Internationale Short Film Festival Oberhausen

Festival

Our Award Winners 2026
We fondly congratulate

24 prizes and 9 special mentions were awarded at the 72st International Short Film Festival Oberhausen.

For those who want to know more, we have put a list of all the prizes and statements online.

Award winners

Articles & Interviews

Festival Magazine
Read now!

Something to look forward to? Our festival trailer by Christian Schön is here and offers a first glimpse of our competition films.

You can find an overview of the film cexcerpts

here

Competitions

121 films from 48 countries – this year’s competition films

The films and music videos that will be shown in the festival's five competition programmes were selected from over 7,600 entries.

Competition Films

A hand, turned sideways towards the viewer, performs a split with its index and middle fingers. The fingers are wearing golden high-heeled boots. The index finger is also adorned with a rhinestone belt. The background glows white and pink; the whole atmosphere is reminiscent of a stage. — 5-6-7-8 @ Emilio Bianchic

A red-coloured underwater monster angrily raises its fist upwards. — Gesamtklärwerk @ Andreas Loff

Distribution

Our distribution programme 2025
32 new acquisitions and seven new programmesare are available.

Have a look

Distribution

Oberhausen on Tour! For the fourteenth time we will be sending films around the globe.

Cinemas, museums and galleries, festivals or Goethe-Institutes around the world show the films. Current dates can be found on our distribution page.

More information

This Is Short

Competition programmes on THIS IS SHORT

Our competition programmes can also be found on the THIS IS SHORT streaming platform. In December, THIS IS SHORT has introduced a new subscription model, as fantastic films deserve a life beyond their festival run.
For only €0.99/month (or €9.99/year) you can support short film culture and enjoy curated gems from some of your favourite festivals.

Watch now

In memoriam

We are deeply saddened to announce that our colleague Hilke Doering has passed away on 27 November 2025 after a long illness.

She was head of our International Competition since 1995 and, as a member of our festival committee, contributed significantly to our programming. Representing our festival in various international film organisations, she was always passionately committed to defending the interests of the filmmakers. Though she has been fighting her illness for two years, she contributed her ideas and expertise to our festival to the last.

We had all hoped that she would soon be able to resume her work. Now we have lost a wonderful colleague who played a crucial role in shaping our festival over the past three decades. The shock is profound and the whole team will miss her dearly.

If you want to share your memories of Hilke, we have set up a digital condolences book.

To the Condolences Book