The 72nd International Short Film Festival Oberhausen took place from 28 April to 3 May 2026.
Festival impressions
Award Winners
28th MuVi Award
1st Prize of the 28th MuVi Jury
worth 2,000 euros
Rentrer à la maison (Anadol & Marie Klock)
(Returning Home)
Timo Schierhorn, Uwe
Germany, 3‘35‘‘, colour
Statement:
You're coming home, to a place where you're safe. However, something is off. There's a certain uncanniness that's hard to describe. Things aren't quite as you remember them to be.
And this feeling is conveyed perfectly by the music video. The footage is shot on an old camera, some of it being the artist's real home video, and with the power of simple yet clever editing, despite the language barrier, it universally manages to make the viewer feel the familiar unease of coming home again.
2nd Prize of the 28th MuVi Jury
worth 1,000 euros
IDLU (TEII A ViSiON)
Lars Zimmermann, Paulina Wetzel
Germany 2026, 3‘19‘‘, colour
Statement:
Simple, yet effective. Despite the single location — a white room with white walls — the music video never feels constrained by its space. The energy is explosive, the guitar playing beautifully faked, and the whole music video was done in one take. Sometimes, less is more, especially when done right.
Special Mention of the 28th MuVi Jury
All Glock No Cock (ildikó)
Olga Ringleb, Paula Kiermaier
Germany 2025, 3‘25‘‘, colour
Statement:
With a vibe matching an older YouTube video, All Glock, No Cock is fun, aware that it's fun, and makes everyone else have fun along with it. The tonal shift works perfectly, the music video never takes itself too seriously, and sometimes that's the right way to go.
MuVi Online Audience Award
chosen by online vote on www.muvipreis.de and worth 500 euros
All Glock No Cock (ildikó)
Olga Ringleb, Paula Kiermaier
Germany 2025, 3‘25‘‘, colour
The MuVi Partners 2026:
3sat, 3sat.de
Byte.FM, www.byte.fm
kaput – Magazin für Insolvenz & Pop, kaput-mag.com
kultur.west, www.kulturwest.de
netpoint media, www.netpoint-media.de
Awards of the International Jury
Grand Prize of the City of Oberhausen
worth 8,000 euros
Opera
Igor Zelić
Croatia 2026, 19‘39'', colour
Statement:
For staging light and darkness, space and time into an ode to cinema and the drama of life.
Principal Prize of the International Jury
worth 4,000 euros
黑洞洞
(Dark Channel)
Name Regisseur*in
China 2025, 11‘35‘‘, colour
Statement:
For reshaping an everyday space into a work of art through the power of cinematic observation.
Promotional Prize of the International Competition
worth 1,500 euros
Daylight
Anna Heisterkamp
Ireland/ USA 2025, 21‘53‘‘, colour
Statement:
For an artistically accomplished research on the architectural project placed in the middle of the city but slipping from the public view.
Short Film Candidate for the 39th European Film Awards
August och kriget
(August and the War)
Leandro Netzell Cerón, Samori Tovatt
Sweden 2026, 14‘24‘‘, colour
Statement:
For offering a critical and humorous reflection on the rising militarization.
Special Mention of the International Jury
TEÊMBA!
(FLOW!)
Kagoma Ya Twahirwa
Rwanda 2025, 22‘15‘‘, colour
Statement:
For challenging the language of cinema to express what is beyond narratives and images.
Prize of the Jury of the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia
1st Prize of the Jury of the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia
worth 5,000 euros
Opera
Igor Zelić
Croatia 2026, 19‘39'', colour
Statement:
From a static perspective, we see village life at night come to life in its cyclical rhythms. At daybreak, the lights of the spirit world fade into an irretrievable past. What remains is a sense of dread at the ruthlessness of history.
2nd Prize of the Jury of the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia
worth 3,000 euros
記憶座標
(Map of Traces)
Chan Hau Chun
Hongkong 2025, 29‘27‘‘, colour, black and white
Statement:
In Street View images that promise boundless orientation and control, the film searches in vain for fading memories. It finds them in idiosyncratic, secret signs and fleeting encounters. Longing, state violence, resistance – the urban space is examined for its role as a witness.
Special Mention of the Jury of the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia
黑洞洞
(Dark Channel)
Name Regisseur*in
China 2025, 11‘35‘‘, colour
Statement:
An inconspicuous space, easily overlooked, becomes a recording channel. Like a distant echo, the movements of a metropolis are reflected on the water’s surface of a microcosm. Through focused observation, Yu Zhe uncovers the poetry of the peripheral.
The International Critics’ Prize
The International Critics’ Prize (FIPRESCI Prize)
Opera
Igor Zelić
Croatia 2026, 19‘39‘‘, colour
Statement:
Nocturnal darkness covers a rural road in the night. Bit by bit lights are added, interspersing the darkness with bright spots, thus revealing the depths of the space. Over the whole length of the film a carefully choreographed movement of lights adds and subtracts visible elements allowing us glimpses into the mysterious space lining the road. The pale glow of colours gives the image the beauty of a painting of light, the appearance and disappearance of people turns the road into a nocturnal theatre stage until the arrival of the daylight sets an early end to the night's magic. Igor Zelić's Opera is an astonishing piece of film art whose creativity and crafty play with the basic elements of film (light, sound and space) left us deeply impressed.
Prize of the Ecumenical Jury
Prize of the Ecumenical Jury
worth 2,000 euros
黑洞洞
(Dark Channel)
Yu Zhe
China 2025, 11'35‘‘, colour
Statement:
Film theorist Siegfried Kracauer once used the phrase "ordinary invisible things" to describe aspects of reality that are technically visible, but usually go unnoticed in everyday life. Cinema at its best captures these fleeting, everyday, seemingly mundane moments we tend to overlook or ignore. The Ecumenical Jury would like to award its prize to a film that is at the same time seemingly simple and incredibly poetic, layered and emotionally involving. The filmmaker creates a filmic space, uses light to reflect on light and makes it a lifeline or, if you wish to see it, the spiritual presence of the flow of life.
Special Mention of the Ecumenical Jury
wolno, szybko, wolno
(slow, fast, slow)
Jagoda Czarnek
Poland 2025, 1‘02‘‘, colour
Statement:
We would also like to commend another film with a Special Mention. Speaking of subverting expectations: it is very rare to find a young filmmaker who has such a feeling for timing and dark humour that she can show both Memento Mori and Carpe Diem in just four shots and one minute.
ZONTA Prize
ZONTA Prize
worth 1,000 euros, sponsored by Zonta Club Oberhausen Rheinland
for a female filmmaker in the International or German Competition
Cold Call
Stefanie Schroeder
Germany 2025, 16‘, colour
Statement:
Stefanie Schroeder’s film Cold Call lets us connect where we would least expect it: in a call centre conversation with an anonymous scam caller. It is the unconventional attitude – visible and audible in the film – with which Stefanie Schroeder confronts the constraints of this conversation, be they racist stereotypes, the steep social divide or the telephone scam itself, for a moment that lets us discover beauty, absurd humour and, above all, another human being. A cinematic experience that is humanising in the best sense of the word.
Awards of the German Competition
Prize of the German Competition
worth 5,000 euros
Audry Lornacle or 14 Days in DJ’s House
Dagie Brundert
Germany 2025, 08‘16‘‘, colour
Statement:
With a playful and unconventional touch, the director finds symbols and images in her surroundings, from which she crafts a delightful dreamlike tale. Text and image come together to form a poem that is by turns humorous and thought-provoking, its cinematic form shaped by her personal narrative and her uniquely creative handling of the film footage.
Promotional Prize of the German Competition
worth 1,500 euros
Ein Meter Neunzig
(One Meter Ninety)
Gregor Bartsch
Germany 2026, 30‘, colour
Statement:
A former socialist computer centre in Potsdam has been converted artists’ studios and now stands in the way of the reconstruction of a Baroque Prussian military church, as the two dissimilar buildings occupy the same plot of land. Taking the dedication ceremony of the half-finished church tower as its starting point, the film sets out to uncover layers of German history right up to the present day and to highlight the historical amnesia of today’s culture of remembrance.
3sat Emerging Talent Prize
worth 2,500 euros, sponsored by 3sat
In addition the award includes a buying option on the awarded work to be broadcast on 3sat.
