NAMASTE Thank you. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to this fifth edition of the International Short Film Festival here in Linz. My name is Marguerite Wackeneder. I have the pleasure and the honor of guiding you through this opening. Let me briefly tell you the story of why it's me that is standing out here. Seven years ago, I met Ashkan and Parisa, who are the founders of this festival. And the reason why I met them was because I wanted to restart my career as an actress. I had tried when I was 18 years old. It didn't work out. I dropped it. I quit it. And when I was actually 53, I thought I might want to give it another start. And I went to the University of Linz, to the Kunsthalle University, and asked whether there might be any film students who might help me with an About Me video for the application. And they recommended Parisa and Ashken to me. So we made an About Me video. I went off to Hollywood, got accepted to the Lee Strasberg Institute and spent two years there, did another year here in Vienna and that's what I am now. I'm an actress. So thank you, Parisa and Ashken, for supporting me. Since then, our paths have crossed several times. Actually, the most recent time was a short that Parisa made and I was lucky enough to play the mother or a mother in this short. It's still in post-production, so we can't view it in this festival. So far about the story why I'm here. I have something in my, actually, two pockets. So I'm going to open up this first one. It's not the winner yet. That would be betrayal, right? And I have a word for you can you read it continuity yes so all of the people that are here are probably very familiar with this word because every filmmaker has to make sure that we keep the continuity right so that the plate is in the same setting as it used to be in the previous scene or previous shot. Another meaning became very clear when the Queen died just recently, because she was seen as the symbol of unity and continuity. And I would also see Parisa and Ashken as symbols of continuity. They founded this festival five years ago, still quite new to Linz, actually. And you all know what it takes to found something in a country that is not your home country, in a language that's not your native tongue. So, and they kept going. They kept on doing their thing. They continued doing their thing. So, bravo to that. They'll appear on the stage pretty soon. And you can give them a bravo. Or maybe you can give them a bravo already. Oh, I didn't want to actually put it into my pocket yet because um i want to indicate to the fact that sometimes and a lot of you may have experienced this that in your home countries when you make films uh you might it might happen that the continuity is suddenly and violently disrupted. So it might get ripped apart if we think of the situation in Ukraine or if we think of Iran where a movement is violently suppressed. So, and then it takes a lot to pick it up again and to produce again and to create again. Turn to my left pocket. This year's focus of the festival is based on diversity, right? Diversity in a lot of meanings. It just shows by the sheer amount of movies that have been submitted to this festival. Do you know how many movies have been submitted? 1,100 and something films have been submitted. Out of these, 64 are being shown in the festival. With a lot of different topics, different techniques, you will see documentaries, you'll see animation, you'll see fiction. And diversity has been a core issue for Parisa and Ashkan. So I'm going to read their introductory statement, which you can also find in the program. But I think it's important to what their idea and their focus and their wish for this festival is. So I hope I can see this. In this fifth year, the Linz International Short Film Festival showcases valuable contributions from highly talented filmmakers from all over the world, focusing on diversity and originality in an atmosphere without conventional boundaries and with the freedom to express different thoughts in order to get to know society better. For us, the festival means a window to the world, presenting the beauty of diversity of our world in impressive images and deep characters. images and deep characters. Diversity encompasses the variety of all people and refers to religion, belief, sexual identity, characteristics such as age, disability, ethnic origin, gender, and so on, which we place special emphasis on when curating the films in our program. By diversity, we also mean the similarities and differences based on individual personality traits and lifestyles. Consciously supporting, promoting, and showcasing women, especially female filmmakers, is our goal. I think it's 50% of the films that I've made, about 50%. This ambition is realized on several levels. First, the festival shows a high percentage, about 50%, of films made by female filmmakers. I should have read it before. On the other hand, the film and supporting program, keeping with the spirit of the festival, includes gender-sensitive and non-discriminatory content. So be ready for films from countries as far as Nepal, Cambodia, Iran, Morocco, Ukraine, China, Colombia, the United States, and of course from countries all over Europe. And welcome Parisa to the stage with a special agenda this year. Thank you. I'm going to make a Gå in med en kål. That's so short. Sorry, I just want to start to talk about what I've done, then I go to the program. I'm really happy to see all of you here and I did this like many women in Iran and all over the world to express my sadness and anger about what is happening in Iran just now. I don't know if you heard about that that morality police killed a young lady because of her hair and after that there is some big