FILMFEST HAMBURG is an international film festival in Hamburg, the third-largest of its kind in Germany (after Berlin and Munich). It shows national and international feature and documentary films in eleven 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 2017 more than 40,000 people attended 250 screenings of 141 films.[1]
FILMFEST HAMBURG Hamburg International Film Festival
The program of FILMFEST HAMBURG is composed of the following permanent sections:
Veto! – This section 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.
Transatlantic – shows contemporary English language-based North American cinema.
Kaleidoskop – is an overview of world cinema.
Hamburger Filmschau – dedicated to films by Hamburg-based filmmakers.
Große Freiheit – new German cinema.
Televisionen – shows German TV productions on the big screen.
MICHEL Kinder und Jugend Filmfest – is the section for children and adolescents.
Awardsedit
Douglas Sirk Awardedit
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.
Hamburg Producers Award for German Cinema Productionsedit
The Hamburg Producers Award for German Cinema Productions has been awarded in the new section Große Freiheit – Filme aus Deutschland since 2018. The producer of the winning film will receive 25,000 euros. The prize money will be provided by the Ministry of Culture and Media.
2018: Das schönste Paar, Producers: Jamila Wenske and Sol Bondy, Director: Sven Taddicken[11]
2021: Niemand ist bei den Kälbern, Producer: Jonas Weydemann, Jakob Weydemann (Weydemann Bros.), Hamburg, Directed by: Sabrina Sarabi
Hamburg Producers Award for European Cinema Co-Productionsedit
The 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 producers: Daniel Zuta, Brandstorm Entertainment AG; Georgian Co-Producer: Vladimer Katcharava, 20 Steps Production
2015: One Floor Below, German producers: Christine Haupt and Alexander Ris, Neue Mediopolis Filmproduktion GmbH; Romanian Co-Producer: Dragos Vilcu, Multi Media Est
2016: Scarred Hearts, German producers: Maren Ade, Jonas Dornbach, Janine Jackowski, Komplizen Film; Romanian Co-Producer: Hi Film Productions
2017: Arrhythmia, German producers: Eva Blondiau, Color of May; Russian Co-Producers: CTB Film Company, Mars Media Entertainment; Finnish Co-Producers: Don Films, Post Control
2018: Sibel, German Co-Producer: Michael Eckelt (Riva Film, Hamburg) / Cinema-Grading: Les Films du Tambour, Paris
2021: Lingui (France, Chad, Germany, Belgium); German co-producer Melanie Andernach (Made in Germany Filmproduktion) / Cinema grading: pilifilms, Paris, Directed by: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
Hamburg Producers Award for German Television Productions (formerly: TV Producers' Award)edit
This 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 Hirtz [de]
2007: magnolia Filmproduktion (Producer: Babette Schröder) for Kuckuckszeit [de], Germany. Directed by Johannes Fabrick [de]
2008: Bavaria Fernsehproduktion (Producer: Astrid Kahmke) for Let's Do It in Finnish [de], Germany. Directed by Marco Petry [de]
2009: Bremedia Filmproduktion GmbH (Producer: Claudia Schröder) for Murder on Amrum [de], Germany. Directed by Markus Imboden [de]
2010: Wüste Film (Producer: Ralph Schwingel / Stefan Schubert) for Give Me Your Heart [de], Germany. Directed by Nicole Weegmann [de]
2011: d.i.e. film GmbH (Producer: Ulrich Aselmann) for Tödlicher Rausch, Germany. Directed by Johannes Fabrick [de]
2012: Aspekt Telefilm-Produktion GmbH (Producer: Claudia Schröder) for Murderous Hunt [de], Germany. Directed by Markus Imboden [de]
2013: –
2014: filmpool fiction (Producer: Iris Kiefer) for Polizeiruf 110: Familiensache [de], Germany. Directed by Eoin Moore [de]
2015: Calypso Entertainment GmbH (Producer: Brit Possardt) for CHIX – Back on Stage, Germany. Directed by Jan Ruzicka [de]
2016: –
2017: Polyphon Film- und Fernsehgesellschaft (Producers: Hubertus Meyer-Burckhardt and Christoph Bicker) for Meine fremde Freundin [de], Germany. Directed by Stefan Krohmer [de]
2018: Relevant Film GmbH Hamburg (Producer: Heike Wiehle-Timm) for Aufbruch in die Freiheit [de], Germany. Directed by Isabel Kleefeld [de]
2019: Sutor Kolonko, Cologne, Producer: Ingmar Trost for Das freiwillige Jahr, Directed by Ulrich Köhler [de] and Henner Winckler [de][12]
2021: Fandango Film, Producer: Jürgen Schuster for Schlaflos in Portugal, Directed by Florian Froschmayer [de][13]
The Political Film of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftungedit
The 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.
2023: "In the Rearview", Poland, France, Ukraine. Directed by: Maciek Hamela
Art Cinema Awardedit
The 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 Denis
The 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.
2018: "Solsidan", Sweden. Directed by: Felix Herngren, Måns Herngren
2019: "Psychobitch", Norway. Directed by: Martin Lund[12]
2021: "Little Palestine, Diary of a Siege", Lebanon, France, Qatar. Directed by: Abdallah Al-Khatib[15]
MICHEL Award presented by MICHEL Kinder und Jugend Filmfest (part of FILMFEST HAMBURG)edit
The 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 Ciupka
Endowed 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.