61st International Short Film Festival Oberhausen

28.04.2015

Around 500 films in the programme, some 1,000 accredited professionals
41,250 Euros in prize-money in five competitions
2015’s theme: „The Third Image – 3D cinema as Experiment“
30 April – 5 May, 2015

The 61st edition of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, the world’s most significant and oldest short film festival, will take place in Oberhausen’s Lichtburg from 30 April to 5 May, 2015. With Lars Henrik Gass as its director, the festival will this year be presenting a total of 504 shorts from all over the world.

„The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen enjoys an outstanding reputation around the globe as a unique place for discussing current trends in short filmmaking,¨ says Petra Müller, CEO of the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW. „We wish the festival team every success in the staging of this year’s festival and exciting and rewarding days for all of the participants!¨

132 films from 41 nations will competing this year in the festival’s five competitive sections for prize-money totalling 41,250 Euros. Apart from the German and International Competitions, the one for Children’s and Youth Films and the MuVi Prize, the international audience will also have an opportunity to see new productions from the region in the NRW Competition. Two of the films in this section were supported by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW. „Ruhrurbia“, the final part of Rainer Komers’ tetralogy „Elements“, was backed with 25,000 Euros. The NRW Competition will also feature „Torn“ by Elmar Imanov and Engin Kundag. Their joint short, which had its premiere in Cannes in 2014, received 5,000 Euros in funding from the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW. An invitation to screen in the German Competition was also extended to David Jansen’s animation film „Däwit“, which was backed with 15,000 Euros and had already been shown at the Berlinale in the „Berlinale Shorts“ section.

Around 1,000 accredited professionals are expected to be at the Short Film Festival in Oberhausen. Apart from the competitions where the festival registered over 6,000 film entries, the festival continues, as usual, with its presentation of thematic programmes: for example, its elaborate ¨thematic¨ special programme will see the Short Film Festival analysing the cinematic potential of the contemporary stereoscopic film under the title of ¨The Third Image – 3D cinema as Experiment¨ in one of the most extensive film programmes of recent years . Moreover, filmmakers will introduce themselves in five ¨Profile¨ programmes, with experts discussing issues concerning film policy and aesthetics during various roundtables in the mornings.