NZ short films get French festival spotlight

Pearl McGlashan in <i>Choice Night</i>. Photo / Supplied

Almost 50 New Zealand short films have this week been featured at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France, as part of its international spotlight programme.

Considered the world's premiere cinema event dedicated to short film, each year the festival selects a country to showcase. Six sessions will screen a selection of NZ shorts stretching back to 1970.

Choice Night, directed by Auckland's Christopher Dudman, was also selected for competition from 5,263 submitted films. This only two months after winning Best International Film at the Geneva Film Festival.

For the writer, Paul Stanley Ward, it's the right direction to be heading in. "It's a long way from Mermaids on Courtney Place to Clermont Ferrand.

"There's over 5000 short films submitted, so it's very choice for our film to be selected in competition."

Other NZ shorts to be shown include Day Trip (Zoe McIntosh), The Six Dollar Fifty Man (Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland), Tama Tu (Taika Waititi), Double Happy (Shahir Daud) and Kitchen Sink (Alison MacLean).

The Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival concludes this weekend.