About the Festival

The Oberhausen Festival is not a global player, but its programmes regularly encompass the globe. Blickpunkt Film, April 14^th, 2003

So many good films, so little time... Neue Ruhr Zeitung, May 6^th, 2003

The Festival is a place for international encounters that is unparalleled in our cultural landscape. [...] Rarely in the past few years have we seen so many good films at Oberhausen. Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, May 7^th, 2003

A happy mix of film festival, Viva party and documenta 11. die tageszeitung, May 8^th, 2003

It's been a while since we saw such a good festival trailer. Frankfurter Rundschau, May 8^th, 2003

So the genre in which Germany boasts the highest number of Academy Award nominations survives and thrives mainly at short film festivals like Oberhausen. The oldest short film festival in the world, headed by Lars Henrik Gass [...] sees its primary duty as being to the avant-garde, in other words, to new trends. Die Rheinpfalz, May 9^th, 2003

Many contributions were marked by an evasion of the narrative, all too rarely did they deal with the relationship of time and movement. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, May 8^th, 2003

The "small" Oberhausen films resist - our words and theories on film as well as our cultural and media landscape's event production. They look at the world more closely than it is used to. Jungle World, May 14^th, 2003

The political element has come to resemble a gesture, as if it was a genre and not a reality, a way of life. Oberhausen reflects similar developments as the "documenta" does... film-dienst No. 11, May 2003

This year, as in the previous years, the Oberhausen Short Film Festival was a cinematic highlight in Germany. Planet Movie, June 2003

The subject of this year's Producers's Day at Oberhausen met with lively interest. Film & TV Kameramann, No. 6/2003

More than just funny or didactic stories; honest, authentic and exciting films generated a happy atmosphere among the eight- to ten-year-olds in the completely sold out "Lichtburg" cinema. film-dienst No. 12, June 2003, about the Children's and Youth Films

The Festival is still the most ambitious German short film event today. epd Film, 7/2003

An audience favourite by now, excellently placed and wonderfully heterogeneous (about the German Competition). epd Film, 7/2003

At the same time, the Festival keeps exploring new and interesting fields: A few years ago the Music Video Award was introduced, this year one of the smaller cinemas was used to present video installations. Schnitt Nr. 31/summer 2003

The expanded Producers' Day was informative and varied, presenting the current state of the HD discussion from different perspectives. It certainly deserves to become a regular event... Blickpunkt Film, May 12^th, 2003

In the annual surveys curated by Gass, the culture of the video clip proves that it still exists, even if it is rather shaken by the crisis of the music industry. Frankfurter Rundschau, May 5^th, 2003

Even the once exciting love affair between art and commerce is suffering a deep crisis, as one is forced to conclude. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, May 5^th, 2003

Once again the MuVi Award for the best German Music Video provided a highlight, because this is where the complete annual production is condensed to its ten or twelve visually most advanced clips. Film & TV Kameramann, No. 6/2003