European Film Academy

Press release # 2/2010
Locarno joins EFA Short Film Initiative

The European Film Academy (EFA) and the International Film Festival Rotterdam congratulate the

Rotterdam Short Film Nominee for the European Film Awards 2010
ØNSKEBØRN (Out Of Love)
by Birgitte Stærmose (Denmark 2009, 29 min., documentary fiction)

The film is now nominated for the award European Film Academy Short Film 2010. It was selected by the festival’s international jury which was made up of Jeremy Rigsby (programmer of Media City Festival in Windsor, Canada), Shai Heredia (director of Filter India Festival, Mumbai, India) and filmmaker, writer, visual artist and teacher Albert Wulffers (the Netherlands).

OUT OF LOVE tells a gripping story about the experiences of children in an unreal-looking Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, told in an unorthodox way.

The short film initiative is organised by the European Film Academy in co-operation with a series of film festivals throughout Europe. At each of these festivals, an independent jury presents one of the European short films in competition with a nomination in the short film category of the European Film Awards.

The European Film Academy is happy to announce that the Locarno International Film Festival has just joined the EFA Short Film Initiative, so that the programme now includes a total of 15 festivals (see complete list).

OUT OF LOVE joins the following nominees: AMOR by Thomas Wangsmo (Norway 2009, 14 min, fiction), selected at the Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent; DER AMPELMANN by Giulio Ricciarelli (Germany 2009, 14 min, fiction), selected at the Valladolid International Film Festival, LES ESCARGOTS DE JOSEPH (Joseph’s Snails) by Sophie Roze (France 2009, 12 min, animation), selected at the Corona Cork Film Festival; and BLIJF BIJ ME, WEG by Paloma Aguilera Valdebenito (The Netherlands 2009, 24 min, fiction), selected at the Premiers Plans - Festival d’Angers.

The next nomination will be presented in co-operation with the Berlin International Film Festival.

When the annual cycle is completed in September, the nominees will be presented to the over 2,000 members of the European Film Academy and it is they who will elect the overall winner: the European Film Academy Short Film 2010 which will be presented at the 23rd European Film Awards Ceremony on 4 December in Tallinn/Estonia.

Berlin, 08 February 2010