The Aesthetica Short Film Festival: On the Look Out for Emerging Talent in 2014
Following the success of the London Film School entries at the 2013 Aesthetica Short Film Festival: SUNDAY MORNING (Brian O'Toole), BORN POSITIVE (Carla Simón), LIPSTICK (Carla Simón), ROSEMARY JANE (Carolina Petro), ÁCHELE (Clara Kraft Isono), GOOD NIGHT (Muriel d'Ansembourg), THE ETERNAL NOT (Joe Spray), PASAK (Nell Eu), Aesthetica reaches out to the LFS to enter their 2014 Short Film Festival.
Having firmly established itself as one of the most exciting site-specific cinema experiences in the UK, the Aesthetica Short Film Festival (ASFF) promises to return bigger than ever in 2014 following the overwhelming success of this year’s edition in November. The four-day event transformed 15 of the most historic and iconic places in York into pop-up cinemas, screening the best in independent film from across the world.
Philip Ilson, Short Film Programmer for BFI London Film Festival, was full of praise for the
festival and how it connected with its setting: “ASFF was a great experience. It’s great to see
a festival with a real difference and interacting with its city.”
Preparations for 2014 are already underway and the ASFF team is promising an even bigger event for the festival’s fourth instalment. Brand new venues have been confirmed, adding to the already impressive list of stunning locations that showcase a mix of York’s medieval heritage and contemporary, cultural charm. The weekend will also offer filmmakers and film enthusiasts alike the opportunity to connect with industry figures with a larger programme of networking events and masterclasses, which proved to be so popular earlier this year.
Filmmakers from across the world flocked to the city to engage with new audiences and interact with some of the biggest personalities in the film industry today, including Joakim Sundström (Seven Psychopaths) and BAFTA on Sound Editing, Craig McNeil from Beggars Group on Music Video, Warp Films, Film4, Channel 4, Alice Lowe on Screenwriting (Sightseers, Hot Fuzz and Kill List) and more.
Over 300 films will be screened next year and the ASFF team are particularly keen to showcase emerging talent alongside established filmmakers. Not only will finalists have the chance to present their film to a range of industry insiders and thousands of festival attendees, there are cash prizes up for grabs and the opportunity to appear in a number of other UK festivals with the ASFF guest programme tour. ASFF 2013 films, for example, will tour to Bath Film Festival, The Hepworth Wakefield, Underwire in London and various other locations across the UK and abroad. Films of any genre are accepted and full details of the entry process can be found at www.asff.co.uk/submit
Editor’s Note
1. ASFF ran from 7-10 November 2013.
2. The festival is an annual event and will take place in 2014 from 6 – 9 November.
3. For the full list of winners at the 2013 festival please CLICK HERE.
4. Special screenings included guest programmes from BAFTA, Kuwait, Mexico, India
and Screen Bandita (reclaimed Super 8 film).
5. For the 15 locations, visit www.asff.co.uk/venues - images of all venues are available.
6. 300 films in the Official Selection were screened over 4 days.
7. Filmmakers were from 36 countries including the UK, Brazil, Japan, Iran, Canada,
Kenya.