Cinéfondation – one of two competitive sections presenting short films in Cannes – was created in 1998 by Gilles Jacob – the president of the festival. Every year Cinéfondation features a selection of short and medium-length films produced by film schools from around the world. This year 1550 films were submitted from 227 schools. The competition was fierce as only 18 titiles made it to the final and top selection (14 fiction and 4 animations). Małgorzata Rżanek – a graduate of Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw – with her animated “Danse macabre” found herself in this prestigious circle.
“Danse Macabre” is a humoristic adaptation of popular medieval theme – “dance of death”. A dense, pitch black night. The moon glances balefully. Someone will die tonight. Suddenly the carousel of death moves on and there is nothing to stop it. Joined by a fine thread the skeletons waft up and then fall straight into the clip of the fatal revolver. The bones are patiently assembled and decomposed by a mysterious machine that shuffles them so precisely that they cannot be told from one another. Seemingly separate elements turn out to be a part of perfectly synchronized organism. The title danse macabre proves a well operating mechanism.
This is what the directors says about her film: “Danse macabre” is characterized by purism that stems from my fascination with Polish School of Poster. On creating the film I searched for lapidary, pure form that would oppose the aloof and yet humoristic interpretation of the subject matter. I created in line with “let the each shot to be a poster” rule. “Danse macabre” is Rżanek’s graduation film made under the guidance of professor Hieronim Neumann at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. The film is represented by Krakow Film Foundation.
The second Polish short film in the competition of Cannes is “Olena” by Elżbieta Benkowska, screened in the main short film competition. The fiction film by Benkowska, produced by Gdynia Film School, is a story of a young Ukrainian couple that travels from Poland to Sweden. The competition was also fierce as 3500 films were sent to Cannes from 132 countries. Finally 9 films made up the final selection – among them “Olena” by Benkowska.
This Tuesday the names of jury members for Cinéfondation and short film competitions will be revealed. Jane Campion will preside over two juries that will choose the best short films of 66th edition of Cannes Film Festival.
This year’s edition of the festival will be held between 15th and 26th May.
The complete list of selected films can be found here