Short film

Short film © Benoît Labourdette.

“Short film” is a French legal term that refers to a film of less than 60 minutes (“short” corresponding to the length of the film, less than 1600 meters). In France, the commercial exploitation of cinema has been regulated since 1946 by an administration attached to the Ministry of Culture, the CNC (Centre National du Cinéma et de l’image animée), which has determined separate legal fields for works according to their type of exploitation and duration:

  • Cinematographic works (first exploited in cinemas): short films and feature films (lasting less or more than 60 minutes).
  • Audiovisual works (first exploited on television or any other media): no distinction according to duration.

Before the advent of community video sites and the development of quality television series, starting in 2005, the short film was seen as a space open to new filmmakers, the antechamber of the feature film. Indeed, the film economy was structured around the commercial exploitation of feature films in theatres. Short films were struggling to be shown and had no economic profitability. Yet a short film, in order to be shown in commercial theatres, had to be produced and directed according to the rules of the film corporation: a duly registered production company, an exploitation visa for the film, passage through the censorship committee, the professional cards required for the film’s technical positions, etc.

Today, in 2020, the field of audiovisual creation has radically changed: one can, with a simple phone call, shoot a film and broadcast it on YouTube for example, where it will potentially be seen by a very large number of viewers. Thanks to technical developments, anyone can produce without referring to an administrative authority and has the power to broadcast without having to be chosen by a professional network.

On YouTube or in other networks, there are billions of “short films”, if we refer to the French legal definition. And yet they are not called “short films”, but rather “videos”. And yet on YouTube, some people put what they call a “short film” online, even though they have no production company, no exhibition visa and no theatrical release. These films are similar to “official” short films with an exhibition visa.

So what is a short film in 2020? It’s multiple. But to try to synthesize, we could say that “short film” corresponds to a (subjective) estimate of the level of artistic quality of an audiovisual object of less than 60 minutes. It is therefore a term that has become above all symbolic.


Poem in automatic writing about « Short film »
Dans le cadre de la séance « AmiTiés Animals » le vendredi 13 avril 2018 à la maison des associations de Valensole, projection du film Made in China (Benoît Labourdette, 2017, 6’07s). Female gaze? The homeless of darkness In Green The cascade of two stools The Young and the Restless Watch where you step Who is it? Memory and desire interfere with intuition; they form a screen that prevents psychic evolution.” Attention and Interpretation (1970) The Fertile Ground of Encounter If we had carried out this same exercise on the first day, without any meeting having taken place, without the group having taken the time to get to know each other and tame the museum space, the result would have been radically different. July 26, 2014 release of the film « Is science immoral ? » (Benoît Labourdette, 5’11s, 2014)}} in the context of programming “Life of Castle” at Montmaur Castle. You can view and download the catalogs of six editions of the Pocket Films Festival (catalogs only in french language). For there is an upstream work, with young and school audiences, an inscription of meaning in the professional fabric of the region, and so on. Here are some pictures, bulk, events that took place everywhere in France December 21, 2011 as part of the shortest day. If we manage to incorporate a relatively regular rhythm into our story, it will inherently have a greater capacity to resonate with other narratives. With the participation of Fabien Gaffez, director of programs at the Forum des images, Pierre-Emmanuel Le Goff, CEO of La Vingt-Cinquième Heure, Stéphanie Jaunay, coordinator of the cinema project at the Théâtre National de Bretagne and Fabienne Wipf, director of the Festival européen du film court de Brest.

All themes

Photographs, paintings, drawings, assemblies and texts by Benoît Labourdette (unless otherwise stated).

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