As part of the DOK Leipzig festival, the panel “Shorts, Screened and Streamed: Connecting Audiences to Short Films” brought together an international group of film professionals to explore how short films —whether documentary, animated, hybrid, or fiction— find their way between the international festival circuit and digital platforms. The discussion was moderated by Zeynep Güzel, a Turkish-German director, producer, and consultant, who invited the audience to think of the short film not merely as a format, but as a space of encounter between artistic creation and the public.
Joining Güzel were five leading figures from across the audiovisual landscape: Yeniffer Fasciani, Head of Sales and Acquisitions at Feelsales (Spain); Lindsay Crouse, Commissioning Editor of Op-Docs, the short documentary platform of The New York Times; Laurence Rilly, Commissioning Editor at ARTE (France); Florian Fernandez, producer at Solal Films and consultant for the Cannes Film Festival; and Sarah Schlüssel, curator for Berlinale Shorts and contributor to The New York Times Op-Docs.
From the outset, Güzel set the tone for the conversation: rather than theorizing about the short form as a genre, the goal was to understand how these films reach their audiences in a rapidly shifting ecosystem. “The short film lives between two poles —festivals and platforms— and it’s in that space that its future is being defined,” she noted, inviting the panelists to share their insights.
The first to speak was Florian Fernandez, who described the dual mission of the Short Film Corner at Cannes, an initiative that combines artistic curation with professional development. “We aim to strike a balance between genres —fiction, documentary, animation, hybrids— while supporting filmmakers on an individual level,” he explained. Each year, thousands of submissions are received, but only about twenty percent make the cut. “We’re not an open market; we’re a selective space designed to connect new talents with programmers and distributors.” Fernandez emphasized the program’s international character: “We collaborate with film schools and cultural centers worldwide, representing nearly ninety countries each year. The key is to sustain diversity, because short films remain a vulnerable art form —without support, they risk disappearing.”
From Germany, Sarah Schlüssel echoed the need to preserve that balance between discovery and diversity. Speaking about Berlinale Shorts, she explained that the section presents only twenty to twenty-five films per edition, chosen solely for their artistic strength. “We don’t program with industry or market considerations in mind, but rather for the audience experience. Berlin has a curious, open-minded public, which gives us freedom,” she said. When asked about current trends, Schlüssel observed that topics shift over time —conflict, artificial intelligence, analog film, sound experimentation— but stressed that curators don’t follow fashions. “We’re interested in authenticity. In the end, when we’re torn between two works, we choose the one that takes the bigger risk, the one with a distinct voice.”
Representing the television world, Laurence Rilly offered the perspective of ARTE, the Franco-German cultural channel that has long maintained an active policy of support for short films. In its weekly program Courtcircuit, ARTE showcases around one hundred short films a year, including animation, fiction, and experimental documentaries. “We’re a small team, but we strive to present as wide a variety as possible and bring the best of the festival circuit to a broader public,” she explained. In addition to acquisitions, ARTE co-produces between fifty and sixty films annually. Rilly acknowledged that French co-productions are often easier to manage, but stressed that the channel seeks young, distinctive voices from across Europe. “We’re drawn to filmmakers who approach cinema from an artistic rather than industrial perspective. The short form is perfect for that.”
A more global outlook came from Lindsay Crouse, who has led Op-Docs for over a decade. The New York Times platform has produced more than three hundred short documentaries, many of them Oscar-nominated or award-winning. “We’re looking for films that surprise, challenge, and move a global audience,” she said. For Crouse, the key lies in finding the universal within the local: “A short film about a girl in Tokyo learning to play an instrument can move someone in São Paulo or New York if it’s really about effort, tenderness, or discovery. What matters most is connection.”
Crouse also emphasized the openness of Op-Docs’ commissioning process. “Anyone can submit a project through our online form —it doesn’t matter if it’s your first film. What counts is honesty and transparency. We fact-check everything, because our credibility depends on truth.” The growing popularity of the short form in digital contexts, she added, reflects a new kind of audience engagement: “We want people to watch to the end. A well-told short film can say more in ten minutes than a feature ever could.”
Throughout the discussion, the panelists agreed that short films are at a pivotal moment. On one hand, the proliferation of screens offers unprecedented opportunities; on the other, oversaturation threatens to blur the uniqueness of emerging voices. As Fernandez summarized, “Festivals build community and legitimacy; platforms expand reach. The ideal scenario is to build bridges between both worlds.”
In closing, Zeynep Güzel returned to the heart of the matter, offering a reflection shared by all: the short film is not a rehearsal for a feature, but an autonomous creative territory. “Shorts are where forms are tested, languages are invented, and new perspectives are found,” she said. And while the short form remains the most fragile part of the film ecosystem, it is also —as the panel concluded— the freest. In that freedom, in the ability to tell something small that reveals something vast, lies the very essence of cinema.