Catacombs سراديب
Shehab Fatoum
Germany 2026, 28‘48‘‘, colour
Statement:
A film that shifts perspectives because its point of view is unstable. It seeks structure in chapters and in Greek mythology. The Syrian-born filmmaker explores the impossibility of returning to a time before – thereby broadening not only the scope of the German Competition, but also our view of Germany itself.
Special Mention of the Jury of the German Competition
Berlin, Europacity
Leonard Geisler
Germany 2025, 13‘39‘‘, black and white
Statement:
It’s understandable in a way. Who hasn’t got annoyed at their landlord at some point? Nevertheless, we were surprised and delighted by the ease with which the director crafts his crime plot here and discovers previously unseen images from the heart of Berlin. When the story is reinterpreted through the lens of a blind photographer, you suddenly realise that you’ve not only been marvellously entertained, but also whisked away into the heart of the big questions of semiotics.
Awards of the 18th NRW Competition
Prize of the NRW Competition
worth 1,000 euros
Garden of Edie
Miri Klischat
Germany 2026, 20'‘‘, colour
Statement:
The expulsion from paradise as an act of liberation. A courageous break with conventions and standardized ways of life leads to the discovery of one’s own sexuality and one’s own voice. ‘She’ becomes ‘I’, while the camera explores the new garden of temptation in precise images. Just as in the stories from the invisible worlds she described to her friends as a child, the protagonist’s language guides us along the insightful path to self-empowerment.
Promotional Prize of the NRW Competition
worth 500 euros
Ku Yendza
(Trajectories)
Simon Rittmeier
France/ Germany 2026, 16'30‘‘, black and white
Statement:
A collaborative portrait, as playful as the juggling balls in the air. On the breathless journeys to the next performance, in the quiet moments of reflection, whilst practising and rehearsing, the film develops a rhythm of its own that draws us into the protagonist’s world. Across continents and languages, it is less the words than the sounds, beats and repetitions that characterise the protagonist and capture him on grainy 8mm film.
Special Mention of the Jury of the NRW Competition
Hope Road
Susann Maria Hempel
Germany 2025, 12'30''‘‘, colour
Statement:
The film begins in a state of despair – a crisis with oneself, with one’s own work, with the world. It explores what it means to make films when the future seems hopeless and new and old family responsibilities stand in the way of art. So the filmmaker works her way through her own feelings and thoughts, whilst at the same time taking us on a cinematic aesthetic discourse about the creation of images.
Prize of the WDR Westart Audience Jury
Prize of the WDR Westart Audience Jury
worth 750 euros, sponsored by WDR Westart
Hope Road
Susann Maria Hempel
Germany 2025, 12'30‘‘, colour
Statement:
A ceaseless monologue on crises and one’s own artistic identity: intense, exhausting, all-consuming – not light viewing. On motherhood and being an artist, from dystopia to utopia, from despair to hope. The world as a constantly renewing possibility.
The diversity of the themes is reflected in the execution: from deliberately flawed AI sequences to stop-motion and experimental techniques. Reinvention is possible! A cinematic triptych that overwhelmed us both in terms of content and form. A short film with a magnetic pull.
Awards of the 49th International Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Prize of the Children’s Jury
worth 1,000 euros, sponsored by Wirtschaftsbetriebe Oberhausen (WBO)
Under The Wave off Little Dragon
Luo Jian
United Kingdom 2025, 14‘25‘‘, colour
Statement:
What we liked about our winning film was that the girl was very brave and didn’t let anyone push her around. She had the courage to go out on her own to find her fish, even though she’s only five. She was also very clever. We thought the ending on the beach was lovely because all the sand was glowing.
Promotional Prize of the Children’s Jury
worth 1,000 euros, sponsored by Energieversorgung Oberhausen AG (evo)
הצל שלי ואני
(My Shadow and Me)
Yali Herbet
Israel 2025, 3‘52‘‘, colour
Statement:
At the start of the film, the boy was sad because his mum couldn’t play with him. But then he found a friend. We liked the beautiful shadow play, especially when the boy was riding the rabbit. The film was lovely and we wished it had gone on a bit longer!
Special Mention of the Children's Jury
Just Jools
Ezra Verbist
Belgium 2025, 16‘40‘‘, colour
Statement:
We liked the fact that we learnt something from the film. The girl was very brave and didn’t give up, even though others were mean to her. She had a teacher who helped her with her dancing. The dance moves were particularly beautiful and it made you want to join in straight away.
Prize of the Youth Jury
worth 1,000 euros, sponsored by Rotary Club Oberhausen
BEI KUN ZHU DE GOU
(A Trapped Dog)
Xinying Lao
USA 2025, 12‘12‘‘, colour
Statement:
We decided on our winning film because it shows how one can be oppressed by a system, and why, as a young person, one wants to break free from it precisely for that reason. In the film we selected, the protagonist ultimately manages to do just that, and that is what won us over.
SURPRISE. Prize for the most surprising film
worth 1,000 euros, sponsored by Methode Film
மாப்பிள்ளை
(Mappillai)
Padakathai Illaka Collective
India, Germany 2026, 16‘50‘‘, colour
Statement:
The beauty of surprises is that they catch us when we least expect them. Our winning film had us hooked right from the start. We thought we knew where the story was heading, but just at that moment the film took us by surprise and turned everything upside down. This dramatic twist really piqued our interest. We chose a film that gives us an insight into many cultural and historical contexts, which we also found quite interesting. We were particularly impressed by the involvement of the entire village and the authentic insight into a culture that brought the film to life.
Special Mention of the Youth Jury
Des Gens Vivent Ici
(People Live Here)
Gabrielle Côté
Canada 2025, 12‘12‘‘,, colour
Statement:
The short film we selected tells the story of a vibrant, warm neighbourhood where people come together, support one another and life flourishes. Yet this idyll is brutally shattered when it is forced to make way for towering skyscrapers – an anonymous, soulless architecture that drives life away. But in the end, life returns: the neighbourhood is rebuilt. We chose this film because it manages to capture our longing for identity and community, and reminds us how important it is to fill our cities with life.
Prize of the Ecumenical Jury of the Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Prize of the Ecumenical Jury of the Children’s and Youth Film Competition
worth 1,500 euros
Just Jools
Ezra Verbist
Belgium 2025, 16'40‘‘, colour
Statement:
A documentary that tackles a difficult subject in a deeply loving way, managing to make a particular issue feel universal.
The main character finds her strength in settling into herself and feeling the dance, rather than in the gaze and judgment of others. The film portrays this journey through authentic characters and a storyline that almost gives the documentary the feel of bordering on fictional drama.
The director's gentle eye ensures it remains personal without getting to private. The dance comes to life for the girl not just through the music, but in collaboration with the dance teacher, in nature, and through her imagination.
Special Mention of the Ecumenical Jury of the Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Jésus Marie Joseph
(Jésus Marie and Joseph)
Patxi Meerman
France 2025, 03‘27‘‘, colour
Statement:
At once a deeply loving, handheld film and razor-sharp in its exploration of life's fundamental "why" — a question just as valid for a 3-year-old boy running through a Greek village as for an old man. It manages to tell a full story in 3 minutes without explaining or oversimplifying.
The film is organic and follows the boy at a playful pace that lends the film the boy's own energy… The images portray the island small-town through a boy’s eyes as white light and contours — with the church bell as the distant goal.
Prize of the ECFA Jury
ECFA Short Film Award
(The award consists of a nomination for the ECFA Short Film Award 2027)
LE JOUR OÙ J'AI LÉCHÉ UN CAILLOU
(THE DAY I LICKED A PEBBLE)
Flavie Eliézer, Chloé Bernuchon, Goli Atefi, Maud Kolasa, Nathan Jauze, Marie Pijollet
France 2025, 06'35‘‘, colour
Statement:
Not least because of the three siblings’ unique cinematic journey to a bakery, we – as jury members here in Oberhausen – could identify deeply with our award-winning film. Time and again, we found ourselves lost between the festival venues, but always with plenty of joy and some great dialogues, just like the protagonists.
We selected the film for its surprising form: it‘s an animated film styled to look like a home video or found footage, and it has been created with remarkable precision.
And, for the love of film and video it conveys, we award THE DAY I LICKED A PEBBLE.
