The Hamburg International Short Film Festival has its roots in the independent filmmaking scene. The Festival first took place in 1985 under the title NoBudget, a name which clearly defined the Festival’s mission. In 1994 it received its current name. Since it was founded, it has always been the Festival’s aim to rise to the challenge presented by new developments and changing parameters in technology, society, and aesthetics.
First of all, multitudinous film productions will be competing for several awards in the International Competition, the NoBudget competition, the German Competition, the Hamburg Competition, the Three-Minute Quickie, Mo&Friese Children's ShortFilmFestival as well as for several cross-competition awards. The winners will be announced on Monday, 8 June 2009 at the Award Ceremony.
Furthermore, several special programmes containing hundreds of films will be on the festival menu this year. We are very happy to announce Romania as this year's country focus, which will elaborate the past and presence of the Balcan region cinematically.
Another special programme deals with the work of the Group Arnold Hau, an artist collective that stems from the artistic periphery of the German satire magazine TITANIC. The Sound of Cities is a collection of musically underlayed super-8 films portraying the sound of international metropolises in the '70s.
Naturally such a considerable anniversary needs to be framed by a jubilee programme. Hence we will be screening the cinematic highlights from the past quarter of a century of Hamburg short film history. Best of 25 years is a programme where the audience selects the films like choosing songs from a jukebox under the condition that no film can run more than once. We also set up a festival museum where one can admire relicts from over a quarter of a century of festival history.
The legendary Open Air nocturnal walkabout A Wall is a Screen and other framing events will make time fly all day and all of the night. The 35 ml Club will put you in high spirits before you go on to the screenings at the Zeise Kinos, Metropolis, B-Movie, Lichtmess and 3001. At night finally, the audience, guests and team members can meet at the festival-club for a drink, a chat and a quick boogie on the dance floor.
For further details, please visit our website at: www.shortfilm.com/festival.
