About us

The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, founded in 1954, is considered the oldest short film festival in the world and is one of the largest international platforms for the short form.

Profile

Short film is still the most important source of film renewal, the experimental field on which future film languages are formed. Today, the diversity of forms, themes and approaches is greater than ever. Feature film or essay, installation, thesis film or artist's film, music video, animation, documentary and all conceivable hybrid forms are emerging all over the world and increasingly online on numerous platforms.

The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen has been moving in this field of tension for over 60 years; it is a catalyst and showcase for current developments, a forum for often controversial discussions, a discoverer of new trends and talents and, last but not least, one of the most important short film institutions worldwide. Oberhausen is the oldest short film festival in the world and the largest festival in North Rhine-Westphalia, with around 7,000 films submitted each year, approximately 500 films in the festival programme and over 1,100 accredited professional visitors annually.

Countless filmmakers and artists, from Roman Polanski to Cate Shortland, from George Lucas to Eija-Liisa Ahtila, have presented their first works here. Important political and aesthetic developments were initiated by the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, such as the Oberhausen Manifesto, perhaps the most important group document of German film.

For years, the Festival has also enjoyed an excellent reputation in the art scene, which has discovered short films and videos for itself. The equal treatment of video in the competitions since the late 1980s, the ongoing preoccupation with commercial and industrial film and the introduction of MuVi, the world's first festival prize for music videos from Germany, at the end of the 1990s or its own film submission platform are considered absolutely trend-setting and innovative.

In 2020, due to the Corona pandemic, Oberhausen conducted the festival completely online for the first time. With over 2,500 festival passes sold and users in almost 100 countries, the new format proved to be a surprise success.

 

"Historically, Oberhausen is the most important short film festival in the world." Alexander Horwath

"Since I’m self-taught, the short film was for me what film school is to young directors today." Werner Herzog

"I smoked my first cigarette here. For years, I saw every single film at the Westdeutsche Kurzfilmtage, looking forward to those days in Oberhausen every year. These events were important for me, for my decision to become a filmmaker." Wim Wenders

"I'll never forget how Charles Petit, Karl Bartos and I wrote our award statements, pounding the computer keys with six hands in the middle of the night. There were a few gems among the award winners." Pipilotti Rist

"The short film over the course of the 20th century has evolved in so many different directions that it's really hard to think of it as a unified medium anymore. That's why I love the Oberhausen Festival - it celebrates the kind of radical evolution that short film has gone through in the blink of an eye. (...)  54 years is a long time in the film world! It's amazing to me that Oberhausen has been able to chart its course in the turbulent waters of our information age with such dedication to the new spirit of film that it shows each year. Kudos!!" Paul D. Miller aka Dj Spooky that Subliminal Kid

History

Chronology

The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen was founded in 1954, which makes it the oldest short film festival in the world. We have compiled the most important dates and events of our more than 60-year history as a downloadable pdf file - or you can scroll through a small gallery of selected images from 1954 to the 21st century.

PDF Chronology

1954

Announcing the first "West German Educational Film Festival” 1954

1958

Street scene in Oberhausen with advertising for the 4th West German Educational Film Festival 1958

1962

Alexander Kluge (at the lectern) and the signatories of the Oberhausen Manifesto at the press conference held when the Manifesto was announced

1963

Cover of the French spy thriller “Festival à Oberhausen” by Paul Buisine and Léopold Massiera, published in 1963

1967

Werner Herzog at the reception desk of the Luise Albertz Halle during the 12th West German Short Film Festival

1968

The turbulent press conference held after Hellmuth Costard‘s Besonders wertvoll was excluded from the programme of the 13th West German Short Film Fetival. Hellmuth Costard at the table left (with cigarette), Hilmar Hoffman at the microphone.

2000

Catherine David (centre), member of the International Jury of the 46th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, with Abderrahmane Sissako, member of the jury, left, and Tijen Olcay, jury secretary

2000

Charlotte Roche hosts the second MuVi Award ceremony at the 46th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen.

2000

Mike Mills, whose "The Architecture of Reassurance" won a Principal Prize in the 2000 International Competition and who had two other works in the festival that year, in Oberhausen.