Katalog
Trailer
by Christian Schön, picture and audio excerpts in order of appearance:
Heavenly Dream @ José Ángel Tomasis Briseño
The Groom @ Padakathai Illaka Collective
All Glock No Cock @ Olga Ringleb, Paula Kiermaier
Cold Call @ Stefanie Schroeder
A Trapped Dog @ Xinying Lao
Escape Will Get You Tonight @ Noa Simhayof Shahaf
Hope Road @ Susann Maria Hempel
Leaks In The Line @ Adebukola Bodunrin
Slow Dissolve @ Benjamin Tiven, Andreas Bunte, Erik Wysocan
Hulum @ Miguel Miceli
Knockout Dreams @ Andreas Birkenheier
People Live Here @ Gabrielle Côté
I’d Love To See You @ Sébastien Segers, Zaïde Bil, Petronella Van der Hallen
Em Busca De S @ Gustavo de Mattos Jahn
El Salto @ Jerónimo Rincón Diaz
Chirp Chirp @ Wenting Song
Habitare @ Tanatat Khuttapan
In The Valley @ Han Loong Lim
Jésus Marie Joseph @ Patxi Meerman
Forming En Route @ James Edmonds, Petra Graf
The Birds Are Silent @ Leo Dzhyshyashvili
Je Croyais Que La Vie Etait Un Poeme @ Felix Herrmann
Only Making Out @ Marlon Weber
Tristesse @ Yuri Muraoka
The Day's Mother, the Night's End @ Anna Zalevskaya
Tea Powder @ Bhavya Karthikeyan
Floating @ Nikolas Müller
The Way Through The Woods @ Toby Cornish
Kosmogonia @ Karolina Chabiert
POLLY POCKET @ Mariola Brillowska
We Will Be Who We Are @ Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda
The Observation @ Gurgen Aloian
Prayer For All Simple Things @ Diego Rojas
Song Will Not Die @ Mox Mäkelä
Opera @ Igor Zelić
The Walnut Of Knowledge Temba @ Niyaz Saghari
an open field @ Teboho Edkins
I’m on the way to you @ Yung Shiuan Yang
Daylight @ Anna Heisterkamp
Homecoming @ Roman Khimei, Yarema Malashchuk
Borderland @ Gavois Klöfkorn
Dogs And Dust @ Ece Era
Map Of Traces @ Chan Hau Chun
August Och Kriget @ Leandro Netzell Cerón, Samori Tovatt
How Do You Spell This Word? @ Yulia Lokshina
Ein Neues Wort @ Cana Bilir-Meier
Kommunist Kar Kommando @ Markus Mischkowski, Christos Dassios
Kamogawa @ Rainer Komers
Garden Of Edie @ Miri Klischat
Catacombs @ Shehab Fatoum
A Gentle Breeze @ Lin Htet Aung
An Underground Bird @ Eero Tammi
The Story Of Wood @ Rainer Knepperges
Dark Channel @ Yu Zhe
Competition Films
By countries
Armenia
The observation, Gurgen Aloian, 2025, 4' 07", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Austria
Letters from home, Maryam Zuhuri, 2025, 6' 58", International Competition
Das Höhenphänomen (Call of the Void), Angelika Reitzer, 2025, 25' 44", International Competition
Austria/ France/ Germany
Dressing Up Together, Elly Jarvis, Lilli Strakerjahn, Célia Caroubi, 2025, 39' 44", German Competition
Belgium
Ik Zou Je Graag Zien (I'd Love To See You), Sébastien Segers, Zaïde Bil, Petronella Van der Hallen, 2025, 11' 44", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Just Jools, Ezra Verbist, 2025, 16' 40", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Belgium/ France
Poisson Nuage (Cloud Fish), Noe Garcia, 2025, 5' 47", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Belgium/ Hungary/ Kazakhstan/ Portugal
Let Me Circle Around You, Aiya Akilzhanova, 2025, 11' 58", International Competition
Belgium/ Netherlands/ United Kingdom
20 Hz – 384,400 km, Graham Kelly, 2026, 10' 33", International Competition
Belgium/ Turkey
Dogs and Dust, Ece Era, 2025, 14' 49", International Competition
Brazil
Batata Frita na Chuva (French Fries in the Rain), Ninah Nogino, 2025, 09' 47", International Competition
Brazil/ China/ Germany
三只海豹 (Three Seals), Dou Dou, 2025, 8' 24", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Brazil/ France/ Germany
Em Busca de S (In Search of S.), Gustavo de Mattos Jahn, 2025, 17' 17", International Competition
Brazil/ Portugal
Memórias Encontradas Numa Banheira (Memoirs Found in a Bathtub), Leonardo Pirondi, 2025, 4' 19", International Competition
Bulgaria
Голишар (Nestling), Georgi Martev, 2026, 10' 56", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Canada
Custom Trailer Series: Austin Powers, Kelly Egan, 2025, 04' 34", International Competition
Prayer for All Simple Things, Diego Rojas, 2026, 14' 18", International Competition
Des Gens Vivent Ici (People Live Here), Gabrielle Côté, 2025, 12' 12", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Canada/ France
Autobiography of My Diabetes, Matthew Lancit, 2025, 30' 39", International Competition
Canada/ USA
Leaks in the Lines, Adebukola Bodunrin, 2025, 04' 32", International Competition
Cambodia/ China
Jiu Jiu (Chirp Chirp), Wenting Song, 2026, 7' 35", International Competition
China
啤酒的滋味 (A Taste of Beer), Xie Li, 2025, 5' 30", International Competition
黑洞洞 (Dark Channel), Yu Zhe, 2025, 11' 35", International Competition
西藏游客 (Tourist to Tibet), Wu Han, 2025, 8' 24", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
时代在召唤 (The Times Are Calling), Chutian Shu, 2026, 4' 21", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Colombia
Niña Chilapa (Chilapa Girl), Juana Lotero López, 2025, 17', Children’s and Youth Film Competition
El Mandado (The Favour), Ingrid Paola Bonilla Rodriguez, 2025, 19' 54", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
El Salto (The Fall), Jerónimo Rincón Diaz, 2025, 12' 02", International Competition
Croatia
Töst, Nela Gluhak, 2025, 2' 32", International Competition
Opera, Igor Zelić, 2026, 19' 31", International Competition
Finland
Laulu ei kuole (Song Will Not Die), Mox Mäkelä, 2026, 9' 25", International Competition
Maanalainen lintu (An Underground Bird), Eero Tammi, 2026, 10' 44", International Competition
France
Au gré de l'iode (To the rhythm of the Sea), Léa Deprez, Pierre-Luis Bordes, Elliot Desmarets, Jeanne Finet, 2025, 7' 40", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Hulum, Miguel Miceli, 2025, 22' 15", International Competition
Jésus Marie Joseph (Jésus Marie and Joseph), Patxi Meerman, 2025, 3' 27", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Kosmogonia, Karolina Chabiert, 2025, 15' 33", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
La Mort Du Poisson (The Death of the Fish), Eva Lusbaronian, 2025, 13' 50", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
LE JOUR OÙ J'AI LÉCHÉ UN CAILLOU (THE DAY I LICKED A PEBBLE), Flavie Eliézer, Chloé Bernuchon, Goli Atefi, Maud Kolasa, Nathan Jauze, Marie Pijollet, 2025, 6' 35", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Les femmes en feu (Women on fire), Alina Titorenko, 2025, 20' 17", International Competition
Precious Fantasy, Nino Bouhnik, 2025, 13' 16", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Qui a tué Narin G****? (Who Killed Narin G****?), Ayçe Kartal, 2025, 4' 42", International Competition
France/ Germany
Ku Yendza (Trajectories), Simon Rittmeier, 2026, 17', NRW Competition
France/ Germany/ South Africa
an open field, Teboho Edkins, 2025, 38' 06", International Competition
France/ Switzerland
Piccolo Piccolo, Marta Gennari, 2025, 8' 30", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Germany
All Glock No Cock, Olga Ringleb, Paula Kiermaier, 2025, 3' 23", MuVi Award
Audry Lornacle or 14 Days in DJ's House, Dagie Brundert, 2025, 8' 16", German Competition
Beneath the Night, Maximilian Karakatsanis, 2026, 13' 33", NRW Competition
Berlin, Europacity, Leonard Geisler, 2025, 13' 39", German Competition
Borderland, Gavois Klöfkorn, 2025, 11' 02", NRW Competition
Catacombs, Shehab Fatoum, 2026, 29', German Competition