demonstrations on every city in Iran also on the the other cities in the world. And yes, I just want to say enough is enough. There should be an end to this patriarchy in Iran, also all over the world, because not only in Iran, but everywhere here and everywhere we the woman and all other genders are suffering from patriarchy and yeah I think there should be an end someday thank you Thank you. And I say to them, in the name of woman, life, freedom, fra, leben, freiheit, sein, sende, zendagi, azadi. Sorry, maybe some think that a film festival shouldn't be a place to talk about politics, but I assume it is because we have many filmmakers who wanted to come to the festival, who couldn't obtain a visa from Nepal, from Turkey, from Georgia, Armenia. All of them, they wanted to come. They tried to take a visa, but they couldn't come. All of them, they wanted to come. They tried to take a visa, but they couldn't come. And also we had an Ukrainian filmmaker who wanted to come. And just three days before it started, the bombing there in their cities. So we cannot come. And yeah, I think this is a possibility to also talk about this thing because it's it is really engaged with our program and everything we do because we really like that every filmmaker can come here and we would have a peaceful world hopefully, then I would go to the program. I'm sorry if I, I don't know, I didn't want to make you unhappy. I hope you will enjoy the next part of the festival. And I would talk a bit about the program. We are really, really happy that we can have our night line again. This is really important for us because after watching the old films, it's really good to come together and talk together and drink. This is really important point of a festival and we are really happy that this year we have every night again the Nightline. We have also, beside of the all great films that you're going to watch, we have the panel discussions every day and so every filmmaker that we have seen their films during the day come to this panel and we will talk about their films together with the jury also and we are very grateful that we have a pitch session on Saturday, I guess. And there are six talented filmmakers who will come and pitch their next short film, and they will be a co-production fund. And we are also really happy for our cooperation with the Krasnoye Europe Film Festival. We will screen some great films from local artists of Krasnoye Europe. So we wanted to engage also the local artists in Linz with the whole international short filmmakers who are here. And we also have a film program in cooperation with Unified Filmmakers with the theme of climate change. And this is also a really important topic. This is also about politics. So, yeah, I hope I told everything I want to also thanks a lot our fund gave it found foundings and and sometimes sorry and of course the unique Art University of Lez thank you, thank all of you you really support this festival and I would thank also all of their sponsors that Margarete is nice to read all of the names thank you, thank you very much so this is a very long list of sponsors. The Bundesministerium für Kunst, you already thanked, I hope so. Ada, Austrian Directors Association, Ambient Recording, Didolight, Gecko Cam, Silverstack, Teldeck, VDFS, I know that one, Verein der schaffen in austria because i i heavily rely on them too uh special thanks also to media partners creative austria Austria, DOAF TV, EPD, EPD Film, InfoScreen, Colic Film, Dot, Dot, Dot Film Magazine, Radio Fro, Ray Film Magazine, Subtext, Tourismus Linz. We're going to see the latest tourism film for Linz, which is very funny, I think, and I hope you enjoy it too. Program partners, Crossing Europe has just been mentioned there is a special program from them and Unified Filmmakers and then also thanks to Veranstaltungs- und Kooperationspartners like 4U Cards, Citykino, Domhotel, Kapu Kupf, Oberösterreich Festival, Scope Pro, Festival of Nations, Zeitpassierte und interaktive Medienkunst Bachelor Studium, Zeitpassierte Medien Master Studium, and one last link, our last list. Sponsors like Brotsüchtig, I think they're bakers, right? Freistetter, which is a beer brewer. Front Food, I don't know myself. A what? Vegetarian restaurant, thank you very much. Macava is what? Iced tea, we have an expert here, she's a local. She'll probably take you to all the places. And Pedacola, which is a drink. It's a drink, right. Thanks to all of those sponsors and funders. I'll just add also the name of the funders because I didn't mention them. Bundesministerium für Kunst, Kultur, öffentlicher Dienst und Sport, Kunstuniversität Linz, Land Oberösterreich Kulturabteilung, All righty. WKO Film und Musikwirtschaft Oberösterreich und Rüßmuslim. And. Alrighty. So, here come the, it's not just abstract, you know, names, but here we have some personal appearances that I don't want to keep from you. And first of all, I would like to welcome the head of the kunst only the the university of arts here in linz welcome magister brigitte hutter A very warm welcome to all of you to the Short Film Festival this year. A very warm welcome to all filmmakers who are here. It's nice and it's wonderful to have you at our university here. And it's a pity and it's a shame that some filmmakers cannot come because some war or some situations like in Iran stops them to come. So thank you very much for the performance you did to speak about human rights and to speak about the right of female Iranians is to speak about human rights. It is necessary and it is our duty in these days. So, thank you very much. And the cooperation with the Short Film Festival is wonderful. It started five years ago. It was always with Parisa and Ashkan. Thank you very much for this. And