2003

The MuVi Jury 2003: Clip director Floria Sigismondi, writers Holger Liebs, Thomas Meinecke

2004

Christoph Schlingensief and Romuald Karmakar at the opening of the 50th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen

2004

The MuVi Jury 2004: musician and former member of Kraftwerk, Karl Bartos, artist Pipilotti Rist, music producer Charles Petit

2015

Crowded cinema at the 61st International Short Film Festival Oberhausen

Facts and Figures

Founded in 1954 and thus the world's oldest short film festival

Oldest German short film competition

First festival music video award: the MuVi Award for the best German Music Video (since 1999)

Since 1999, media partnerships with ARTE and 3sat

On average 7,000 submissions from almost 100 countries for the competitions per year 

Some 500 contributions in about 100 festival programmes

Some 1,100 accredited guests from around the world

About 100 press representatives accredited annually; coverage on average in more than 20 countries

Prizes worth a total of over 51,000 € (online and on-site)

Video Library with annually roughly 7,000 films on offer

A unique short film archive with more than 2,000 titles

Non-commercial short film distribution

A good 40 Festival publications on film-related subjects in addition to the festival catalogue

Accredited by the Fédération Internationale des Associations de Producteurs de Films (FIAPF) since 1960

Cooperation with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 

Founding member of the AG Kurzfilm

Founding member of the AG Filmfestival

Honorary presidents:
Fernando Birri, Jerzy Bossak, John Grierson, Bert Haanstra, Hilmar Hoffmann

Oberhausen Manifesto

On 28 February 1962, at the 8th West German Short Film Festival in Oberhausen, 26 West German filmmakers proclaimed the Oberhausen Manifesto. This moment marked a milestone in the development of German cinema – never before, and never again, would a break with existing production conditions be demanded, and induced, with such vehemence.

The 26 signatories of the Oberhausen Manifesto claimed nothing less than the licence to create the new German feature film. An essential component of the Oberhausen Declaration was the demand for the provision of production conditions that would make it possible to put an end to the lethargy in which German film found itself at the beginning of the 1960s. The consequences of the manifesto can hardly be underestimated: In the wake of the declaration, German film funding was established for the first time, without which the New German Cinema and its worldwide success would probably not have existed.

In 2012, the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen dedicated an international project to the Manifesto with "Provoking Reality - 50 Years of the Oberhausen Manifesto". Almost 40 films by the signatories were restored and conserved through a cooperation between the Short Film Festival, the German Federal Film Archive and the German Cinematheque - Museum of Film and Television. In addition, the book publication Provoking Reality. The Oberhausen Manifesto and Its Consequences. The anthology contains largely unknown texts by Theodor W. Adorno, Alexander Kluge and Uwe Nettelbeck, among others, as well as a series of topical essays and conversations. A double DVD in the series "Edition Filmmuseum" contains almost 20 titles from the years 1957 to '65, among others by Peter Schamoni, Herbert Vesely, Edgar Reitz, Christian Doermer, as well as extensive bonus material.

Contact

Sabine Niewalda
niewalda(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Team

Dr. Lars Henrik Gass
Festival Director, Managing Director
gass(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Susannah Pollheim
Head of Organisation
(Parental leave)

Xenia Fehrholz
Head of Organisation
fehrholz(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Petra Okolowitz
Commercial Employee
accounting(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Hilke Doering
International Competition, Country Focus
(Out of Office)

Carsten Spicher
German Competition, NRW Competition, Distribution, Archive
spicher(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Samina Gul
Children's and Youth Film Competition
kiju@kurzfilmtage.de

Jessica Manstetten
MuVi-Programmes, Distributors, Open Screening
muvi(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Katharina Schröder
International Competition, re-selected, Channel
schroeder(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Alisa Berezovskaya
Profile
berezovskaya(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Konrad Neiße
Guest Office
guestoffice(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Sabina Kindlieb
Guest Office
kindlieb(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Sabine Niewalda
Press Office
niewalda(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Andrea Richter
Public Relations
(Out of Offfice)

Gifty Sarpong-Heeg
Public Relations
sarpongheeg(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Marcus Schütte
Sponsoring, Marketing
schuette(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Barbara Schulz
Print Administration
filmeingabe(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Martin Gensheimer
Print Administration
shipping(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Christian Schön
Film Archive
schoen(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Thomas Doberstein
IT
doberstein(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Martin van Broekhoven
Technical 
Director
vanbroekhoven(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Sarah Adam
Member of the Commission
dw(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Madeleine Bernstorff
Member of the Commission
bernstorff(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Susanne Heinrich
Member of the Commission
dw(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Barbara Kamp
Member of the Commission
kiju(@kurzfilmtage.de

Helena Wittmann
Member of the Commission
dw(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Carsten Aschmann
Member of the Commission
iw(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Simon Petri-Lukács
Kommissionsmitglied

iw(at)kurzfilmtage.de

Sustainability

Film Festival Code of Sustainability of the Short Film Conference as PDF