Cold Call, Stefanie Schroeder, 2025, 16', German Competition
Eine Tochter und zehn Söhne (A Daughter and Ten Sons), Paula Milena Weise, Finn Ole Weigt, 2026, 20' 30", NRW Competition
Ein Meter Neunzig (One Meter Ninety), Gregor Bartsch, 2026, 30', German Competition
Ein neues Wort (A New Word), Cana Bilir-Meier, 2025, 24' 56", German Competition
Erst zahlen, dann malen!, DJ Babyoil, 2026, 4' 04", MuVi Award
Everybody (A 21 Years Later Video Edit), Stefan Lampadius, 2026, 6' 14", MuVi Award
Floating, Nikolas Müller, 2025, 5' 12", MuVi Award
Forming en Route, James Edmonds, Petra Graf, 2026, 35', German Competition
Garden of Edie, Miri Klischat, 2026, 20', NRW Competition
Holz! (The Story of Wood), Rainer Knepperges, 2025, 2' 44", German Competition
Hope Road, Susann Maria Hempel, 2025, 12' 30", NRW Competition
How Do You Spell This Word?, Yulia Lokshina, 2026, 26' 10", German Competition
IDLU, Lars Zimmermann, Paulina Wetzel, 2026, 3' 19", MuVi Award
Je croyais que la vie était un poème (I Thought Life Was a Poem), Felix Herrmann, 2026, 11' 35", German Competition
Kamogawa, Rainer Komers, 2025, 16' 47", NRW Competition
Kenger, Irfan Akcadag, 2026, 14' 59", NRW Competition
Knockout Dreams, Andreas Birkenheier, 2026, 26' 59", German Competition
KOMMUNIST KAR KOMMANDOS, Markus Mischkowski, Christos Dassios, 2026, 3' 30", NRW Competition
Liquor, Yi-Chen Huang, 2025, 4' 37", German Competition
No Lube So Rude, Matt Lambert, 2026, 5' 02", MuVi Award
No More Roses, Graw Böckler, 2025, 3' 53", MuVi Award
Only Making Out, Marlon Weber, 2025, 15' 45", German Competition
POLLY POCKET, Mariola Brillowska, 2026, 4' 40", German Competition
Rentrer à la maison (Returning Home), Timo Schierhorn, Uwe, 2026, 3' 35", MuVi Award
Rote Süden, Max Hilsamer, 2026, 3' 25", MuVi Award
Sailing Away, Christina Romano, 2026, 2' 07", MuVi Award
The Way Through The Woods, Toby Cornish, 2025, 2' 30", MuVi Award
Until It's Hard To Tell, Ceren Oykut, 2025, 5' 03", German Competition
Germany/ Colombia
El Paraíso de Ainara (Ainara's Paradise), Esther Niemeier, Laura Espinel, 2025, 14' 05", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Germany/ India
மாப்பிள்ளை (The Groom), Padakathai Illaka Collective, 2026, 16' 50", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Germany/ Ukraine
Movchat' Ptakhy (The Birds Are Silent), Leo Dzhyshyashvili, 2025, 7' 47", German Competition
Germany/ USA
Slow Dissolve, Library Stack, Andreas Bunte, 2026, 27' 15", International Competition
Hong Kong
記憶座標 (Map of Traces), Chan Hau Chun, 2025, 29' 27", International Competition
India
ചായപ്പൊടി (tea powder), Bhavya Karthikeyan, 2026, 23' 56", International Competition
Iran/ United Kingdom
The Walnut of Knowledge, Niyaz Saghari, 2025, 27', International Competition
Ireland/ Ukraine
Я не зникаю (Self-Preserving Nudity), Nelly Shylova, 2025, 7' 03", International Competition
Ireland/ USA
Daylight, Anna Heisterkamp, 2025, 21' 53", International Competition
Israel
Escape Will Get You Tonight, Noa Simhayof Shahaf, 2025, 14' 46", International Competition
הצל שלי ואנ (My Shadow and Me), Yali Herbet, 2025, 3' 52", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Japan
dipolar bipolar, Quankai Li, 2025, 8' 50", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Tristesse, Yuri Muraoka, 2026, 11' 14", Japan
TOKERUBON (Floating lanterns), Shiori Watanabe, 2025, 2' 04", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Kosovo
Prej 6-ve në 5 (From 6 to 5), Erlisë Beqiri, 2026, 9' 47", International Competition
Latvia
žļurga (Slush), Aivars Šaicāns, Jēkabs Okonovs, 2026, 19' 59", International Competition
Lithuania
Parkas. Po pamokų (After Classes), Simona Jurkuvėnaitė, 2025, 14' 16", International Competition
Malaysia
鳥，飛行中 (In the Valley), Han Loong Lim, 2025, 21' 13", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Mexico
Ilhuícatl Nextli (Heavenly Dream), José Ángel Tomasis Briseño, 2025, 7' 45", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Mexico/ Uruguay
5-6-7-8, Emilio Bianchic, 2025, 9' 07", International Competition
Morocco
تُرَى (You are seen), Zakaria Dinia, 2025, 9' 44", International Competition
Myanmar
အတိုးဆုံးလေညှင်း (A Gentle Breeze), Lin Htet Aung, 2026, 23' 54", International Competition
Nepal
Taste of Water, Aayan Pariyar, 2025, 12' 48", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Pakistan
Attock, Awais Gohar, 2025, 15' 47", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Peru
América, Javier Arias-Stella, 2025, 15' 33", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Poland
wolno, szybko, wolno (slow, fast, slow), Jagoda Czarnek, 2025, 1' 02", International Competition
Rwanda
TEÊMBA! (FLOW!), Kagoma Ya Twahirwa, 2025, 22' 15", International Competition
Sierra leone
We will be who we are, Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda, 2025, 16', Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Spain
La Pegaso, María Martos, 2025, 18' 39", International Competition
Secretos a voces (Open Secrets), Gorka Carcedo Labayen, 2026, 4' 25", International Competition
Sri Lanka
A Flower Falling Back Into the Earth, Rajee Samarasinghe, 2025, 7' 39", International Competition
Sweden
Green Noise, Ewa Einhorn, Jeuno Kim, 2026, 8' 30", International Competition
August och kriget (August and the War), Leandro Netzell Cerón, Samori Tovatt, 2026, 14' 24", International Competition
Liminal Beings, Sonja Nilsson, 2026, 18' 49", International Competition
Switzerland
Astral, Judith Ordonneau, 2025, 3' 42", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Taiwan
我在去找你的路上 (I'm on the Way to You), Yung Shiuan Yang, 2026, 10' 27", International Competition
Thailand
แสม (Habitare), Tanatat Khuttapan, 2025, 29' 55", International Competition
Ukraine
Відкритий світ (Homecoming), Roman Khimei, Yarema Malashchuk, 2026, 19' 08", International Competition
United Kingdom
Our Kingdom, Chris Ross, 2025, 8' 38", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
Under The Wave off Little Dragon, Luo Jian, 2025, 14' 25", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
USA
BEI KUN ZHU DE GOU (A Trapped Dog), Xinying Lao, 2025, 12' 12", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
daylight, Andrea Walter, 2025, 14' 49", Children’s and Youth Film Competition
The Day's Mother, the Night's End, Anna Zalevskaya, 2025, 5' 52", International Competition
By sections
Internationaler Wettbewerb / International Competition
20 Hz – 384,400 km, Graham Kelly, 2026, 10' 33", Belgium, United Kingdom, Netherlands
5-6-7-8, Emilio Bianchic, 2025, 9' 07", Uruguay, Mexico
A Flower Falling Back Into the Earth, Rajee Samarasinghe, 2025, 7' 39", Sri Lanka
an open field, Teboho Edkins, 2025, 38' 06", South Africa, France, Germany
August och kriget (August and the War), Leandro Netzell Cerón, Samori Tovatt, 2026, 14' 24", Sweden
Autobiography of My Diabetes, Matthew Lancit, 2025, 30' 39", France, Canada
Batata Frita na Chuva (French Fries in the Rain), Ninah Nogino, 2025, 09' 47", Brazil
Custom Trailer Series: Austin Powers, Kelly Egan, 2025, 04' 34", Canada
Das Höhenphänomen (Call of the Void), Angelika Reitzer, 2025, 25' 44", Austria
Daylight, Anna Heisterkamp, 2025, 21' 53", Ireland, USA
Dogs and Dust, Ece Era, 2025, 14' 49", Belgium, Turkey
