Take a quick look

12.06.2019 | Hamburg Short Film Festival 2019

A festival for short film fans and those who want to become one: From 4 to 10 June, the Hamburg Short Film Festival will be showing around 300 productions from more than 40 countries. Also taking part again: the Mo&Friese Children's Short Film Festival and an exciting supporting programme including an Industry Day.

After many months of planning, the time has finally come on 4 June - the Hamburg Short Film Festival is now in its 35th edition. A festival that started out very small in 1984 and is now the second largest short film festival in Germany with around 15,000 visitors. More than 130 team members now work on the realisation of the event. 4,500 films with a maximum length of 3o minutes have to be screened every year - 4,000 of them in the international competition alone. A lot of wood, but the result speaks for itself, a true Mecca for short film fans: "Our programme is aimed at a film-savvy audience, but we also want to give people interested in film and children the opportunity to slowly approach the subject of short film," reveals Sven Schwarz, the festival's organisational director. This is why the festival has a very broad programme and presents its films in different categories and venues.

Numerous short films will also be shown in the zeise cinemas this year

This year's cinemas include the Zeise, 3001, Abaton, Lichtmeß, Metropolis, Filmraum, B-Movie and, of course, the Post Festival Centre on Kaltenkircher Platz. In addition to film screenings, the latter will also host numerous film panels, an industry get-together, permanent art installations and a mini-golf course for hours of entertainment. But what actually makes a short film so appealing? "Filmmakers can take a risk within this format, break up familiar narrative structures, experiment with the visual language - and challenge the audience," says Schwarz. Sounds exciting, so let's take a look at the programme:

The competition at KFF

Visitors can look forward to around 100 films in three competitions, with a total of 15,000 euros in prize money being awarded. In the international competition, the festival shows films from all over the world. 37 works compete for five prizes in eight programmes. This year's winners include the debut film A Million Years (05.06, 19:00, Zeise / 07.06, 19:45, B-Movie) by Danech San from Cambodia, the film Rise (06.06, 21:45, B-Movie / 08.06, 22:15, Zeise) by Barbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca and Past Perfect (07.06, 22:00, Zeise / 08.06, 20:00, Zeise) by Jorge Jácome from Portugal.

Magical images: Danech Sans film debut "A Million Years"

Several projects from Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein are represented in this year's German Competition, in which 22 films can hope to win the jury prize: The short film Ada Kaleh (06.06, 21.30, Zeise/07.06, 20.15, Filmraum / 08.06, 15.30, Zeise) by filmmaker and HFBK lecturer Helena Wittmann is set in a shared flat that dreams itself away to foreign lands. The short film Souvenir (07.06, 19:45. Zeise / 08.06. 16:30 3001 + 21.15 Filmraum) by Miriam Gossing and Lina Sieckmann celebrated its premiere at the International Film Festival in Rotteram earlier this year and was filmed on ferry trips between Rotterdam and Hull and Kiel and Oslo. The prize for the most spectacular title has already been won by Paul Spengemann from Hamburg: his film Whoa, Hoo-ah, Huh! (07.06, 17:30, Zeise / 08.06. 19 Uhr Filmraum + 21:30 in 3001) is about a dragon that lives a shadowy existence in its cave.

In Mann auf Blau (06.06, 19:00, zeise + 20:15, Filmraum / 07.06, 22:00, 3001), Schleswig-Holstein-born Friedrich Tiedtke tackles the verses of artist Henri Haake, whose blue painting reflects his relationship to his environment. In Land der Gegenden (06.06, 21:30, zeise / 07.06, 20:15, Filmraum / 08.06, 15:30, zeise), Andreas Grützner presents us with an experimental montage of old Super 8 material shot in 1973 in the Alsterdorfer Anstalten in Hamburg. Nicolaas Schmidt studied at the HFBK and with Believe (07.06, 19:45, zeise / 08.06, 16:30 in 3001 + 21:15 in the Filmraum) delivers a "Romantic Conceptualism Horizon Tilt" according to his own statement. Marko Mijatovic, who also studied at the HFBK, already won the "Hamburg Award" at the 2016 Short Film Festival and is competing this year with the film Datscha Turbaza, which is set in the port city of Murmansk north of the Arctic Circle (07.06, 19:45, zeise / 08.06, 16:30 in 3001 and 21:15 in the Filmraum). "The International and German competitions are a distillation of contemporary short film creation worldwide. The range of the selection encompasses all possibilities of cinematic language: hybrid documentaries alongside essayistic experimental films - animations alternate with fiction," reveals Sven Schwarz. From "pretty crazy" to "easily digestible", everything is included.

The "Flotter-Dreier" competition, in which no film may be longer than three minutes, offers a very short pleasure - and whose productions this year are all themed "Lost in Translation". 26 films can hope to win the Audience Award presented here. Among them is Die Navigatour by the two Hamburg filmmakers Carsten Knoop and Dorit Kiesewetter, in which both deal with the mathematician and physicist Carl Friedrich Gauss (05.06., 19:30, Lichtmeß / 07.06, 22:15, Festival Centre / 08.06, 17:45, Zeise).

Colourful hustle and bustle in the festival centre

The Mo&Friese Children's Short Film Festival has been a secret star of the festival for 21 years. Over 80 short films from 33 countries have made it into this year's programme. The perfect way to introduce young viewers from the age of four to the short film form. Four children's juries of different ages award prizes in four different categories. In addition to the normal programme, numerous moderated school screenings including accompanying material are also offered. An absolute highlight this year is the silent film programme toons'n'tunes (Wed 5.6. 10 am and 7 pm, Festival Centre) with live soundtrack. This allows the children to see exactly where the sounds come from.

Special films outside the competitions - Laboratory of the present

This year, under the artistic direction of Maike Mia Höhne, the "Special Programme" has become the "Laboratory of the Present" - a place for reflection on social issues. Under the title "Pleasure Rebels: Feminism, Sex & Anarchy", there will be an excursion into pornography with all its facets beyond the stereotypes of relevant internet platforms. Films by independent porn filmmaker Erika Lust will be shown, among others. The programme item "There is no movement - Now!" takes up the topic of "Censorship in Russia" and looks at the conditions for filmmakers in a controlled democracy. The programme item "Hamburg Positions" is aimed at Hamburg and those interested in Hamburg, with current and historical films dealing with topics that move the city. The section "Flamingos always fly east" takes a look at Portuguese and German narrative cinema between 1996 and 2006. And last but not least, "Thinking Particles, Noise, Rauschen" is all about sound modulations in experimental film.

You can find an overview of all programme items here

Portugal in focus in the "Flamingos always fly east" programme

A day for the film industry

Around 200 filmmakers will be at the Short Film Festival - so it's only natural to organise a day for the industry. For this reason, there will be an Industry Day on Friday, 7 June from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Festival Centre. The Aarhus Filmwerkstatt and the Filmwerkstatt Kiel are offering young producers and filmmakers up to the age of 27 the opportunity to produce across borders (11 am). Under the motto "less is more: use limitations", filmmaker Miguel López Beraza will reveal how a limited budget can not only be a challenge, but also an opportunity to work even more creatively (1 pm). The panel "My New Colleagues: The Audience and Artificial Intelligence Panel" (3 p.m.) will deal with artificial intelligence and control in film production. Also at 3 pm, David Kleingers (Deutsches Filminstitut), Anke Leweke (journalist), RP Kahl (filmmaker) and Helge Albers (FFHSH) will ask themselves in a panel: "Forget the manifestos, look at the story! Or: In the end, do we only get the German films we deserve?

You can find all the other items on the Industry Day programme here