It's shnit time in Cape Town

It's an ideal opportunity to escape into the exciting realm of short films, taking you from one extreme to a next high, where you can experience filmmaking at its most diverse, exploring different cultures, genres and styles that culminates in an exhilarating and overwhelming cinematic rollercoaster ride.

Now in its 13th year globally, and featuring the best short films from every corner of the world, shnit 2015 is bigger and better than ever before with more than 250 films, eight cities and one weekend of pure film celebration, and will once again see the Mother City joining Bern, Buenos Aires, Bangkok, Cairo, Hong Kong, Moscow and San Jose in simultaneously hosting the truly global film festival, before all cities come together in a star-studded New York awards ceremony.

Sixty films from all around the world compete in the International Open Competition, which will award five films with the coveted Flaming Faun award in both jury and audience categories. This is the sixth year shnit hits Cape Town with five-day screenings at The Labia Theatre, Orange Street, Cape Town.

Open International Competition

At its core is the shnit Open International Competition, which features 60 short films over 10 screening sessions, selected from thousands of entries from all around the world. An international jury will award shnit's Flaming Faun trophy and cash awards of $20,000 in five categories.

Equally important in Cape Town is the Made in South Africa Jury Award category. The battle for space on an extremely limited programme was incredibly hard fought, with an international selection panel selecting just nine films into SA competition this year.

The line-up includes fiction, documentary and animation and will screen over two programme blocks as a festival highlight in both Cape Town and Stellenbosch.

shnit Cape Town's local screening programme again comprises three categories in total, including the out of competition Kaapse Bobotie section and the Realtime Competition.

The shnit Open International Competition is the festival's yearly cornerstone and comprises 60 films from around the world; the world's best of the last year in all genres, fiction, documentary and beyond.

You can indulge in the Real Treat section, featuring a selection from the international competition, Peeping shnit is a sensual late night programme that takes a deep look into those all-too-human fantasies and desires, and Bad Luck offers cheeky, ironic, sarcastic, and humorous viewing.

The Special Interest section showcases the power of the short animated film, Documents focusses on stories rooted in reality produce an uncensored view of the diversity of our species, and shnit Experiments offers experimental film creations that undermine our patterns of perception, parody, irritate and love to surprise.

Local gems

The Out of Curiosity section features Kaapse Bobotie, an original South African showcase category with more local gems, out of competition.

The shnit Realtime Competition invites three up-and-coming filmmakers to film, edit and complete a short film in just 72 hours over the course of the festival with filmmakers all working from the same point of inspiration. The inspiration this year comes in the form of a composed film score, created specifically by new, emerging and fresh film composers.

The three winning scores will be selected by a panel of composers, artists and filmmakers from the Atmosphere Collective, they will then be recorded and produced by Sound & Motion Studios and supplied to the Realtime competition filmmakers as inspiration, resulting in three final shorts crafted around each of the scores. The films will premiere on the Closing Night of the festival, with the South African Film Orchestra as live accompaniment as the films screen.

On 18 October, the winners of the international Award The Flaming Faun and prize money of US$ 20,000 in each of five categories will be announced at shnit's global Finale in New York. International jury prizes are awarded in length categories of 10 minutes, 10 to 20 minutes, and 20 to 40 minutes.

Tickets available through Webtickets. For film and scheduling information, go to www.shnit.org.