El Salto (The Fall), Jerónimo Rincón Diaz, 2025, 12' 02", Colombia
Em Busca de S (In Search of S.), Gustavo de Mattos Jahn, 2025, 17' 17", Brazil, Germany, France
Escape Will Get You Tonight, Noa Simhayof Shahaf, 2025, 14' 46", Israel
Green Noise, Ewa Einhorn, Jeuno Kim, 2026, 8' 30", Sweden
Hulum, Miguel Miceli, 2025, 22' 15", France
Jiu Jiu (Chirp Chirp), Wenting Song, 2026, 7' 35", China, Cambodia
La Pegaso, María Martos, 2025, 18' 39", Spain
Laulu ei kuole (Song Will Not Die), Mox Mäkelä, 2026, 9' 25", Finland
Leaks in the Lines, Adebukola Bodunrin, 2025, 04' 32", Canada, USA
Les femmes en feu (Women on fire), Alina Titorenko, 2025, 20' 17", France
Let Me Circle Around You, Aiya Akilzhanova, 2025, 11' 58", Belgium, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Hungary
Letters from home, Maryam Zuhuri, 2025, 6' 58", Austria
Liminal Beings, Sonja Nilsson, 2026, 18' 49", Sweden
Maanalainen lintu (An Underground Bird), Eero Tammi, 2026, 10' 44", Finland
Memórias Encontradas Numa Banheira (Memoirs Found in a Bathtub), Leonardo Pirondi, 2025, 4' 19", Brazil, Portugal
Opera, Igor Zelić, 2026, 19' 31", Croatia
Parkas. Po pamokų (After Classes), Simona Jurkuvėnaitė, 2025, 14' 16", Lithuania
Prayer for All Simple Things, Diego Rojas, 2026, 14' 18", Canada
Prej 6-ve në 5 (From 6 to 5), Erlisë Beqiri, 2026, 9' 47", Kosovo
Qui a tué Narin G****? (Who Killed Narin G****?), Ayçe Kartal, 2025, 4' 42", France
Secretos a voces (Open Secrets), Gorka Carcedo Labayen, 2026, 4' 25", Spain
Slow Dissolve, Library Stack, Andreas Bunte, 2026, 27' 15", Germany, USA
TEÊMBA! (FLOW!), Kagoma Ya Twahirwa, 2025, 22' 15", Rwanda
The Day's Mother, the Night's End, Anna Zalevskaya, 2025, 5' 52", USA
The Walnut of Knowledge, Niyaz Saghari, 2025, 27', Iran, United Kingdom
Töst, Nela Gluhak, 2025, 2' 32", Croatia
Tristesse, Yuri Muraoka, 2026, 11' 14", Japan
wolno, szybko, wolno (slow, fast, slow), Jagoda Czarnek, 2025, 1' 02", Poland
žļurga (Slush), Aivars Šaicāns, Jēkabs Okonovs, 2026, 19' 59", Latvia
Відкритий світ (Homecoming), Roman Khimei, Yarema Malashchuk, 2026, 19' 08", Ukraine
Я не зникаю (Self-Preserving Nudity), Nelly Shylova, 2025, 7' 03", Ukraine, Ireland
تُرَى (You are seen), Zakaria Dinia, 2025, 9' 44", Morocco
ചായപ്പൊടി (tea powder), Bhavya Karthikeyan, 2026, 23' 56", India
แสม (Habitare), Tanatat Khuttapan, 2025, 29' 55", Thailand
အတိုးဆုံးလေညှင်း (A Gentle Breeze), Lin Htet Aung, 2026, 23' 54", Myanmar
啤酒的滋味 (A Taste of Beer), Xie Li, 2025, 5' 30", China
我在去找你的路上 (I'm on the Way to You), Yung Shiuan Yang, 2026, 10' 27", Taiwan
記憶座標 (Map of Traces), Chan Hau Chun, 2025, 29' 27", Hong Kong
黑洞洞 (Dark Channel), Yu Zhe, 2025, 11' 35", China
Deutscher Wettbewerb / German Competition
Audry Lornacle or 14 Days in DJ's House, Dagie Brundert, 2025, 8' 16", Germany
Berlin, Europacity, Leonard Geisler, 2025, 13' 39", Germany
Catacombs, Shehab Fatoum, 2026, 29', Germany
Cold Call, Stefanie Schroeder, 2025, 16', Germany
Dressing Up Together, Elly Jarvis, Lilli Strakerjahn, Célia Caroubi, 2025, 39' 44", Austria, France, Germany
Ein Meter Neunzig (One Meter Ninety), Gregor Bartsch, 2026, 30', Germany
Ein neues Wort (A New Word), Cana Bilir-Meier, 2025, 24' 56", Germany
Forming en Route, James Edmonds, Petra Graf, 2026, 35', Germany
Holz! (The Story of Wood), Rainer Knepperges, 2025, 2' 44", Germany
How Do You Spell This Word?, Yulia Lokshina, 2026, 26' 10", Germany
Je croyais que la vie était un poème (I Thought Life Was a Poem), Felix Herrmann, 2026, 11' 35", Germany
Knockout Dreams, Andreas Birkenheier, 2026, 26' 59", Germany
Liquor, Yi-Chen Huang, 2025, 4' 37", Germany
Movchat' Ptakhy (The Birds Are Silent), Leo Dzhyshyashvili, 2025, 7' 47", Ukraine, Germany
Only Making Out, Marlon Weber, 2025, 15' 45", Germany
POLLY POCKET, Mariola Brillowska, 2026, 4' 40", Germany
Until It's Hard To Tell, Ceren Oykut, 2025, 5' 03", Germany
NRW-Wettbewerb / NRW Competition
Beneath the Night, Maximilian Karakatsanis, 2026, 13' 33", Germany
Borderland, Gavois Klöfkorn, 2025, 11' 02", Germany
Eine Tochter und zehn Söhne (A Daughter and Ten Sons), Paula Milena Weise, Finn Ole Weigt, 2026, 20' 30", Germany
Garden of Edie, Miri Klischat, 2026, 20', Germany
Hope Road, Susann Maria Hempel, 2025, 12' 30", Germany
Kamogawa, Rainer Komers, 2025, 16' 47", Germany
Kenger, Irfan Akcadag, 2026, 14' 59", Germany
KOMMUNIST KAR KOMMANDOS, Markus Mischkowski, Christos Dassios, 2026, 3' 30", Germany
Ku Yendza (Trajectories), Simon Rittmeier, 2026, 17', France, Germany
Kinder- und Jugendwettbewerb / Children’s and Youth Film Competition
América, Javier Arias-Stella, 2025, 15' 33", Peru
Astral, Judith Ordonneau, 2025, 3' 42", Switzerland
Attock, Awais Gohar, 2025, 15' 47", Pakistan
Au gré de l'iode (To the rhythm of the Sea), Léa Deprez, Pierre-Luis Bordes, Elliot Desmarets, Jeanne Finet, 2025, 7' 40", France
BEI KUN ZHU DE GOU (A Trapped Dog), Xinying Lao, 2025, 12' 12", USA
daylight, Andrea Walter, 2025, 14' 49", USA
Des Gens Vivent Ici (People Live Here), Gabrielle Côté, 2025, 12' 12", Canada
dipolar bipolar, Quankai Li, 2025, 8' 50", Japan
El Mandado (The Favour), Ingrid Paola Bonilla Rodriguez, 2025, 19' 54", Colombia
El Paraíso de Ainara (Ainara's Paradise), Esther Niemeier, Laura Espinel, 2025, 14' 05", Colombia, Germany
Ik Zou Je Graag Zien (I'd Love To See You), Sébastien Segers, Zaïde Bil, Petronella Van der Hallen, 2025, 11' 44", Belgium
Ilhuícatl Nextli (Heavenly Dream), José Ángel Tomasis Briseño, 2025, 7' 45", Mexico
Jésus Marie Joseph (Jésus Marie and Joseph), Patxi Meerman, 2025, 3' 27", France
Just Jools, Ezra Verbist, 2025, 16' 40", Belgium
Kosmogonia, Karolina Chabiert, 2025, 15' 33", France
La Mort Du Poisson (The Death of the Fish), Eva Lusbaronian, 2025, 13' 50", France
LE JOUR OÙ J'AI LÉCHÉ UN CAILLOU (THE DAY I LICKED A PEBBLE), Flavie Eliézer, Chloé Bernuchon, Goli Atefi, Maud Kolasa, Nathan Jauze, Marie Pijollet, 2025, 6' 35", France
Niña Chilapa (Chilapa Girl), Juana Lotero López, 2025, 17', Colombia
Our Kingdom, Chris Ross, 2025, 8' 38", United Kingdom
Piccolo Piccolo, Marta Gennari, 2025, 8' 30", France, Switzerland
Poisson Nuage (Cloud Fish), Noe Garcia, 2025, 5' 47", France, Belgium
Precious Fantasy, Nino Bouhnik, 2025, 13' 16", France
Taste of Water, Aayan Pariyar, 2025, 12' 48", Nepal
The observation, Gurgen Aloian, 2025, 4' 07", Armenia
TOKERUBON (Floating lanterns), Shiori Watanabe, 2025, 2' 04", Japan
Under The Wave off Little Dragon, Luo Jian, 2025, 14' 25", United Kingdom
We will be who we are, Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda, 2025, 16', Sierra Leone
Голишар (Nestling), Georgi Martev, 2026, 10' 56", Bulgaria
הצל שלי ואנ (My Shadow and Me), Yali Herbet, 2025, 3' 52", Israel
மாப்பிள்ளை (The Groom), Padakathai Illaka Collective, 2026, 16' 50", Germany, India
三只海豹 (Three Seals), Dou Dou, 2025, 8' 24", Brazil, China, Germany
时代在召唤 (The Times Are Calling), Chutian Shu, 2026, 4' 21", China
西藏游客 (Tourist to Tibet), Wu Han, 2025, 8' 24", China
鳥，飛行中 (In the Valley), Han Loong Lim, 2025, 21' 13", Malaysia
MuVi-Preis / MuVi Award
All Glock No Cock, Olga Ringleb, Paula Kiermaier, 2025, 3' 23", Germany
Erst zahlen, dann malen!, DJ Babyoil, 2026, 4' 04", Germany
Everybody (A 21 Years Later Video Edit), Stefan Lampadius, 2026, 6' 14", Germany
Floating, Nikolas Müller, 2025, 5' 12", Germany
