Filmfest Hamburg is an international film festival, the third largest of its kind in Germany (after Berlin and Munich). It shows national and international feature and documentary films in ten permanent and several annually-changing sections. The range of the program stretches from art house films to innovative mainstream cinema, presenting the first feature films of young unknown directors together with films by internationally established directors. In 2012 more than 40,000 people attended 250 screenings of 148 films.
Since 2003 Albert Wiederspiel has been the director of the festival. The 24th edition of Filmfest Hamburg will run from 29 September until 8 October 2016.
The Hamburg Film Festival had various predecessors dating from the 1950s through to the 1980s. It was founded in late 1991 and first held in 1992. Academy Award winners and nominees such as Clint Eastwood, Jodie Foster, Christoph Waltz, Atom Egoyan, Julian Schnabel and Tilda Swinton, Dogma-founder Lars von Trier, award winning director Kim Ki-duk and German directors such as Wim Wenders, Fatih Akin, Andreas Dresen and Tom Tykwer attended the festival in the past.
The program of Filmfest Hamburg is composed of the following ten permanent sections:
Free Port - new section since 2014: German-European films compete for the "Hamburg Producers Award for European Cinema Co-Productions".Veto! – This section, introduced in 2015, covers politically motivated film issues which are also awarded at the festival.Voilà! – comprises films from French speaking countries.Vitrina – comprises films from Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries.Asia Express – showcases films from all parts of Asia.Eurovisuell – comprises the box office hits from other European countries.Transatlantic – shows contemporary English language based North American cinema.Deluxe – is a restrospective that puts its focus each year on a different country`s cinematographic development (so far Turkey, Austria, Finland, Belgium, Portugal, New Zealand, Argentina, Iceland, Canada’s ‘Belle Province’ Québec, the GDR and Israel).Kaleidoskop – is an overview of the world cinema.Hamburger Filmschau – this section is dedicated to films by Hamburg-based filmmakers.16:9 – shows German TV productions on the big screen.Michel Kinder und Jugend Filmfest – is the section for children and youths in cooperation with LUCAS Children Filmfestival from Frankfurt.This award is presented annually since 1995 to a personality who has made outstanding achievements within film culture and film industry. It receives its name from director Douglas Sirk, born in Hamburg as Detlef Sierck.
1995: Clint Eastwood1996: Stephen Frears1997: Jodie Foster1998: Peter Weir1999: Jim Jarmusch2000: Wong Kar-wai2001: Majid Majidi2002: Aki Kaurismäki2003: Isabelle Huppert2004: François Ozon2005: Zentropa2006: Gérard Depardieu2007: David Cronenberg2008: Atom Egoyan2009: ---2010: Julian Schnabel2011: Andreas Dresen and Peter Rommel2012: Kim Ki-duk2013: Tilda Swinton2014: Fatih Akin2015: Catherine DeneuveThe Hamburg Producers Award for European Cinema Co-Productions will be awarded to the films in the section Freihafen (Free Port) which will feature German-European co-productions
2014: "Lost in Karastan", German producer: Daniel Zuta, Brandstorm Entertainment AG; Georgian Co-Producer: Vladimer Katcharava, 20 Steps Production2015: "One Floor Below", German producers: Christine Haupt and Alexander Ris, Neue Mediopolis Filmproduktion GmbH; Romanian Co-Producer: Dragos Vilcu, Multi Media EstThis award for German TV productions is endowed with 25.000 € provided by VFF, Verwertungsgesellschaft der Film- und Fernsehproduzenten mbH.
2006: BurkertBareiss (Producer: Gloria Burkert and Andreas Bareiss) for "Ich wollte nicht töten", Germany. Directed by: Dagmar Hirtz2007: magnolia Filmproduktion (Producer: Babette Schröder) for "Kuckuckszeit", Germany. Directed by: Johannes Fabrick2008: Bavaria Fernsehproduktion (Producer: Astrid Kahmke) for "Machen wir’s auf Finnisch", Germany. Directed by Marco Petry2009: Bremedia Filmproduktion GmbH (Producer: Claudia Schröder) for "Mörder auf Amrum]]", Germany. Directed by: Markus Imboden2010: Wüste Film (Producer: Ralph Schwingel / Stefan Schubert) for "Etwas Besseres als den Tod", Germany. Directed by: Nicole Weegmann2011: d.i.e. film GmbH (Producer: Ulrich Aselmann) for "Tödlicher Rausch", Germany. Directed by: Johannes Fabrick2012: Aspekt Telefilm-Produktion GmbH (Producer: Claudia Schröder) for "Mörderische Jagd", Germany. Directed by: Markus Imboden2013: --2014: filmpool fiction (Producer: Iris Kiefer) for "Polizeiruf 110: Familiensache", Germany. Directed by: Eoin Moore2015: Calypso Entertainment GmbH (Producer: Brit Possardt) for "Frauen", Germany. Directed by Jan RuzickaSince 2004 Filmfest Hamburg is presenting the Hamburg Film Critic Award. The German news magazine Der Spiegel, Hamburg’s daily newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt and the radio station NDR 90,3 run this joint initiative to honor a production that offers an original view.
