DO’s and DON’Ts of short film distribution

Presentation and discussion

How can distribution as the last yet crucial stage aid a film on its successful journey; how to manage the specifics of short film distribution; what are some successful methods of sales agents; how do festivals select films; how does local distribution run; and how do all the involved entities function together? All these questions will be addressed by our international guests: distributor Ben Vanderdaele, festival director Anne Gaschütz, and Damir Grbanović, co-author and distributor of one of the most successful Slovenian animated shorts, The Legend of Goldhorn. Additionally, we will dispense advice on how to avoid the hidden pitfalls of distribution and debate the current short film trends.

The discussion will be moderated by Ana Cerar, co-worker of PROFeKK and the Kino Otok-Isola Cinema Festival. Ben Vanderdaele is a versatile producer, sales agent, and distributor. He’s based in Brussels, where he studied film editing at the Rits School of Arts. He is the founder of two companies: the production company Bekke Films and Radiator IP Sales, with which he represents, distributes, and sells more than 200 short films and several feature films to date. The films have been selected and awarded at multiple international film festivals, including Berlinale, Cannes, Clermont-Ferrand, Sundance, SXSW, Locarno, Venice, … He is a member of the European Film Academy.

Anne Gaschützis a festival organiser and programmer who grew up in Dresden, Germany, before moving to England in 2002 and later studying Film in Wales. Upon returning to her hometown, she experienced all the stages in film production at the Dresden-based production company filoufilm. She joined FILMFEST DRESDEN—International Short Film Festival in 2013 as part of the International Selection Committee, where she is responsible for the coordination of the festival as well as the forum Visegrád in Short(s). She became the festival’s co-director in July 2020. She is also one of the initiators of Talking Shorts, an online platform that focuses on short film criticism, and a member of the European Film Academy. In 2021, she became a member of the Pardi di domani Selection Committee at the Locarno Film Festival. Visegrád in Short(s).
Je tudi ena izmed pobudnic spletne platforme Talking Shorts, ki se osredotoča na kritiko kratkega filma, in članica Evropske filmske akademije.
Leta 2021 je postala članica selekcijske komisije Pardi di domani filmskega festivala v Locarnu.

Damir Grbanović (1990) je diplomiral iz 3D animacije na IAM v Ljubljani. Leta 2013 je študiral animacijo na Portugalskem na Višji šoli za umetnost in dizajn (ESAD Caldas Da Rainha). Diplomiral je leta 2014 na Akademiji umetnosti Univerze v Novi Gorici, njegovo diplomsko delo pa izkazuje umetniško in tehnično poznavanje animacije. Je soustanovitelj produkcijske hiše OCTOPICS in soustvarjalec enega mednarodno najuspešnejših slovenskih kratkih animiranih filmov 1990, graduated in 3D animation at IAM in Ljubljana. In 2013, he studied animation for a year in Portugal, at ESAD, Caldas da Rainha. He graduated in 2014 at the School of Arts of the University of Nova Gorica, combining artistic and technical knowledge of animation. He is a co-founder of the OCTOPICS production company. He is also the co-creator of one of the most successful Slovenian short animations, The Legend of Goldhorn, and its sole distributor. The Legend of Goldhorn, and its sole distributor.