it's a pleasure and an enrichment for our universities, for the students, for the teachers. So it's, I think, the best place to make this festival. And I hope it will be here at many, many years in the future. I would like also to thank all jury members who work together to find the films you can show or that we can show here. to find the films you can show or that we can show here. And as a supporter of the festival, I would like to thank very much the state of Upper Austria, Margot Nassal is here. And I would also like to thank the mayor and the city of Linz, and it's Beate Gotthardsleitner who is here. Thank you, thank you very much. And the festival is a big statement, is a big sign for the equality and equal opportunities in our times in the film business, but also it is a lobby, and it's a lobby for art and culture, and in these days this lobby is so important. And a very important part of this is the promotion of film education and the film industry. So we take part of this and we are glad and we are honored to be part of this. I wish you inspiring and stimulating days at the Short Film Festival and have a good time here at our university. Thank you very much. Thank you so much for your kind words. I think it should be Margit Angelina now, and she would be the... Is she here? No. She was here. She's the deputy of the governor of the county of Upper Austria. It would have been her turn. She suddenly... You might have seen it. She addressed me. There was an accident in her community, and she is the mayor of that community it she addressed me there was an accident in her community and she used the mayor of that community she told me and she had to be on site immediately so pardon her absence and we hope that everything is fine at the site of the accident then i would like to ask beate gottard-Sleitner onto the stage. She is the deputy for the mayor of Linz, right? Welcome. Thank you, dear guests of honor, dear ladies and gentlemen, dear artists, dear filmmakers, dear festival directors. Thank you for inviting me. It's a great honor for me to be here instead of the mayor, our mayor Klaus Luger, who asked me to pass on his greetings to you. So welcome to the capital of Upper Austria. Welcome to the city of innovation, the city of culture. Welcome to lovely Linz. It's also a great honor for me to be here and take part at the opening of the Linz International Film Festival and to get to know so many great people who make this possible. It was so impressive how you started because a festival is a political thing although we are living in politics all the time and this is what makes it so special after all the years of limitations because of covid and especially now you all mentioned it the horrible war in the ukraine on the injury of human rights especially women rights in iran and all over the world. The increasing hate and racism in so many societies makes it more than ever necessary to have events like this where platforms are possible, platforms for an intercultural dialogue, an intercultural exchange, platforms for coming together. And this is what makes Lint so special for me at least. We are offering these platforms, we are having these platforms, we are having these platforms, we are offering platforms for young people, for people who want to change the world, for people who want to make this world a better place and we are so proud that you're here again. Happy fifth anniversary by the way and I really look forward to see you again on Saturday at the award ceremony. I'm so nervous because of it. And I wish all you artists and filmmakers good luck. And all of you a nice day in Linz. Have a great time. Enjoy it. See you on Saturday. Thank you. Thank you for inviting. Thank you for being here. Thank you so much. Wow, you really practiced your speech. You didn't even have a sheet of paper to cheat, right? All right. So who's next? I'm getting a bit confused with the Margaret Nassal. Magistra Margaret Nassal is here, right? She is the head of, I have to translate those terms and I'm getting a bit confused with the Margaret Nassal. Magistra Agathe Nassal is here, right? She is the head of... I have to translate those terms, and I'm not sure if I'm translating those correctly. So she's the head of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the County of Upper Austria. I hope that is the right translation. Welcome to the stage. Thanks very much. You will hear an impromptu speech from my side and it will be short as it is a short film festival. So I've been knowing Parisa and Ashkan for a while now as far as I've been in my function and it's been a very big pleasure on my side. They've been very professional performing in this festival, and ever since, this festival has been growing over the last year, since I've been knowing you, and it's really an honor for me to see how this festival has been growing more and more. In difficult times, we've all heard what the circumstances are. It's really an honor to see how the festival has been performing over the last few years. And I'm looking forward to see the next days how it's continuing. It's a task for us and it's a very beautiful task to see how the film industry in Upper Austria, of course, is performing. Just last week, and I see Christian Geick also in the back here in Lenzing how to see the world coming to Upper Austria and you're all part of this it's important to see international perspectives coming to Upper Austria diversity is a topic in this year's festival here diversity is through the eyes of filmmakers through the eyes of actors, producers. That's what's present for us as viewers, and that's important not just today, but also tomorrow. And thanks for young people, for viewers. That's me standing here and enjoying the next couple