France’s Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, the world’s biggest festival devoted to short films, is protesting an unexpected funding cut, amid claims by politicians that the move is politically motivated.
The festival learned on Friday that Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regional council had voted to cut its funding by half to $121,000 (€111,000 euros), during a meeting allotting the region’s cultural spending.
Unfolding at the end of January in the central French city of Clermont-Ferrand, the event has evolved into the biggest short film festival in the world since its creation in 1979.
Over the years it has shown the early works of a raft of now-established, award-winning filmmakers including Jane Campion, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Mike Leigh, Abderrahmane Sissako, Olivier Assayas, Jessica Hausner, Vladimir Perisic, Keren Yadaya, Mati Diop, Léa Mysius and Ladj Ly.
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