IDLU, Lars Zimmermann, Paulina Wetzel, 2026, 3' 19", Germany
No Lube So Rude, Matt Lambert, 2026, 5' 02", Germany
No More Roses, Graw Böckler, 2025, 3' 53", Germany
Rentrer à la maison (Returning Home), Timo Schierhorn, Uwe, 2026, 3' 35", Germany
Rote Süden, Max Hilsamer, 2026, 3' 25", Germany
Sailing Away, Christina Romano, 2026, 2' 07", Germany
The Way Through The Woods, Toby Cornish, 2025, 2' 30", Germany
Other programmes
Theme
based on true events?
In “based on true events?”, Oberhausen is investigating the relationship between reality and fiction in (documentary) film, from the earliest days of cinema to today’s AI-generated images. The fact that images/sounds/texts/montages lie is nothing new: Propaganda is inextricably linked to the history of film. AI fakes add a new dimension to this development. But is this algorithmically “perforated reality” really new, or have (film) artists not always addressed complex and precarious conditions and found forms and strategies to methodically or speculatively work on assertions and doubts of reality effects with the latest tools?
From films from the early days of cinema around 1900 from the Mitchell & Kenyon collection to Werner Herzog's concept of “ecstatic truth”, the programme will extend to a selection of films curated by Clemens von Wedemeyer on the emergence and effects of “artificial intelligence” in image production, from the massive resources and energy demands of the hardware and the resulting social fractures to the crisis of truth caused by increasingly perfect simulated images.
About the theme programme
Since the 1990s, a central and successful part of our profile has been the Theme, an extensive programme on annually changing issues.
Profiles
The Oberhausen Profiles are traditionally dedicated to the works of outstanding filmmakers, some of whom have dealt with short films for decades.
Linda Bilda
Linda Bilda (1963-2019) was an artist, publisher, entrepreneur, exhibition curator, performer, comic artist, activist and teacher – and a filmmaker. She first became known through her comic drawings and as the editor (with Ariane Müller) of several zines and magazines, including Artfan. Her oeuvre was always based on the aspiration to create emancipatory art; she organised groups, wrote manifestos, intervened in public space.
A previously unknown side of her creative practice was discovered in her estate: films made by Linda Bilda, both alone and in cooperation with others. The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen is presenting the world’s first look at Bilda’s cinematic oeuvre, curated by Olaf Möller and Helene Baur, in the presence of her long-term artistic partner Ariane Müller.
Charlotte Pryce
Born in London, Charlotte Pryce has been working with film and optical objects since 1986. Her experimental works have been shown at film festivals as well as in museums around the world. In her work, she explores proto-cinematographic structures of dreaming, juxtaposing the real and the imaginary, the playful and the paradoxical. Her practice is rooted in biological processes, inspiring us to re-think the mysteries of the natural world – a cinematic cabinet of wonders. Oberhausen is screening Pryce’s works on 16mm and each screening will conclude with a Magic Lantern projection from her “Illuminated Fiction” series.
Gernot Wieland
Gernot Wieland, born in Austria in 1968, is a storyteller who works with film, drawing, animation and lecture performances. His films are collages of claymation, Super 8 snippets, photos, children’s drawings, paper cutouts, diagrams and sketches: complex narratives in which documentation and fiction flow into each other. He links personal memories with political accounts, expanding autobiographical material to universal themes, often introducing absurd or tragicomic elements. In 2023, he won the Prize of the German Competition for Turtleneck Phantasies, now Oberhausen is dedicating an extensive retrospective to the artist and filmmaker.
Les films de la maison
Elie Maissin and Mieriën Coppens have been working together as Les films de la maison in Brussels, collaborating with the La Voix des Sans Papiers Bruxelles collective and creating short films that they call “essais”, always in close cooperation with their protagonists. They document plenary sessions, moves and evictions, court hearings and protests in front of the immigration office, but also daily life, distributing the mail, carrying on with life, sleeping. Oberhausen is presenting a selection of their works in the presence of the filmmakers and representatives of the Sans Papiers.
Podium
In its Podium series 2025, Oberhausen will discuss topics including A/, TikTok (in kooperation with THIS IS SHORT) und humour.
30 April
Apocalypse AI? based on true events.
Trained to fulfil prompts and seamlessly imitate external reality, image-generating AIs challenge our perception of what's real. What tools can we find in film and art historyto separate reality from illusion? Might these tools help us move closer to the idea of a selfcritical AI aesthetic? And can wetalk about AI without considering its impact on society and the environment?
1 May
Tiktoktiktok: The beginning and end of a contemporary aesthetic
Ryan Trecartin's cinematic work is more than a decade old now, but in retrospect it seems to anticipate a contemporary aesthetic: What seemed a supercharged reflection of digital subjectivity in Trecartin's work has on TikTok becomde part of a platform economy based on compulsive permanent repetition. We ask about strategies for a contemporary aesthetic that resists exploitation. In cooperation with THIS IS SHORT.
2 May
Class & Humour: What's so funny?
Who laughs at what? And, above all, at whom? This panel examines the class character of humour and it's role in film, video art and social media. Satire, parody or slapstick represent the breaking up of social hierarchies and discriminatory stereotypes. Humour is both a category of distinction and an aesthetic strategy. But what to do when ambiguity and jokes become instruments of power?
30 April
Who Goes Fascist?
This podium discussion asks about psychological and neurological predispositions that drive people into extremism – and what these might be.
With Prof. Emilie A. Caspar, Lecturer in Social and Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Ghent; Dr. Agnieszka Golec de Zavala, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Goldsmiths, London; Artur Zmijewski, artist, Warsaw; Rod Dickinson, artist, Bristol.
Moderated by Galit Eilat.
1 May
The Long Way to the Neighbour – GDR Films in Oberhausen
This panel explores the strong presence of GDR filmmaking in Oberhausen: never a matter of course, never free of conflicts!
With Helke Misselwitz, filmmaker and professor, Film University Babelsberg; Wolfgang J. Ruf, festival director from 1975-1984; Felix Mende, curator of the Theme programme.
Moderated by Cornelia Klauß.
2 May
Ideology Machines. The Conformism Trap in Culture and its Institutions
A conversation with author Harry Lehmann about his book “Ideologiemaschinen” (Ideology Machines) and the question how cultural institutions can maintain their independence in the midst of digital outrage, political scandals and inner pressures to conform.
