Danish Short Nominated For European Film Awards

The European Film Academy (EFA) and the International Film Festival Rotterdam congratulate the Rotterdam Short Film Nominee for the European Film Awards 2010, Ønskebørn (Out of Love), directed by Birgitte Stærmose (Denmark 2009, 29 mins, documentary fiction)

The film is now nominated for European Film Academy Short Film 2010. It was selected by the festival’s international jury, which was made up of Jeremy Rigsby (programmer of Media City Festival in Windsor, Canada), Shai Heredia (director of Filter India Festival, Mumbai, India) and filmmaker, writer, visual artist and teacher Albert Wulffers (the Netherlands).

The film tells a gripping story, in an unorthodox way, about the experiences of children in an unreal-looking Pristina, the capital of Kosovo.

The short film initiative is organised by the European Film Academy in co-operation with a series of film festivals throughout Europe. At each of these festivals, an independent jury presents one of the European short films in competition with a nomination in the short film category of the European Film Awards.

The European Film Academy is also happy to announce that the Locarno International Film Festival has just joined the EFA Short Film Initiative, so that the programme now includes a total of 15 festivals (see list below).

Ønskebørn joins the following nominees: Amor by Thomas Wangsmo (Norway 2009, 14 mins, fiction), selected at the Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent; Der Ampelmann by Giulio Ricciarelli (Germany 2009, 14 mins, fiction), selected at the Valladolid International Film Festival, Les Escargots de Joseph (Joseph’s Snails) by Sophie Roze (France 2009, 12 mins, animation), selected at the Corona Cork Film Festival; and Blijf Bij Me by Paloma Aguilera Valdebenito (Netherlands 2009, 24 mins, fiction), selected at the Premiers Plans: Festival d’Angers.

The next nomination will be presented in co-operation with the Berlin International Film Festival. When the annual cycle is completed in September, the nominees will be presented to the over 2,000 members of the European Film Academy and it is they who will elect the overall winner - the European Film Academy Short Film 2010 which will be presented at the 23rd European Film Awards Ceremony on 4 December in Tallinn/Estonia.

The short film initiative now includes 15 festivals:

- Flanders International Film Festival Ghent/Belgium (October 2009)
- Corona Cork Film Festival/Ireland (October 2009)
- Valladolid International Film Festival/Spain (October 2009)
- Premiers Plans - Festival d’Angers/France (January 2010)
- International Film Festival Rotterdam/the Netherlands (Jan./Feb 2010)
- Berlin International Film Festival/Germany (February 2010)
- Tampere Film Festival/Finland (March 2010)
- Krakow Film Festival/Poland (May/June 2010)
- Norwegian Short Film Festival Grimstad/Norway (June 2010)
- Edinburgh International Film Festival/UK (June 2010)
- Curtas Vila do Conde - International Film Festival/Portugal (July 2010)
- Sarajevo Film Festival/Bosnia & Herzegovina (July 2010)
- Locarno International Film Festival/Switzerland (August 2010)
- Venice International Film Festival/Italy (September 2010)
- International Short Film Festival in Drama/Greece (September 2010)