122 short films from around the world, 1 French cock-a-doodle-doo
- May 22
- 2 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
For the second year running, I had the privilege of co-chairing the Film Review Panel at Filmapalooza with @CameronMeier — the international festival of the 48 Hour Film Project, held this year in Lisbon from 25 to 28 March.
The 48HFP spans more than 100 cities worldwide each year, producing short films between 4 and 7 minutes, made in 48 hours. Teams draw their genre at random — ranging from musical to silent film, taking in the food film (!), horror, utopia/dystopia, and road movie (in France, there are 30 genres in total) — and receive their assigned line of dialogue, prop, and character (name and profession). Then the countdown begins. 48 hours to deliver a film, original score included.
This format is a masterclass in constrained storytelling. It forces you to cut to the essentials, make radical choices, resist indecision, and work as a team. Some of the short films that emerge are remarkable in their craft and power — and always for the same reason: the writing is solid from the start.
A few examples:
For the film review — that is, selecting which films will compete in which categories — I watched all 122 international short films that had won Best Film in their respective cities. The level of Japan, Eastern Europe, and France impressed me. The US entries too, but with fewer surprises, and more unevenly.
What I always find fascinating is how strongly culture comes through on screen. You can easily recognise a film from Eastern Europe, Japan, France, or the US. And yet, despite these very different cultures, a film can be universal when it succeeds.
From space, there are no borders. From cinema, there aren't either.
What also strikes me is how genuinely talented France is, cinematically speaking. And it's no accident. We produce around 300 films a year, across every genre and for every audience. We are, by nature, a nation of cinephiles.
Our cultural exception model is no small part of that. The audiovisual sector in France carries real weight: in 2023, it generated just over €13 billion in added value, making it the leading cultural industry in the French economy — ahead of live performance, advertising, and heritage. That's twice the added value of France's entire textile industry.
Cockerdoodle doo
Déborah Braun / 90pages
Script doctor