2004: "Brothers", Denmark. Directed by: Susanne Bier2005: "Iron Island", Iran. Written and directed by: Mohammad Rasoulof2007: "Control", Netherlands. Directed by: Anton Corbijn2008: "Frozen River", USA. Written and directed by: Courtney Hunt2009: "Cold Souls", USA. Written and directed by: Sophie Barthes2010: "Pulsar", Belgium. Directed by: Alex Stockmann2011: "Take Shelter", USA. Directed by: Jeff Nichols2012: "Lore", Germany/Australia/Great Britain. Written and directed by: Cate Shortland2013: "Metro Manila", Great Britain/Philippines. Written and directed by: Sean Ellis2014: "Hope, France. Written and directed by: Boris Lojkine2015: "Neon Bull", Brazil/Uruguay/Netherlands. Written and directed by Gabriel MascaroThe Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung is awarding this prize at Filmfest Hamburg for the first time in 2013. Films aspiring to provide a political message are competing for the prize money of 5,000 euros.
2013: "Fire in the Blood", India. Written and directed by: Dylan Mohan Gray2013: "Manuscripts Don't Burn", Iran. Written and directed by: Mohammad Rasoulof2014: "Children 404", Russia. Directed by: Askold Kurov and Pavel Loparev2015: "Every Face Has a Name". Directed by: Magnus GerttenThe Art Cinema Award was established by the Conféderation Internationale des Cinémas d'Art et d'Essai (CICAE). Films that have a German distributor can be nominated. Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein is contributing 5,000 € to the award in support of PR measures by the German distributor.
2008: "35 Rum", France/Germany. Written and directed by: Claire Denis2009: "Soul Kitchen", Germany. Written and directed by: Fatih Akin2010: "Nowhere Boy", Great Britain/Canada. Directed by: Sam Taylor-Wood2011: "Monsieur Lazhar", Canada. Written and directed by: Philippe Falardeau2012: "Laurence Anyways", Canada. Written and directed by: Xavier Dolan2013: "Venus in Fur", France/Poland. Written and directed by: Roman Polanski2014: "Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem", Israel/France/Germany. Written and directed by: Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz2015: "Mustang", France/Turkey/Germany. Directed by: Deniz Gamze ErgüvenIn 2012 the NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) sponsored the NDR Young Talent Award with a prize money of 5,000 €.
2008: "Johnny Mad Dog", France. Written and directed by: Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire2009: "Before my Eyes", Turkey. Written and directed by: Miraz Bezar2010: "Oldboys", Denmark. Written and directed by: Nikolaj Steen2011: "Avé", Bulgaria. Written and directed by: Konstantin Bojanov2012: "Germania", Argentina. Written and directed by: Maximiliano Schonfeld2013: "Short Term 12", USA. Written and directed by: Destin Cretton2014: "Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy, Thailand. Written and directed by: Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit2015: "Keeper", Belgium/France/Switzerland. Directed by: Guillaume SenezThe audience gets to decide by public vote which of the competing films in the Eurovisuell section is their favorite and receives a prize money of €5,000, donated by the Commerzbank.
2004: "Dog Nail Clipper", Finland. Written and directed by: Markku Pölönen2005: "Adams Äpfel", Denmark. Written and directed by: Anders Thomas Jensen2008: "Willkommen bei den Sch’tis", France. Written and directed by: Dany Boon2009: "Meet the Elisabeths", France. Directed by: Lucien Jean-Baptiste2010: "Oldboys", Denmark. Written and directed by: Nikolaj Steen2011: "King of Devil's Island", Norway. Directed by: Marius Holst2012: "This Life", Denmark. Directed by: Anne-Grethe Bjarup Riis2013: "The Brats", France. Written and directed by: Anthony Marciano2014: "Hallåhallå", Sweden. Written and directed by: Maria Blom2015: "Nice People", Sweden. Directed by: Karin af Klintberg and Anders HelgesonThe Hamburgische Kulturstiftung and the Rolner Stiftung fund this award since 2013 with prize money of 5,000 €. A jury made up of children selects the children's and youth films for this international competition.
2003: "Das geheimnisvolle Fräulein C.", Canada. Directed by: Richard Ciupka2004: "Station 4", Spain. Directed by: Antonio Mercero2005: "Der Schatz der weißen Falken", Germany. Written and directed by: Christian Zübert2006: "Don", Netherlands. Written and directed by: Arend Steenbergen2007 "Rot wie der Himmel", Italy. Directed by: Cristiano Bortone2008 "Hey Hey, hier Esther Blueburger", Australia. Written and directed by: Cathy Randall2009 "Glowing Stars", Sweden. Directed by: Lisa Siewe2010: "Spork", USA. Directed by: J.B. Ghuman Jr.2011: "Ways to Live Forever", Great Britain/Spain. Written and directed by: Gustavo Ron2012: "Stay!", Netherlands. Directed by: Lourens Blok2013: "Felix", South Africa. Directed by: Roberta Durrant2014: "The Contest", Denmark. Directed by: Martin Miehe-Renard2015: "Little Ganster", Netherlands. Directed by Arne ToonenEndowed with 10.000 € sponsored by Hamburg-based company Montblanc. The award is granted as part of the "Northern Lights" section to a fiction or documentary film either produced or set in Hamburg or Schleswig-Holstein.
2007: Jan Hinrik Drevs for "Underdogs", Germany2008: Srdjan Vuletic for "It’s Hard to be Nice", Bosnia-Herzegovina/Germany2009: Xiaolu Guo for "She, a Chinese", Great Britain/China/France/Germany2010: Henrik Peschel for "Pete the Heat", Germany2011: Marnie Blok for "Simon and the Oaks", Germany2012: Kim Fupz Aakeson for "Mercy", Germany/Netherlands2013: Katrin Gebbe for "Nothing Bad Can Happen", Germany2010: "Beyond", Sweden. Direction: Pernilla August2011: "The Art of Love", France. Direction: Emmanuel Mouret2012: "God's Neighbors", Israel. Direction and screenplay: Meni Yaesh
