On April 18th, 2026 the
Grand
Action
Movie Theatre welcomed for the first time the Stinville Festival, an
event created by students for students, showcasing short films of
every genre: drama, animation, fantasy, comedy, etc. The event was
remarkable for its diversity and the wide range of creation it
displayed. All day long, a total of over thirty movies were screened,
most of them followed up by insightful discussions with the film
crews.
Four students and young filmmakers from different film schools created this festival. The jury was made up of directors, actors and actresses as well as other movie business professionals, all bringing their expertise to a demanding selection process.
We were there in the
afternoon for the presentations of two genres: Science-Fiction and
Horror.
The Science-Fiction
selection, although short, made of only 3 entries, was nonetheless of
a very high standard. The most remarkable film was Focal
Point
(Raphël Buisson Enlas) with a researched esthetic and an
international cast. The movie is every bit as impressive as today's
large budget films. Archive
DPT
(Nicolas Fauconnet) skillfully combines images with
an
archive-style imagery aspect with 3D creations. It is the most
original film of the selection, touching themes rarely seen in SF.
And the last one, Crédits
insuffisants
(Julian Angeletti), makes us appreciate the importance of reality in
a world where it doesn't exist anymore.
In the Horror genre, the
festival offered a selection of shorts, spanning over a range of
subgenres and themes. We were caught by the purely organic aesthetic
of Inside
You (Erik
Semashkin) portraying inner monstrosity. Louise
(Basile Marion), plays with genre conventions to shift fear towards
the unsettling and the psychological. As for directing, we were
impressed by Dans
l'ombre
(Jérémy Barlozzo) which dives into a tale of survival against an
unknown creature, supported by its photography and special effects.
The Stinville Festival is
the perfect example of cinematography experience: from creation to
sharing. Like many other quality events, it put forward an ambitious
selection in a friendly ambiance.
The winners can be followed
on the Festival's Instagram Instagram account.
Translated by Claire Bandet & Jean Philippe Letullier