Kortfilm.be sprak met Carter Pilcher, de CEO van Shorts International, op dit moment de grootste Short Movie Entertainment Company ter wereld met een leidinggevende rol als distributeur, broadcaster en producer. Carter is lid van de British Academy of Film and Television Arts en van de Short Film and Feature Animation Branch van The US Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Hij is met andere woorden een van de mannen die de Oscars uitdelen. Als we hem vertellen over onze site Kortfilm.be, het enige digitale magazine over kortfilms in België krijgen we een typisch uitbundige Amerikaanse reactie: "Fabulous!"

We are very excited about your project so can you tell us more about the major objectives of Shorts International?

Our company works only with short films, we don't do anything with features. Our headquarters have been in London since 2000. At that time we were called Brit Shorts and we were putting short films on the internet. They were very popular but there wasn't any advertising online to support them. So we worked with sponsors online and built a large distribution catalogue online. In 2006 we started working with iTunes in the US to release short films and with the Academy of Motion Pictures. In the US they give three awards for short films. An Oscar for best short live-action film, animated film and documentary. But no one ever sees them. They are never seen in theaters but they're always fabulous films. So we agreed to work with the Academy in 2006 to help get those films into theaters. Each year after the films are nominated for the Academy Awards, we put them all together in the showcase. The reult is a 90 minutes feature film that can be distributed to theaters across the country. The audience that watches the Oscar nominated shorts grows significantly every year. Two weeks after they've been in the theaters we release them on iTunes. In 2007 we launched our first cable channel called ShortsTV and we released it on Numericable in France and in 2009 in the US. The films on iTunes are now available in 56 countries around the world. Early next year we will launch a cable channel on Telenet in Belgium. We will show short films and talk with the filmmakers.

When will you start to cooperate with Belgium?

We're still negotiating with Telenet, so we can't officially announce the deal yet.

When would you consider Shorts International to be successful on a global scale?

Our first mission is to bring all of the fun of filmmaking to a large audience by collecting great short films in one place where people can see and enjoy them. The second exciting thing we do is discovering emerging talent. Feature films are great but I don't ever expect to make one myself. Most people don't. But a short film I can easily envisage that maybe I might make one. That's the magic. A regular guy can make his own movie with a mobile phone and a computer. The difference with a great director isn't that big anymore. In today's world things have changed an awful lot. People have gone from being interested in photography and in watching films to the point we are now. Practically everybody is a filmmaker. People have access to sources where they can learn how to make a video or stop motion animation, edit the film and put it on YouTube. Suddenly there is a worldwide audience for a film that I might have made at my home. That's really fun. It has changed the way everybody thinks about film.

At this moment you only select award winning short films?

We do award winning short films, short film series, or short films we think are great, interesting or might be successful on the channel. We have a part on the channel that is called 'Film School' http://shorts.tv/programs/genres/film-school/. We introduce film schools, and some of their films may not have won awards but we get to see what is happening at the school and what the students are doing and you can see some of the films.

Who makes the selection?

We have a team for the acquisitions. There are four people in Europe and three in the US who do all the acquisitions. It's a major work. We are showing 3000 films a year so they have to watch three, four or five times as much. That's an incredible amount of viewing.

Do you believe that anyone can submit a copy in the future?

Yes! Absolutely! At www.shorts.tv there's a call for entries: 'We want your film!'

So you get loads of videos from anywhere?

Yes, we do!

According to you, which of the two dominates the world of short films: cooperation or competition? Is there anyone trying to monopolize the market?

There aren't many places to get your short film to see. So it's much more about giving emerging filmmakers the chance to show their film. We are not Disney! We are not thinking about monopolizing the market. It's much more fun. We want to work with everyone. The short film world is too small. We realize that you and other short film people are going to be very excited about short films. We want to reach people who like movies and are used to watching movies and watch movie channels. We are just part of the movie experience but just a cooler, quicker, fun part of the movie business.



So, as a conclusion, the big objective is to make short films mainstream?

Exactly! Give everyone the same fun and excitement as you and I get when we watch really great short films. Just to give them that same kind of 'Uuh! That was incredible!' Most people have the conception that short film is arty or difficult - and some of them are -, but they are fantastic things to talk about and it's a really great thing that brings people together. Als afsluiter benadrukt Carter nog eens zijn initiële enthousiasme over Kortfilm.be: "I'm thrilled that there is a magazine in Belgium that talks about short films! Digital magazines are the future!"