The universality of the web, the connection and transmission speed, the new frontiers in digital art, have transformed our peaceful world of the short film and, in general, the image perception itself, as happened in the 70’s when the new analog video systems changed radically the quiet life of the film, which for decades has been the undisputed king of the movie imaginary. For example, only a few years ago, in 2002, the majority of the films

participating to our contest were VHS versions and we had to wait until 2006 to see them completely substituted by the new digital devices like DVD and Mini DV. At the same time, the power of PCs, the memories measured in terabytes, the simplicity of the editing systems, together with the costs reduction, have made possible for everyone, at least in the western world, to concretely deal with moving images. Also the languages of the media have changed and it is more and more difficult, not to say impossible, to standardize thenew visual communication or express it with the old rules of the traditional Cinema. This big revolution we are experiencing and of which we are not even able to imagine all the involvements and the future scenarios, - of course the person who is writing cannot do it- is making difficult for festivals even to exist, besides their real role in a world that offers itself as rapidly as a click. The Web and Cross medial TVs  are forcing the old and boring television where we can only be passive viewers, to retire; this is because of the possibility to “interact” with them and also to be part of the show with short videos (pod) as for example in “Current” the channel of Al Gore present with its programmes in America and Great Britain and arrived recently also in Italy. If we look at the Nielsen Media Researches conducted among 16-25 years old people, we find that an increasing audience between young people prefers them. Also in Italy there are many channels as Current, joining the satellite to the web: this kind of channels are characterised by the fact that they offer a space to the so-called Ugc products, made by the users. Actually, almost all these new media invest in young people, in new talents, like for example, the cross medial TV Qoob which financed the works of some young directors who later gained famous awards at Sundance or at Clermont Ferrand. The short films - but does such definition still fit to them? – can be easily watched on the PC, on the mobile phone, on the satellite, comfortably and everywhere. Among the festivals maybe only the dinosaurs will survive. But we hope that also those as our festival will survive, those ones who are trying to analyse the world in which we are living and who are willing to welcome the changes, asking themselves who we are and where we are going. And why.

 

 

Mauro Tozzi

Art Director Visionaria