Each May, Vienna hosts Austria’s largest short film festival, the annual Vienna Independent Shorts (VIS) Festival for Short Film, Animation & Music Video. This year’s Festival presented over 300 Austrian and international short films from May 25 to 31, 2016 under the theme “Fear Is Not an Option”.
IPI has partnered with the VIS to present two post-screening discussions on films examining freedom and environmental issues. Presented in English, the discussions took place on May 26 and 27 at Vienna’s Stadtkino (Akademiestraße 13, 1010) with audience members examining the issues presented at greater depth in conversation with noted journalists. View IPI’s press release about the festival.
- “Looking for Freedom, Seven Filmic Freedom Fantasies” on Thursday, May 26 at 9:30 p.m.
Seven short films looked at human freedom amid financial crises, capitalism and surveillance cameras. Following the screening, Wiener Zeitung Deputy Editor-in-Chief and Director of International News Thomas Seifert – who has reported on conflicts in Southeast Europe, Central Africa, Chechnya and the Middle East – joined IPI Director of Press Freedom Programmes Scott Griffen for discussion about the cost of freedom in a world where journalists are imprisoned for their work and media outlets are shut down by restrictive governments.
Thirty years after the Chernobyl disaster, conversations on nuclear power, environmental disasters and climate change remain polemic. Eight short films looked at whether politicians, governments and other organisations are actually giving us the information we need. Following the screening, environmental journalist Jonathan Tirone of Bloomberg spoke with IPI Outreach & Engagement Manager Silvia Morales about the challenges of achieving true transparency in information when talking about sensitive environmental issues. The discussion was presented with the support of Atomic Reporters.
