The 2026 Lünen Film Festival presents numerous subsidized productions from North Rhine-Westphalia
The Lünen Film Festival announced its program today for the 35th edition of the festival. The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW is supporting the festival again in 2026 and is represented in the program with numerous funded productions. The Lünen Film Festival will take place from June 1 to 7, 2026.
At the festival opening, Hape Kerkeling will be awarded the NIKE Honorary Prize for his lifetime achievement. The Kinofest will open with the funded comedy “Horst Schlämmer sucht das Glück” by Sven Unterwaldt (Honeybird Film). As part of the tribute to Hape Kerkeling, Caroline Link’s equally funded hit film “Der Junge muss an die frische Luft” (UFA Fiction) will also be screened.
Several funded productions are in the running for the LÜDIA Award for Best Film: Jelena Ilić’s documentary “Eine Krankheit wie ein Gedicht” (Made in Germany Filmproduktion), Regina Schilling’s hybrid documentary “Ingeborg Bachmann – Someone I Once Was” (zero one film, Navigator Film), and “Watching People Watching Birds” by Ulrike Franke and Michael Loeken (Filmproduktion Loekenfranke).
The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW is also represented in the “Rakete” children’s and youth film competition: Markus Welter’s family film “My Friend Barry” (Atlantis Pictures, MMC Zodiac)will be screened .
This year, the festival is placing a special focus on Austria as a film-making nation. The “Focus on Austria” series will feature, among other films, the funded feature film “Rose” by Markus Schleinzer (Schubert Film, ROW Pictures, Walker+Worm Film).
As part of “Kinofest Special,” the festival is also presenting Thomas Stuber’s “Der Frosch und das Wasser” (Pandora Film, Gretchenfilm, Hugofilm, Lomotion) as an accessible screening with audio description, subtitles, and amplified sound.
In addition, works by emerging filmmakers from North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) are featured at the festival, including the short film “Satyr” by Tim Klinger in the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences’ short film program and the documentary “Halima” by Linda Verweyen in the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences’ documentary film program.
For more information about the festival and the complete program, visit: