The shnit International Shortfilmfestival premieres this Tuesday at Cine Magaly in San Pedro.
This will be the fifth time the festival makes it way to Costa Rica since it began 13 years ago in Bern, Switzerland. Over a period of 12 days, short films will be played simultaneously in across 5 continents — including the cities of Buenos Aires (Argentina), Moscow (Russia), Cape Town (South Africa) and Bangkok (Thailand), among other locations. Costa Rica will be participating as a PLAYGROUND location at Cine Magaly from October 7 – 11.
shnit 2015 International Trailer from deleFOCO on Vimeo.
The festival — which includes over 200 short films all in all — gives away a total of $100,000 USD in cash prizes.
Additionally, five winners of the OPEN category will receive THE FLAMING FAUN statuette, shnit’s enchanting version of the Oscars figurine. THE FLAMING FAUN is based on a mythological spirit of the forest that supposedly “guides us through the twisting jungles of the film business.”
These awards will be distributed at the event’s finale in New York City.
About shnit
The shnit International Shortfilmfestival began back in 2003 as a mere two night event. Since then the festival has grown many fold with over 7,000 short films from 136 different countries to last year’s competition. Today the event is curated by members of the shnit central FOUNDATION as well as PLAYGROUND executives.
[quote_center]“shnit embraces diversity, originality and exchange between creators and an audience from different cultures and backgrounds.”[/quote_center]
In actuality, shnit is a non-profit dedicated to making international connections through short films of all genres: fiction, documentary, animation, experimental… the list goes on. Unlike the Oscars which often awards films with the largest budget for fancy special effects, shnit proposes that a film’s success lies in “its core vision and the creativity with which it communicates that vision.”