Michel Coulombe is a TV and Web programmer with the SilenceOnCourt.tv platform and French-language arts channel ARTV.

The short film scene in Quebec is in a state of genuine effervescence.

Of course, in times past, animation masters such as Norman McLaren and Frederic Back won worldwide acclaim, and other Quebec filmmakers made important short film contributions – Denys Arcand (Champlain), Francois Girard (Mourir), Jean-Claude Lauzon (Piwi) and Robert Morin (Le Voleur vit en enfer).

But only just recently, the short film scene in this province has taken off in an unprecedented way. The accessibility of mini-DV technology and the ability to edit at home on one’s computer, have had an explosive effect on production, greatly reduced reliance on public funds and in general contributed to the democratizing of filmmaking.

It is under these conditions that a group of young filmmakers established a production collective known as Kino in 1999. Their challenge was to create something of worth with virtually no resources.

Each member of Kino is free to produce as he or she sees fit and, three years later, Kino screening ‘rallies’ are attracting audiences in all sorts of unlikely places from Charlevoix to Rimouski and Quebec City, to Wisconsin, Paris, St. Petersberg and Helsinki.

Other short film artists produce in an entirely spontaneous manner, inside of 24 or 48 hours, often within a framework determined by an audience, or a place.

This new dynamic is being nourished by a range of public events, such as the Prends ca court screening program in Montreal, or with a festival-style approach like the one adopted by the programmers at Regard sur la releve du cinema quebecois in Saguenay. All of a sudden, collectives of short film enthusiasts are emerging in regional centres like Ste-Therese, Victoriaville and Rouyn-Noranda.

Out of this, a first short film lobby took shape this past spring, Les Amis du court. Its mission has primarily been to convince Telefilm Canada to participate in the funding of short film production. A minor revolution of sorts! And there’s talk now of taking the project international, in part because the challenges faced by short filmmakers are universally recognized – chronic under-financing and distribution, and limited access to theatre screens and primetime broadcasts on TV.

In Quebec, only a very few recent films have been able to reach wider audiences, among them Jean-Francois Asselin’s La Petite histoire d’un homme sans histoire, Jean-Francois Rivard’s Kuproquo, Guy Lampron’s Sentinelles and Jean-Marc Vallee’s Les Mots magiques.

It is in this context that Silence, on court, which is simultaneously a Web platform and dedicated weekly one-hour TV magazine broadcast on specialty channel ARTV, emerged in the fall of 2001. The short films programmed on ARTV are both Quebecois and international, and are introduced with a specific theme and with commentary by a public personality.

In was in a true spirit of convergence that Radio-Canada created the Web platform SilenceOnCourt.tv. And while there are several American websites dedicated to short films, for all practical purposes there was absolutely nothing comparable in French-speaking countries, la Francophonie, at least until the arrival of Silence, on court. Furthermore, the weak penetration of high-speed access in France represents an opportunity for Canada and subsequently a leadership role for Silence, on court.

Just over a year after its launch, more than 200 short films are freely accessible on the Silence, on court website, which has recorded more than 150,000 screenings to date.

Silence, on court’s importance to the short film scene extends well beyond its catalogue, ultimately taking an active role in the general filmmaking community. The platform will broadcast director Kim Nguyen’s latest short film, Soleil glace, on Nov. 1 at the same time that his first feature film, Le Marais, is released in commercial theatres. In the same spirit, we organized an international short film competition with the Montreal World Film Festival, in which the public voted via the Internet.

The strategic plan is simple enough. Short films must be integrated in as comprehensive a way as possible with the general life of the filmmaking and production community, developing ties and partnerships in lieu of what existed before, isolation.

The Web can bring people together and provide a meeting place for an event. A case in point, in a limited time frame of only three months, a short film competition called Concours Objectif Lait, organized by ARTV, spurred the production of some 200 films.

Not only does the SilenceOnCourt.tv platform provide a forum, quizzes, polls, classified ads and a news section which allows individuals to keep up with the latest developments in the sector, but we also produce weekly webzines. These webzines are produced by young filmmakers free of the normal constraints and demands of conventional TV. They cover all aspects of the short film scene, from in-depth reports to lighter entertainment.

Like ZeD, the CBC’s late-night program and website, Silence, on court has an important role to play in the development of young talents, a new generation of filmmakers who sooner or later will be called on to contribute to the mass medium of television. Only a public network like Radio-Canada, with its resources and broad mandate, and active program of support for cinema, can assume this pioneering role on behalf of short films. What remains for us is to deliver on these high hopes that have only recently emerged.

-www.silenceoncourt.tv