With Gertrud Koch, Professor of Film Studies (ret.), Berlin; Harry Lehmann, writer / Research Fellow at the University of Luxembourg, Berlin.
Moderated by Jonathan Guggenberger.
In cooperation with the European Short Film Network (ESFN).
3 May
The Aesthetics of Resistance: Really?! Aesthetic Strategies between Immunity and Resilience
A panel with filmmakers about the state of political aesthetics today. Where are its forms still resistant and where does it become a gesture - an empty promise of radicality, progress and healing in a world full of crises.
With Elena Kulesh, Director (Мякиш (Crumb), International Competition); Roee Rosen, artist and filmmaker, Tel Aviv; Franz Wanner, artist, Berlin.
Moderated by Michel Wagenschütz and Jonathan Guggenberger.
4 May
Critical Closeness, Productive Distance: Festival Films and their Interrelationships
Oberhausen x-rays itself in a talk with filmmakers, jury members and members of the selection committee. The core question is: How do you put your own perspective in a context? And vice versa: What does context do with your own perspective?
With Philipp Gufler, artist, Amsterdam/Munich; Silke Schönfeld, filmmaker, Amsterdam/Dortmund; Philbert Aimé Mbabazi Sharangabo, filmmaker, Kigali.
Moderated by Michel Wagenschütz and Jonathan Guggenberger.
Expanded
I. Expanded: Time-Based Experimental Culture with Shiny Toys
In cooperation with Shiny Toys, the festival for time-based experimental culture, the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen present a performance by Tintin Patrone. In Axt im Wald, two skydancer-fans are transformed into a playable instrument: air becomes a source of sound, a choreographic force, and a counterpart to the body. Variable air currents cause the skydancers to oscillate between stability, collapse, and re-uprighting, while the blowers function as a kind of extended wind instrument.
Tintin Patrone’s work operates at the intersection of sound, body, and experimental gesture. Her performances investigate the visual dimensions of music and the relationship between conceptual ideas and physical existence. At the same time, she integrates technological and non-human actors.
At Shiny Toys, the boundaries of the medium are re-thought, explored, and overturned. Playful projects that challenge familiar viewing and listening habits. The focus is on what Werner Nekes, who accompanied Shiny Toys until his death in 2017, described as “cinema as an optical toy.”
The curator Jan Ehlen fills in here and there when someone has to cancel. Alongside his artist group RaumZeitPiraten and his long-standing work for the Sammlung Nekes, he remains constantly overwhelmed as a professional dilettante.
II. European Short Film Network (ESFN): Luis Macías spatial metaphors
In cooperation with the European Short Film Network (ESFN), Oberhausen is presenting an Expanded Cinema programme by Luis Macías. In his performances and installations, the Spanish filmmaker and moving image composer and co-founder of CRATER-Lab is exploring the possibilities of the cinematographic apparatus and the photochemical nature of the medium.
In Oberhausen, he will present together with musician Robert Martinez the work Orbita 360°, an ongoing project exploring the dialogue between sound and visual arts within an immersive environment framed by a 360° panoramic screen. The work emerged from a month-long artistic exploration of the 360° screen, experimenting with various light and sound devices to find the most compelling ways to envelop the audience within the screen both visually and aurally.
This performance is part of a series of six analogue live performances by Luis Macías, presented across the member festivals of the European Short Film Network throughout 2026. The project is realised with cooperation with THIS IS SHORT and curated with the support of 25 FPS Festival.
Travelling Companions – Omnibus Films in Film History, part 2
Several short films by different directors combined into one feature-length film – as a genre, the omnibus or episode film tends to lead an existence in the shadows, even though it has existed since the 1930s. With “Travelling Companions”, Oberhausen is putting this hybrid format between feature films and short films in the spotlight. In the second part of our series, we take a leap into the current millennium: This year, the section is dedicated to films with multiple authors that were made in our extended presence. The six films, produced between 2005 and 2026, offer a broad panorama of current cinema: feature films, documentary films, essay films and experimental films from five countries open up a unique perspective on the different structures of episodic films – from a cinematic variation on a theatre production by René Pollesch to films by Chinese villagers up to surreal fetish pornography. The films: Stadt als Beute (City as Prey), Germany 2005; Villagers Documentary Project, China 2006; Luminous Void: Docudrama, Ireland 2019; World at Stake, Austria 2025; The Valley Where LOAB Lives, Austria 2026; Final Flesh, USA 2009.
What’s Left – Maulwürfe des Archivs, part 2
In the second part of our series featuring discoveries from our archive, curator Simon Petri-Lukács will present films that engage with (international) solidarity: the mission to bring on international camaraderie with the available cinematic tools. Psalm 18, Walter Heynowski/Gerhard Scheumann (1974) and Nah beim Schah (Near the Shah), Wolfgang Landgräber (1978) illustrate different political iconographies from Germany. The second block consists of West-German productions from the 1970s to 1990s that deal with the subject of Turkish workers in Germany, in productive tension with Üç Bölümlü Kisa Film (Short Film in Three Parts, Özcan Arca, Turkey 1978), which was made just before the 1980 military coup, a programme accompanied by scholar Dr. Ömer Alkin.
The Making of Claude Lanzmann’s “Shoah”, part 2
This seminar, launched in 2025, examines selected outtakes of Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah: a total of 220 hours of material that has been available online since 2015 in the “Claude Lanzmann Shoah Collection” at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This year, curator Christoph Hesse will focus on forms of resistance: primarily the historically documented resistance of Jewish partisans against the Nazis, including Abba Kovner, Hersh Smolar, Malka Goldberg and the Polish pharmacist Tadeusz Pankiewic, and their helpers. In a broader sense though, this will be expanded to the resistance encountered by Lanzmann at interviews in front of the camera. In addition, several of the interviews with witnesses audiotaped by Lanzmann and his collaborators will also be examined.
Individual consultation with Filmbüro NW for filmmakers from NRW
A free offer to all filmmakers from NRW who can consult members of the Filmbüro NW on all questions of production, funding and festival placement of short films. Prior registration required!
Register: dw@kurzfilmtage.de
More
Here you can find a colourful mix of fixed programme elements that have become indispensable to our festival, but also always new and diverse interesting offers.
Distributors‘ Collection
In this section, launched in 2025, selected international distributors present works from their catalogues, both new acquisitions and older titles, rediscoveries and rarities. This year’s line-up: Arsenal Filminstitut (Germany), LI-MA (Netherlands), Filmform (Sweden) und sixpackfilm (Austria).
ESFAA Shorts
A unique film selection that is the result of a collaboration between eight international film festivals: Curtas Vila Do Conde, Clermont-Ferrand, Tampere, Go Short, Alcine, Brussels Short Film Festival, Short Waves Festival and interfilm Berlin are short film festivals that have been collectively promoting their audiences’ favourites for years. The audience of each festival has chosen one title. Two film programmes present the touring nominees of the 2025/26 season.
Filmgeflacker
Oberhausen’s Filmgeflacker art collective presented films from this year’s competitions, and the filmmakers will be invited to discuss their works with the audience.
The Team Favourites 2026
To mark the conclusion of the festival, the Oberhausen team will personally introduce their favourites from this year’s competitions.
MuVi International
Since 1998, the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen shows a selection of trend-setting international music videos and formally exceptional works - a showcase of current developments in the music video genre.
MuVi 14+
A programme of international music videos for kids aged 14 and older. MuVi 14+ is a rich and varied cross section of recent video clips ranging from handmade to computer-generated.
Award Winners of Other Festivals
On its first day, Oberhausen traditionally shows short films that have received awards at other festivals. A cross-section of the past festival season.
The One Minutes
In cooperation with the One Minutes Foundation, Oberhausen presents one-minute films in two series curated for the festival.
Kinemathek im Ruhrgebiet
The Kinemathek im Ruhrgebiet/FilmArchiv has been collecting and restoring historical film material from the former coal-mining area for more than 40 years. In Oberhausen, the initiative will once again show highlights from its holdings, this year including works on the occupation of the Ruhr in 1923 and the diversion of the lower reaches of the Emscher in the late 1940s. Presented and introduced by its director, Paul Hofmann.
The Oberhausen Selection
What is special about this programme: Oberhausen citizens between the ages of 65 and 90 are responsible for selecting the films. Traditionally, the Oberhausen Selection, which was launched in 2015, celebrates its premiere during the festival and then goes on tour from autumn.
