72nd International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, 28 April – 3 May 2026

Three artists and one collective: the 2026 Oberhausen Profiles

In its 72nd edition, the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen will present four Profiles that showcase very different ways of exploring the possibilities of film, whether aesthetic, technical or political. The cinematic work of Austrian artist Linda Bilda, which was only recently found in her estate, is a discovery presented for the first time at Oberhausen. Austrian artist and filmmaker Gernot Wieland has developed a surprising visual language based on collages of various materials, letting documentary and fiction flow into one another in his complex narratives and expanding biographical elements into universal themes. London-born Charlotte Pryce works with analogue film, experimenting with material processes that turn her films into highly sensual experiences. Finally, the Brussels collective Les Films de la Maison makes extraordinary films with, about and close to refugees, always in close collaboration with Les Voix des Sans Papiers Bruxelles.

Linda Bilda: The unknown cinematic work

Oberhausen presents the world's first festival screening of the hitherto unknown cinematic work of Austrian artist Linda Bilda: films that Bilda made both alone and in collaboration with others, which were only recently discovered in her estate.

Linda Bilda (1963–2019) was an artist, publisher, entrepreneur, exhibition organiser, performer, comic artist, activist, inventor, teacher – and filmmaker. She was a member of the Vienna Secession's “Vereinigung Bildender KünstlerInnen” (Association of Visual Artists) and also founded the ARTCLUB WIEN art society in 1994, which she headed until 1995. Bilda's works have been exhibited at the Kunsthalle Wien, Belvedere 21 and Kunsthaus Bregenz, among others, and in 2020 the Lentos Kunstmuseum in Linz dedicated a major retrospective to her. In 2025 the exhibition 'Linda Bilda. Die goldene Welt' took place at the Kunsthaus Glarus. 

Linda Bilda considered the founding and distribution of magazines one of her core artistic practices: between 1994 and 2005, four issues of her solo project No_Politcomix were published. She also founded the magazine Artfan (1991–1995) together with Ariane Mueller  and Die weisse Blatt (1999-2005, with Ulrike Müller, Kristina Haider and Nora Hermann). 

The programme is curated by Olaf Möller and Helene Baur; Bilda's long-time artistic partner Ariane Mueller will attend as a guest.

Gernot Wieland: Shaky Memories

The films of Gernot Wieland, born in Horn, Austria, in 1968, can be seen both at film festivals and in art spaces. Among his many awards is the German Competition Prize at Oberhausen in 2023 for Turtleneck Phantasies.

Wieland 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 cut-outs, diagrams and sketches; complex narratives in which documentary and fiction flow into one another. Wieland always draws on his own biography, which he opens up and expands into universal themes, often with humorous and absurd elements.

Oberhausen presents an extensive retrospective of Gernot Wieland's films in three programmes, from Eine Reise nach Wales (A Trip to Wales, 2005) to Family Constellation with a Fox (2025).

Charlotte Pryce: Alchemistic Transformations and a Magic Lantern

Since 1986, London-born Charlotte Pryce has been working with film, photography and optical objects. Her experimental works have been shown at film festivals and museums around the world. She studied at the Slade School of Art, University College London, and the School of Art Institute of Chicago. Since 2004, she has been teaching at the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles. Her works have been shown at the Centre Pompidou (Paris), Velaslavasay Panorama (Los Angeles) and Bozar (Brussels), among others.

Pryce works with analogue film, mostly 16mm, exploring the material processes of photochemical filmmaking, turning the darkroom into a laboratory for creative experimentation. For Pryce, the original image is the starting point for transformation through manual development and optical effects. She is interested in the natural world and biological processes, often referring to ancient texts, creating magical miniature worlds that appeal to all the senses.

Oberhausen presents an overview of Pryce's work in two programmes, including Discoveries on the Forest Floor 1-3 (2007), Curious Light (2011) and and so it came about (2023). Each programme concludes with a Magic Lantern performance from her “Illuminated Fiction” series.

Les Films de la Maison: Learning to see

Elie Maissin and Mieriën Coppens both studied film in Brussels, one at the LUCA School of Arts, the other at the RITCS Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema & Sound. For almost ten years, they have been working under the name Les Films de la Maison in Brussels with the collective La Voix des Sans Papiers Bruxelles, producing short films that they call “essais”: They see filmmaking as a process of approaching, witnessing and perceiving. Fundamental to their work is the exchange and collaboration with their protagonists. They document plenary meetings, moves and evictions, court hearings and protests in front of the immigration office, but also everyday life while delivering the post, carrying on with life, sleeping.

Oberhausen presents three of these works: Carry On (2017), La Maison (2019) and Et leurs lettres (2023). The filmmakers and representatives of Les Voix des Sans Papiers will be present.

Oberhausen, 12 March 2026

Press contact: Sabine Niewalda, hone +49 (0)208 825-3073, niewalda@kurzfilmtage.de