Berlinale Shorts: International Jury Confirmed and the New Audi Short Film Award

Berlinale Shorts International Jury (left to right): Madhusree Dutta, Wahyuni A. Hadi, Halil Altındere 

 The short film has a long tradition as an art form at the Berlinale and is an important component in the festival’s artistic profile. Since 1956 the Berlin International Film Festival has awarded a Golden and a Silver Bear to the best short films. Now in the 60^th year of their presentation, they will be joined by still another award whose winner will also be selected by the Berlinale Shorts International Jury:

The Audi Short Film Award will go to a director who has an extraordinary artistic signature. The winner will take home 20,000 euros. This makes the Audi Short Film Award one of the most generously endowed short film prizes in the world. With this award, Audi is considerably expanding its partnership with the Berlin International Film Festival.

“The award sponsored by Audi ideally augments our commitment to the short film and underscores its importance. We are delighted that Audi has launched this initiative to promote new and gifted directors further,” states Dieter Kosslick, Director of the Berlinale.“The Audi Short Film Award is yet another step in our cooperation with the Berlinale. As a progressive brand, we want to enable people to fully experience the connection between Audi and filmmaking in the future, and in many different ways. And to us that also includes an award that shines the spotlight on the creative talents of short film directors,” said Wayne Griffiths, Head of Sales Germany at AUDI AG.

The nominees for the Audi Short Film Award are all those directors participating with their films in the competition for best short film in the Berlinale Shorts programme. Appointed by the Berlinale, a three-member International Jury will decide who gets the award, which will be presented to the winner on February 14, 2015 during the Berlinale Awards Ceremony.
Jury 2015
This year’s International Short Film Jury will award the Golden and the Silver Bear, and the Audi Short Film Award. It will also nominate a short film for the European Film Awards in the category Best Short Film. The prize-winners of 2015 will be chosen by Wahyuni A. Hadi (curator, author and executive director of the Singapore International Film Festival), Halil Altındere (artist, curator and publisher of art-ist Magazine) and Madhusree Dutta (filmmaker, curator and pedagogue).
Wahyuni A. Hadi, Singapore

Curator and author Wahyuni A. Hadi is the executive director of the Singapore International Film Festival. In 2013 she co-produced Ilo Ilo, which won many awards, including the Caméra d’Or at the Festival de Cannes. She is a partner in Objectifs – Centre for Photography and Film, and founding member of the independent short film distributor Objectifs Films. As leading expert and advocate of Singaporean cinema, she initiated in 2009 the Singapore Short Film Awards with filmmaker Chai Yeewei and The Substation, Singapore’s first independent contemporary art centre.
Halil Altındere, Turkey

The Istanbul-based artist Halil Altındere explores political, social and cultural codes, and focuses largely on depicting marginalisation and resistance to oppressive systems. Altındere has been a central figure in the Turkish contemporary art world since the mid-1990s, not only as an artist but also as the publisher of art-ist Magazine and as a prominent curator. His works have been included in exhibitions at the Documenta, the Manifesta, and the biennials in Istanbul, Gwangju, Sharjah and São Paulo, as well as at MoMA/PS1, New York. In 2015, the Kunstpalais Erlangen will present a large solo exhibition of his work.
Madhusree Dutta, India

Since the 1990s, filmmaker, curator and pedagogue Madhusree Dutta’s inter-disciplinary engagement revolves around urbanology, migration, gender and identity. Madhusree’s films have been screened at film festivals and art events all around the world. Her latest multi-disciplinary, multi-scalar curatorial project Cinema City (2009 - 2014) was shown at Berlinale Forum Expanded in 2010. She is the executive director of Majlis, a centre for rights discourse and multi-cultural art initiatives in Mumbai.