of days. Thanks to Parisa and Ashkan and your whole team, and good luck for the festival. Thanks for having us here, and all the best for the next five years to come. Thank you very much. Thank you so much, and I would like to welcome Hildegard Griebel-Schirrater, Magister Hildegard Griebel-Schirrater, head of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the City of Linz, right? Hello, my pre-speakers did already mention a lot of things. Welcome. I wanted to say, fifth time, I wanted to say, fifth time, the Short Film Festival is a wonderful occasion to say thank you, congratulations and have a nice fifth anniversary. The festival developed all these times, all panels, meeting the filmmakers, having discussions, speaking about films, about their work, seeing different films of different countries all over the world, different themes and items of films. It's a whole big ample program. I hope you enjoy it. And there are also master classes and talent academy which is added to the program also. I think it's a whole big occasion for filmmakers in Linz to join and to see what other filmmakers in the whole world are doing. Thank you for the presentation and the whole work you did in the last years. and the whole work you did in the last years. I hope you will enjoy the festival and have more festivals, more than five, again in Linz. Thank you. Thank you so much. And let me tell you something. This lady here had prepared her speech in German, and she spontaneously translated it into English. That's an extra bravo. All right. Here is a very important panel. I would like to introduce the jury to you. So definitely, I'm sure that this is very important to you. I would like to welcome to the stage Marina Richter. Is she here? Marina is a Serbian-born, Vienna-based film critic. She is the member of Serbian FIPRESCI, the Alliance of Women Film Journalists and the European Film Academy, and the founder and editor-in-chief of Ubiquarian, exactly, an online outlet specialized in short films and documentaries. A warm welcome. From Italy, I would like to welcome Giulia Grandinetti. There she is. Giulia Grandinetti is a director, producer, and dancer. She has a degree in literature and philosophy, performing arts and sciences. performing arts and sciences. Her latest short film, Tria, premiered at the 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival, La Biennale di Venezia, which was just this past month, right? And her short film, Guinea Pig, also won the Best Director and Best Editing awards at Linz ISFF, International Short Film Festival, last year. Welcome. And Hania Tavasoli unfortunately could not come, right? She's an Iranian actress and women's rights activist, so she was not able to come, right? Nevertheless, I would like to read a short biography of hers. She has received various awards, including a Crystal C. Morgue, whatever that is, for Best Leading Role. Is that an Iranian prize? Yeah? The most famous one. The most important award. There it is. The most important award in Iranian cinema. The most important award, there it is. The most important award in Iranian cinema. She has acted in more than 40 feature films and 10 series, as well as in many theaters. She has studied dramatic literature. Hani is courageous enough to be a board member and spokesperson for 800 female filmmakers who are campaigning against sexual harassment and violence in Iranian cinema. She cannot be here with us because of the situation in Iran, because most public figures and celebrities have travel bans. Nevertheless, a welcome to her. The participating films will be awarded in the categories The participating films will be awarded in the categories Best Fiction, Documentary, Animation, as well as Best Director, Best Screenplay and Acting, Best Editing, Sound and Best Austrian Film at the award ceremony on October 8th at 8 o'clock in the evening. All right, we're going to see, hm? You wanna say something? I think that we will have time to know each other and to speak a lot because we will be here for all the weeks yeah but yeah i think i want just to thank you paris and ashkahn because last year was wonderful to be here was emotionally and this year for me is a bit strange to be on the other side and and to be a jury is not easy at all so i think that this experience is also teach me something like you know when i am in the competition like director i know maybe how you feel i really know and to be in this part is is like important because really it's not easy to compare so different kind of work so really enjoy the festival just for see how many diversity we have and we are and yeah just this and i i knew a lot of great people last year for example dennis is here she was he was a director in the competition of last year and he's come back because we are for now. So I hope that you really enjoy your time and you can take something great for your life, not only for your career. Yeah, thank you. I have only one thing to say, make film short again. Yeah, that was a very important saying because I do think myself as well that the art genre of the short should deserve more representation in the media as well. So maybe one day we can manage to get somebody from the ORF here and maybe they are going to show the shorts that have been shown at this festival on tv which would make them more visible and you would also gain more money through the streaming of the shorts. They definitely deserve this. It's a genre that works differently than the feature film. It requires certain techniques and a certain kind of storytelling, and it's a really interesting art form. All right, this brings us to the end of this opening. Thanks from my side. Thanks for being patient with us and enjoy the festival. And welcome to Linz again. you