71st International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, 29 April – 4 May 2025

The 71st International Short Film Festival Oberhausen opens today

On Tuesday, 29 April 2025, the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen is opening its 71st edition, the first under the new directors Madeleine Bernstorff and Susannah Pollheim. Almost 500 short films from around 60 countries will be screened, guests from nearly 60 countries are expected. Numerous discussions and panels as well as a series of live events and performances round off the programme.

The Festival is presenting 125 works in its five competitions, awarding a total of almost 45,000 euros in prize money. A big Theme programme is looking at Oberhausen’s role in German-German film history under the title “The Long Way to the Neighbour – GDR Films in Oberhausen”. “Travelling Companions – Omnibus Films in Film History” will shed light on a genre that has been largely in the shadow of film history so far.

More programme highlights include outtakes of Claude Lanzmann’s pioneering documentary Shoah, 16mm films from the Festival’s archive under the title “What’s Left? Moles of the Archive”, a series of expanded events in cooperation with the Shiny Toys festival and Profiles dedicated to the Hungarian artist Dóra Maurer, the German documentary filmmaker Dietrich Schubert and the Swedish-American filmmaker Susanna Wallin. Current German and international music videos will be featured in the MuVi Award and the international MuVi programme. In five panel discussions, subjects including fascism, ideology machines and the aesthetics of resistance will be discussed.

The 71st Festival will end on Sunday, 4 May 2025, with the award ceremony at Oberhausen’s Lichtburg Filmpalast.

Oberhausen, 29 April 2025

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