From the Festival's Film Distribution
The Short Film Festival’s distribution programme is based on one of the oldest and most important short film collections in the world. Every year, the Short Film Festival purchases around 40 new works from the current festival programme. Our distribution programme is international and non-commercial. Here we are showing a selection programme with five films from the 2025 International Competition, in which cinema spaces play a central role, and one programme that features all winners of the Grand Prize of the City of Oberhausen from 2020 to 2024.
Ross Lipman presents Tom Chomont
Ross Lipman presents Tom Chomont
Between 1962 and 1989, Tom Chomont, who was part of the New York Underground scene in the 1970s and 80s, made around 40 short films: experiments in which he combined colour positives and black and white negatives, which gave them an unmistakable aura. The filmmaker and curator Jim Hubbard wrote: ‘Chomont’s films offer a lyric depiction of the ordinary world, but at the same time reveal an unabashedly spiritual and sexualised parallel universe. His incomparable technique of offsetting colour positive and high-contrast black-and-white negative creates a subtly beautiful, otherworldly aura. In this programme of restored titles, the American restorationist, filmmaker and essayist Ross Lipman will focus on Chomont’s exquisite early 16 mm work, complemented by two sound works – a restoration project that also reveals some of the issues that arise when an artist worked with his materials in a way that was unique to photochemical film.
Chomont’s films were restored by Ross Lipman for the UCLA Film & Television Archive as part of the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project, with funding from the National Film Preservation Foundation’s Avant-Garde Masters Grant programme provided by The Film Foundation
Ross Lipman, The Archival Impermanence Project
Ross Lipman presents Tom Chomont
Between 1962 and 1989, Tom Chomont, who was part of the New York Underground scene in the 1970s and 80s, made around 40 short films: experiments in which he combined colour positives and black and white negatives, which gave them an unmistakable aura. The filmmaker and curator Jim Hubbard wrote: ‘Chomont’s films offer a lyric depiction of the ordinary world, but at the same time reveal an unabashedly spiritual and sexualised parallel universe. His incomparable technique of offsetting colour positive and high-contrast black-and-white negative creates a subtly beautiful, otherworldly aura. In this programme of restored titles, the American restorationist, filmmaker and essayist Ross Lipman will focus on Chomont’s exquisite early 16 mm work, complemented by two sound works – a restoration project that also reveals some of the issues that arise when an artist worked with his materials in a way that was unique to photochemical film.
Chomont’s films were restored by Ross Lipman for the UCLA Film & Television Archive as part of the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project, with funding from the National Film Preservation Foundation’s Avant-Garde Masters Grant programme provided by The Film Foundation
Collect, talk, show: Marran Gosov via Bernhard Marsch
A portrait of the Bulgarian exile writer and universal artist Tzvetan Marangosoff (1933-2021), who, as Marran Gosov, made 28 of the funniest and wisest short films of his time in Munich in the 1960s and 70s. And a homage to filmmaker and cinema operator Bernhard Marsch, who died in 2025, who took care of Gosov’s work with extraordinary dedication and on whose work this programme is largely based.
Spring 1933
A rediscovery: Erwerbslose kochen für Erwerbslose (The Unemployed Cook for the Unemployed, 1932) and Wahlkampf 1932. Letzte Wahl (Election: Campaign 1932.Last Election, 1932/33) are two titles from the small film oeuvre of painter, film club activist and long-term Oberhausen visitor Ella Bergmann-Michel (1895-1971) – everyday observations from the last years of the Weimar Republic. Bergmann-Michel collaborated closely with Paul Seligmann (1903-1985), who produced some of her films, wrote about independent film and, after the Nazis had seized power, began to clandestinely shoot Frühjahr 1933 (Spring 1933), a film recently rediscovered in a Canadian archive. Oberhausen is commemorating both with a film programme.
MuVi-Online
For the 28th time, Oberhausen presented the MuVi Award for the best German music video.
From 2 April to 2 May 2026, the public could vote online for the MuVi Online Audience Award from among the nominated entries.
The MuVi partners 2026
3sat, Byte.FM, kaput Mag, kultur.west
Nominated Films
All Glock No Cock
Musik: ildikó
Regie: Olga Ringleb, Paula Kiermaier
2026, 3'25"
Erst zahlen, dann malen!
Musik: DJ Babyoil
Regie: DJ Babyoil
2026, 4'4"
Everybody (A 21 Years Later Video Edit)
Musik: Egoexpress
Regie: Stefan Lampadius
2026, 6'14"
Floating
Musik: Myr.
Regie: Nikolas Müller
2026, 5'12"
IDLU
Musik: TEll A ViSiON
Regie: Lars Zimmermann, Paulina Wetzel
2026, 3'19"
No Lube So Rude
Musik: Peaches
Regie: Matt Lambert
2026, 4'45"
No More Roses
Musik: Donna Regina
Regie: Graw Böckler
2026, 3'53"
Rentrer à la maison
Musik: Anadol & Marie Klock
Regie: Timo Schierhorn, Uwe
2026, 3'35"
Rote Süden
Musik: Set
Regie: Max Hilsamer
2026, 3'25"
Sailing Away
Musik: Smoking Hand
Regie: Christina Romano
2026, 2'7"
ough The Woods
Musik: Pet Shop Boys
Regie: Toby Cornish
2026, 2'30"
MuVi Audience Award
MuVi Audience Award
determined by voting on www.muvipreis.de and endowed with 500 euros
All Glock No Cock (ildikó)
Olga Ringleb, Paula Kiermaier
Deutschland 2025, 3‘25‘‘, Farbe
Seminar
In 2026, our Festival is organising the Oberhausen Seminar for the eleventh time. This time it was lead by Linda Chiu-han Lai.
Known for her work in intermedia arts and media archaeology, Hong Kong-based transdisciplinary artist, curator and scholar Linda Chiu-han Lai brings her videography, experimental arts and pedagogy to the Oberhausen Seminar. Central to Lai’s works is her historiographic experiments, especially the moving image’s power to work against grand narratives and “central conflict” assumptions.
Lai’s works have been presented in Oberhausen’s International Competition in 2005, 2010 and 2011. Solo retrospective-screenings of her short videos were presented at the Experimental Film/Video Festival Macao (2015), Experimental Film & Video Festival in Seoul (2017), Centro de Creación Contemporanea de Andalucia (Cordoba, 2021) and the LSK School of Creativity (Hong Kong, 2025). Her large-scale installation works began in the 9th Shanghai Biennale (2012-13); since then, she has had three solo shows of her site-specific installations. Lai is also the founder of the new media art group Writing Machine Collective (2004) and the participatory art initiative The Floating Projects (2015). Until 2023, she taught at the School of Creative Media, the City University of Hong Kong.
She was awarded Artist of the Year (Media Art) 2017 by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, her project D-Normal/V-Essay (on-line video zine) with the Floating Projects Collective was a winner of Ars Electronica’s “State of the Art(ists)” 2022.
An overview of the participants and content of the Oberhausen Seminar 2026 can be found here
Programme overview
Film education
Since 1978, ambitious short films for children and young people have had a permanent place in Oberhausen. In 2022, curated programmes will again be shown alongside the international children's and youth film competition, as well as workshops and seminars.
You can find more information here:
Short film inclusive: subtitles and workshops
Kindergarten programme
Educators
Partner school project
Since 2009, the annually changing partner schools have been actively involved in shaping the programmes of the Children's and Youth Cinema. A secondary school and a primary school from Oberhausen nominate groups of schoolchildren who gain insight into the festival through various tasks.
The partner schools of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen 2022 were the Concordiaschule and the Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gymnasium.
The children's jury consisted of Aylin Sacirovic, Haley Brans, Solin Suleman, Zeynep Gökdemir and Feras Ismaeil from the Concordiaschule; the youth jury consisted of Ella Holl, Lea Uthmann, Lara Wolf, Eliana Starke from the Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gymnasium.
Trailer
By Einar Fehrholz and Simon Mellnich in cooperation with the children of the partner schools 2022.
Concordiaschule: Lava Al Hussein, Hasanah Fatma Syed, Daniel Bibo
Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gymnasium: Katharina Bode, Paula Johanna Opgen-Rhein, Nika Godder
Festival publications
Posters
THIS IS SHORT
During the festival, our competition films were available to watch for 24 hours on THIS IS SHORT, the joint short film platform run by the European Short Film Network (ESFN).
Partner
