This competition focuses on new short films from Germany and gives an overview of contemporary subjects as well as aesthetic and technical trends. The films are usually productions by newcomers and universities, thus offering the opportunity of discovering new talents and following established artists. Out of ca. 800 submissions, 23 short films made it into the competition. These short films, including narrative, animated, experimental and documentary films, are all eligible for the jury award (2,000 euros). The audience selects the best short film out of both the International and the German Competition for the audience award (1,500 euros).

Short Film’s Inherent World Formula

The presence of ubiquitous catastrophes, whether they are of a climatic, bellicose, societal, misogynistic or interrelational nature, makes the ideas of retreating, suppression, shamanistic magic and beaming away look appealing. From there, it’s often just a small step to conspiracy theories and fake news. What is really real?

The solution we offer is the following: WATCH MORE SHORT FILMS! They may have their escapist tendencies, but with their unique view on the interplay of material reality, rational abstraction and intuitive discernment, they often manage to provide new insights into the relationship of absolute reality and what people make of it. This year, the German competition is describing the above-mentioned phenomena in precise descriptions of conditions, at times pointing out the possibilities of breaking out and breaking up.

Fabulous events, shamans and a gardener’s memories are all part of the ›Natura Magica‹. Surrounded by women looking nowhere, gazing into their past and being driven to extremes, we have to take a detour from our journey from the West Indies to the Baleares, and as we circumnavigate the ›Depths of Sharpness‹ we end up closer to home than expected. In a programme full of ›Space Oddities‹, we look at clouds from below and above, and things and people are tumbling down as the line between living things and inanimate object begins to blur. All the constraints, ostracisms and fears hidden between the familiar everyday life idyll contribute to the ›Day-To-Day Alienation‹. In the end, we and the audience are crossing our fingers that love’s and friendship’s ›Binding Energy (Delta E)‹ is greater than the dividing energy of misunderstanding and resentment.

As always, we hope our audience will enjoy the programmes, and we are looking forward to enlightened discussions! 

Text Hanna Schneider und Lars Frehse

Film selection Tilman Bensiek, Lars Frehse, Anne Jagemann, Nadine Mayer, Hanna Schneider, Stine Wangler