History
From Rørosblimpen to European Film Academy
The Norwegian Short Film Festival started in 1978 as a young and radical counterculture to the Norwegian film industry and a monopolistic Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). Today, 33 years later, it has become one of the pillars in Norwegian film life where everyone with an interest in the future of Norwegian film gets involved in one way or another. When did it all start escalating?
The very first festival saw the light of screen in a tiny cinema auditorium at Røros in 1978. This is also where they had the so-called, “Rørosblimpen”, a DIY sound isolating box for 16 mm functioning as an ambulant cinema auditorium. The film people where accommodated at Rørosheimen, the same building which held the auditorium, and they could therefore conveniently walk in their slippers to the various screenings. In between screenings, they would brace the weather and walk shivering a little further down the street in minus 40 degrees Celsius to get to “Kaffestuggu”, the local café. This was at a time when the festival took place during the winter and the organisers where forever at lookout for an extra projectionist.
This was long before Pål Bang-Hansen recognised the potential of the festival. At one point the festival organisers threatened Bjartmar Gjerde, the director of NRK, to send someone to observe the event. Mr Bang-Hansen travelled somewhat reluctantly to Røros, where he struggled to suppress his haughty mood: “Do you really think Larsen at Kongsvinger (Norwegian equivalent of John Smith) is even remotely interested in Polish short film?”
Desperate Need
That the Norwegian Short Film Festival started in the late 1970’s is no coincidence. The removal of the ‘luxury-cat’ from the cinema tickets in the 60’s resulted in the disappearance of the short film from the municipal cinemas, leaving film people with a desperate need to show their films. The fact that the only TV-channel available at the time was extremely critical to production outside NRK did not lessen this need. This was when the Norwegian Short Film Festival stepped into history and “saved” the Norwegian short film.
If we’re to relay a short and crude history, one could say that Norwegian short film was inspired by the French wave during the 60’s, whilst during the 70’s the experimental film was replaced by political content. When the political short film diminished in the early 80’s, there was a predominant wish to tell a story using all means and any instrument at hand.
All enrolled films were screened. Even though the experimental short film had not completely disappeared and political utterances not entirely ceased, the initial festival programmes were first and foremost influenced by film commissions and socially useful communications. This is perhaps an explanation as to why there are so many middle aging Norwegian film enthusiasts with a substantial knowledge of Norwegian trawling. The very first pre-selection jury was introduced to the festival in 1986, which resulted in more selective screenings. The festival was now well on its way to becoming an arena for Norwegian quality film.
Professional Festival Organiser
Then, as now, the goal was to offer the broadest possible presentation of Norwegian film art, where the young experimenting debutant had equal opportunities as the established filmmaker. Foreign films and directors were brought in from the get-go by the festival organisers. It was inspiring for many film people to meet living legends like Bob Godfrey, Bert Haanstra and Raoul Servais, as well as our own Erik Løchen walking among festival participants.
Four festival years later, the cinema auditorium at Rørosheimen reached its capacity and in 1982 the Norwegian Short Film Festival moved to the nearest city. Even though the film politics and some of the intimacy followed in the move from Rørosheimen to Verdensteateret in Trodheim, one of the principals fell through; that the festival was not to have either a jury or awards. During the first festival in Trodheim, cinema director Willy Svarverud spontaneously handed out an award to the best Norwegian short film. The award went to “Reisen” by Jan Toreg. This was subsequently the reason why a short film jury was established the following year. Thus the Norwegian short film competition – the core of The Norwegian Short Film Festival – was established. The first movie to be awarded by a jury was “Familiebildet” by Oddvar Einarson in 1983.
As the festival grew it became clear that arranging a festival required a special skill set. Consequently the Norwegian Short Film Festival became incorporated in 1987. An important motivation was to separate the organisations from the festivals decision making, programming, management and leadership. So during the 80’s the festival management stepped up from being an enthusiastic group of film people, to becoming professional festival organisers – though the festival was still run through voluntary work.
The spirit amongst the volunteers was great, and even greater from being allowed to screen films. The festival had early on aimed to bring in impulses from abroad as an inspiration to our local filmmakers and the first lot ventured out into the world in 1980 to pick short films from European film festivals. A retrospective Zbigniew Rybczynski became in 1981 one of the highlights of the festival, and a few months later he won an Oscar for “Tango”. In parallel with the Norwegian competition-programme establishing itself, the festival also advanced to becoming an important showroom for international short film during its period in Trondheim.
The International Breakthrough
A new epoch started when the festival in 1988 left Trondheim and moved to the sunny south of Norway. The festival grew even further in Grimstad and during the 90’s it functioned as a launching pad for new Norwegian films. Festival directors from important international festivals brought the films out into the world, first to other film festivals and then for sale to TV and cinema distributors. It is today natural that Norwegian short films get selected to the prestigious short film programmes in Cannes, Berlin or Clermont-Ferrand.
It was also noticeable that quite a few young people chose to study film abroad, and some came to the Norwegian Short Film Festival to screen their movies. Amongst others were Maria Fuglevaag Warsinski, Marius Holst and Harald Zwart from Poland, England and the Netherlands. The lack of a Norwegian film school has in many ways caused The Norwegian Short Film Festival to function as an educational institution: A showcase where debutants could show their films and get feedback. It was also a place where film workers could watch shorts and documentaries from other epochs and other countries. Grimstad also became a meeting place where one could come across acknowledged directors and film artists who visited the festival.
Digital Expansion
The digital expansion has the past few years resulted in a huge increase of enrolled films. In addition, the international profile was further strengthened when the festival from 2001 became one of the 11 European festivals with the power to nominate to the European Film Awards, Europe’s equivalent of the Oscars.
The 1978 initiators, Kine Aune and Steinar Bendiksvold, both young film people and film club enthusiasts, could not have known what they started: The odd little film festival has with time become the most important film trade venue for established film people in Norway, a crucial showcase for young filmmakers and an invaluable festival for the film-, TV-, media- and advertising industry, where one can follow current talent and creative power.
Even the royal house and the Minister of Cultural Affairs has dropped by Grimstad and acknowledged the significance of the festival. What then happened to the intimate atmosphere and the counterculture? The core principals: variation, diversity and extensiveness are still prominent, even though the Norwegian Short Film Festival today embraces an audience far beyond its inner circle. Likewise the cultural challengers, the quaint and the innovative have an indisputable presence at the festival. Documentaries and fiction, foreign and local, young and old, new and established, are all screened side by side.
The past years have seen a continuous and reliable development towards a larger and more professional festival. Still, the motive behind arranging the festival remains the same as in 1978: It’s all about the joy of sharing film experiences and continuing to unify the film community.
