Chicoutimi, December 6, 2019

In recent weeks, several team members have travelled far and wide to represent the Festival and the very best the short film has to offer!

Here’s what they had to say about their foreign mission:

Kurzfilmtage Winterthur by Mélissa Bouchard

From November 5 to 10, I took great pleasure in discovering a festival that had long appealed to me, not only for its international reputation but especially for its powerful and daring programming. Aside from a cheese overdose, I had an exceptional time at Switzerland’s 23rd International Kurzfilmtage Winterthur. 

I went to the festival to prepare a Focus on Swiss Short Films for the next REGARD Festival. In a very short time, I soaked up this wonderful country’s culture, met the Swiss short film community, and saw an incredible number of films. It was a most inspiring visit, which will soon be reflected in two programs of short films and a stronger Swiss presence in our festival. Thanks to the invaluable cooperation of Swiss Films, we will also have the privilege of hosting director and actress Jenna Hasse, who will present one of her films in the Focus and take part in a round table with other artists who are thriving both in front of and behind the camera. Lastly, charmed by his festival, his rough French and pink shoes, we will have the honour of welcoming John Canciani, the artistic director of International Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, who will serve on the jury for our official competition.

I can’t wait to share my many discoveries from my visit to the heart of German-speaking Switzerland with all our festivalgoers!

GAZTEFILM-FEST by Sylvie Poisson

From November 22 to December 1, I had the privilege of participating in the Basque youth festival GAZTEFILM-FEST. The event is held in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, in a town both medieval and modern where countless historic monuments stand comfortably alongside mind-blowing murals and graffiti. Canada was the featured country for this third edition of GAZTEFILM-FEST. In collaboration with the National Film Board, REGARD presented two Canadian youth productions: one for children, the other for teens.

Also on the program:

- a program of Wapikoni mobile films

- a Norman McLaren retrospective and a Norman McLaren-themed concert

- a Théodore Ushev retrospective 

- Une colonie by Geveviève Dulude-De Celles

- a retrospective and master class by Patrick Bouchard

Patrick attended the event, so the Saguenay region was well represented at this festival!

This was my first time presenting an open program abroad. It was a great pleasure to discuss the films with the Basque audience after the screenings. The realist form, seen in several of the films, astonished the young people, who asked me if the fictions they saw were actually documentaries.

One of the highlights was a concert by young local musicians, accompanied by images by Norman McLaren. It was wonderful. I also really appreciated the short film made during the festival with young Moroccans from the community. Their pride was nice to see. But my absolute favourite thing was the dedicated GAZTEFILM-FEST team, who produced a remarkable event with a varied, high-quality program. Their hospitality was exceptionally warm. 

Festival Curta Cinema & Bogo short by Marie-Elaine Riou

To start my eighth year with the REGARD team, I had a busy Latin fall, the way I like it, with my first visit to the Festival Curta Cinema in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where I was a member of the Brazilian competition jury. As well as a schedule packed with short-film programs, I took advantage of my time there to promote our new Americana competition. New Brazilian talents are, of course, welcome in the competition, so the announcement was very well received. In fact, most of the filmmakers and producers I met at the various networking activities are at the stage of having made one or two films as professionals. Their enthusiasm confirmed the need for a program at REGARD that will put the spotlight on films by a new generation of filmmakers from everywhere in the Americas. Between pao de queijo, which I enjoyed at the small Café Cultivar in the Santa Teresa district, I had many fascinating discussions with my fellow jurors.

While I visited some of Rio’s attractions with Esmeralda from the Festival Internacional de Cine de Guadalajara (Mexico), Juan Andres of the Festival de Cine Nuevo (Uruguay) and Axel of the Hamburg International Short Film Festival (Germany), I also had the chance to explore the neighbourhood where Brazilian directors and fellow jurors Paula Vieira and Clara Linhart live. They also showed us an amazing waterfall hidden in the forest, where, as Paula promised, dozens of monkeys appeared. Lastly, my visit to Rio de Janeiro made it possible to strengthen REGARD’s collaboration with Curta Cinema, which began in 2013, when the directors and programmers, Ailton and Paulo, helped us put together a Brazilian Panorama. Since then, the number of Brazilian shorts submitted to the festival has tripled. In the wake of my visit, my next goal is to persuade Brazil’s national film agency to offer all Brazilian filmmakers that we select for REGARD the opportunity to come to Saguenay to present their films.

In the short term, I am continuing my Latin American travels to promote the Americana competition. At the beginning of November, that led me to Colombia, for one of the capital’s most important film events, Bogoshorts. After two days at the festival, I have to say that the warm welcome from the festival team, volunteers and Colombian guests at BFM (Bogoshorts Film Market) activities makes me feel at home. Based at the foot of Monserrate Mountain, in the heart of Bogotá, the festival HQ is the perfect place to meet people, whether formally or casually. It’s a bit like Hôtel Chicoutimi during REGARD, only with warmer weather! In short, my stay is only beginning but the adventure has already been very enriching. I hope Colombia and Brazil will have a prominent place in our new Americana competition, and that the filmmakers will be able to join us at REGARD!