Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival Unveils Plans for a Cité du Court Emerging Talent Hub

Over the past five decades, France’s Clermont-Ferrand fest has honed a reputation as the best-known short film festival in the world.

Now Clermont Ferrand is looking to set that in stone. TheSauve Qui Peut le Court Métrage association, which organizes the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, has won a project management competition to create a Cité du Court, renovating and extending its own current Jetée, home. Supported by Clermont Auvergne Métropole, the governing body of Clermont Ferrand city and environs, and to be built by MU Architecture, the City is scheduled to open first half 2029, when the festival celebrates its 50th anniversary.

A 186,000 sq. foot facility, the City du Court will feature a renovated screening room, a larger documentation center for the general public, new work spaces designed for image education and professional training, an educational and experimental film set for filmmakers and more spacious offices for the organizing team, the Clermont Ferrand Festival announced Wednesday. The Festival also released impactful first-look photos which will get some filmmakers enquiring if it offers residence training facilities.

Launched in 1979, and adding a short film market in 1986 at Cannes, the Clermont Ferrand Festival is a growing and going concern, celebrating its 47th edition this year over Jan. 31-Feb. 8, with audiences of 173,000 while welcoming 4,100 on-site accredited participants at its market. Both are all-time records.

Though Clermont Ferrand does not insist that titles are new, 41 of its 64 international competition titles this year were world premieres.

Yet as public-sector budgets come under fiscal pressure the world over, festivals in any place of the world are seeking an industrial reconversion from one-off events to year-round hubs enrolling their brands – and Clermont Ferrand’s is very large – to amplify their value.

“This Cité du Court project is much more than just a building: it’s a strong, structuring act in favor of our region’s cultural future. It embodies our ambition to make Clermont-Ferrand not only the capital of short film, but also a reference center for cinematic innovation and diversity of formats,” said Olivier Bianchi, Mayor of Clermont-Ferrand and President of Clermont Auvergne Métropole.

If France dominates film in Europe, it is because it believes that culture is part of its national identity and the country is all the better for that. The Cité du Court looks set to further this perception in a younger spectators.

“Through its many actions and initiatives, SQPCM is also an essential partner of the DRAC, notably in the context of image education, in a role of cultural transmission and audience renewal. The future Cité du Court will provide SQPCM with a new location and premises suited to all its different facets, and the Ministry of Culture is delighted to be a partner in this project,” said Marc Drouet, at the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (DRAC).

“With a support of €1.75 million [$2.0 million] , the Département is reaffirming its commitment to culture by supporting the future Cité du Court. It’s a cultural project, but also a civic and educational one. The Puy-de-Dôme department is committed to it with conviction,” added Lionel Chauvin, President of the Conseil Départemental du Puy-de-Dôme.