. This year, the artistic profile is the alternative film education Super16.
Under the headline “Find Your Crowd – Find Yourself”, the Super16-collective presents a tailor-made section of the festival programme. Under this headline, they provide an insight into the hopes and dreams of future film and film makers. Among the topics are: the new wave in Danish animation, LGBT, improvisation in film, and the art of finding your own voice in the cinematic universe.
The four Super16-students who will be representing the collective are: director Mathias Broe, screenplay writer Morten Mortensen, director Kristian Håskjold, and producer Caroline Steenberg Dam.
OFF – Odense International Film Festival has now closed for the volunteer application. If you did not make it, you still have a chance to sign up on our waiting list. This way, the opportunity to become part of this year’s festival is not entirely gone!
The volunteers at OFF are a huge asset; you might say, the main foundation of the festival. Year after year, the lovely volunteers make the festival happen and make sure a visit to OFF is an unforgettable experience. The enthusiasm and motivation of the volunteers is what creates a unique and magical atmosphere at the festival.
It is therefore with great pleasure and great humility, that OFF now announce we have all the volunteers we need for OFF18.
Festival Director Birgitte Weinberger:
It’s touching to experience the massive support that we get from the volunteers. OFF is something we create together, elders together with the youth. It’s meaningful to create these communities, where a common passion is the thing, that connects us across our differences.
OFF is the biggest and oldest short film festival in Denmark, as well as the only Oscar-qualifying. OFF celebrates the short film, and during the festival we present unique film experiences to audience from near and far.
The film festival is held in the area around Brandts Museum in the heart of Odense. Every year in week 35, this area is transformed into a buzzing film mekka for people from all over the world and in all ages. OFF18 will take place from 27th of August – 2nd of September.
When OFF18 – Odense International Film Festival – kicks off in August, you will find a brand new competition. Short documentaries are given a special place in this year’s festival programme, its own jury and two new awards.
While the documentaries always have been welcome in the Main Competition at OFF, the programmes has always been carried by fiction and animation. At this years festival in Odense, OFF will bring the short documentary into the light, and fully focus on its intense and challenging genre. In addition, it will have two new awards: Best Documentary Short and The Soapbox Award. The awards will be given by the competition’s own expert jury, who will consist of three competent film professionals.
While the award for Best Documentary Short goes to the best in the category, The Soapbox Award will be given to the documentary, which has used its platform best to portray a new important subject or point of view, or to shed new light on an existing discussion. Along with the Best Documentary Short award, this brings us up to a total of 13 awards, which will be celebrated at the OFF Awards, which takes place Saturday night during the festival.
Festival Director Birgitte Weinberger comments:
“The short documentary is a wildly intimate format, where we as viewers are introduced to parts of reality, which we rarely (or never) are presented with otherwise. In 15 minutes, we can visit places in the world, we did not think existed, personalities we could not imagine, or just experience an excerpt of life as it may look. The long documentary most know from television, but the short documentary is an unknown to many. It has always been present at the festival, but it deserves its own place, and from now on, it will have that place. I am really looking forward to presenting even more powerful and relevant stories from the real world at OFF.”
More documentary films to OFF
In 2017, OFF received over 2500 short films, of which a few hundred were documentary films. Out of these, 7 short documentaries qualified for the competition. By giving the short documentary a special place in the programme at Odense International Film Festival and introducing two new prizes, the hope is that even more short documentary films of high quality will find their way to the festival and help to create even more attention to the short documentary subject.
Registration of a movie for the competition will open on January 15, 2018 with deadline 1 April 2018. OFF will receive movies in all genres with a maximum of 30 minutes, if produced completely in the year of 2017 or 2018.
See more about signing up at: www.filmfreeway.com/odenseinternationalfilmfestival
The Odense International Film Festival has existed since 1975 and is Denmark’s oldest and only Oscar-qualifying film festival.