4. Vienna Shorts

Now the largest international short film festival in Austria, VIS Vienna Independent Shorts showed more than 230 films from all over the world on six festival days during its fourth edition. The program structure presented itself in a new form: For the first time, a jury selected one film from five international competition blocks to receive the € 2,000 Short Film Award of the City of Vienna (the “Golden Shorts”). In parallel, the newly created Panorama section offered an overview of current Austrian short filmmaking.

In addition, there were individual programs on animated and experimental films, specials (including a spooky night at the Stadtkirche, a Film&Food program and the Airbed Movies) as well as guest programs (from Ars Electronica and sixpackfilm, among others). Tributes were dedicated to two big names, Austrian experimental filmmaker Virgil Widrich and U.S. multimedia artist Miranda July. In addition, special guest British animator Paul Bush showed some of his work. Top Kino served as the main venue.

Behind the scenes: After two years of sharing an office with Schikaneder Kino, VIS moved to quartier21 (Q21) in MuseumsQuartier in 2007, which has served as its headquarters ever since. In March VIS organized together with Diagonale and ORF “shorts & skirts,” the first of two short film nights in the provinces and on television. As part of “VIS on tour,” the festival created guest programs for, among others, Wiener Festwochen, Crossing Europe and Diagonale.