This year we show 91 films in the International and German Competition as well as the Triple Axel. We meet filmmakers, make connections and raise questions. All three competitions show feature films as well as documentaries, hybrid formats, animations and 3D productions. The International Competition presents current aesthetics and new narratives, the German Competition the best from the nationwide short film and film school scene. In the competition for the Triple Axel, films are shown that are a maximum of 3 minutes long and are dedicated to the theme "At Night".

The LABORATORY OF THE PRESENT is a place for reflection on societal, social and cinephile questions. Selected artists, programmers, curators, change makers think in films and programmes about positions and theses. The lab’s FORUM is where we talk extensively with international guests who expand the questions and theses with additional disciplines and views.

"Thinking of Germany at night just puts all thought of sleep to flight." In reference to these lines by Heinrich Heine, which are still used today to comment on problematic political events here, the "Laboratory of the Present" takes a critical look at Germany. A subversive, activist, but also fun attitude connects the five film programs in this section. They encounter the complex German history cinematically with a polyphony of identities and cultures. Curated by: Florian Wüst, Mara Marxsen, Conny Klauß & Sarnt Utamachote

Cinematic evocations of the natural world, starting from the soil and rising up to the solar system. Compiled in two volumes structured obliquely as thesis and antithesis. This screen program surveys the historical arc of films and videos that engage with the land, those who work it, and the life that is sustained by it. Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete? There is a finer ear that listens, an artist’s chest that swells. There’s sweetness in an apple tree, and profit in the corn. Can the ecstasy define, half a transport – half a trouble. Have a system of aesthetics – far superior to mine. Curated by: Greg de Cuir Jr

Two program blocks look at the thematic complex of work. As in everyday life, work plays a major role in film, is identity-forming and defines social life - even and especially if one does not pursue it. The programs curated by Lars Frehse look at what work does to people: self-fulfillment and participation on the one hand, alienation and exclusion on the other. Curated by: Lars Frehse

Archive, image foundations, collection, compilation, database. Collecting is a fundamental characteristic of human behaviour. Archives are the foundation of our own understanding and places of our memory for our time. The mediation of yesterday, the creation of accesses towards understanding and appreciation are fundamentalvalues of our democratic society. Retreat, reflection, integration.
What will be remembered and what are we remembering? When does yesterday start? How do we deal with these places of memory? Who collects, who remains visible, who disappears, who has accessand what remains where in the archive? In the section ARCHIVE OF THE PRESENT, we present archives, institutions, curators.

Curator Tobias Hering deals in two programs with the filmmakers Irena Vrkljan and Želimir Žilnik. The fact that they both come from former Yugoslavia is not an intentional framing, but it brings an imprint, because the prehistory includes fascism, the occupation, the partisan struggle, which were remembered differently in Yugoslavia than in the Germany to which the two independently came in the course of their lives.

Annette Brauerhoch presents analog 16mm film prints from the "Archive for Women's Experimental Film in West Germany" at the University of Paderborn. The collection focuses on the 1980s, a particularly productive decade for experimental filmmaking in the FRG in general and the awakening of women in particular.

Short films for the silver screen and the cinema, for the museum, for home, for Netflix, for everybody, and for the day after tomorrow. There are a lot of people all over the world who are in charge of precisely that: distributing short films. It's an interesting and creative field of work, often connected to production and festivals. Anything goes and the space for this form is wide open. To every festival, we invite a fine selection of distributors who present themselves, their idea, their profile, and their films.

There are always long films that, despite festivals and cinemas, find no place or, as we think, too little place, too little echo. The new and different is inscribed in their DNA. That's why we use the space and time we have and show films that we find important. This year, these are two exceptional documentary works: Chetna Vora's graduation film, which was banned at the time, and a portrait of the Israeli director and Orthodox rabbi Uri Zohar, who died in 2022.

The 25th Young Short Film Festival Hamburg Mo&Friese presents ten competition programs for children and young people in five competitions. In 57 international, carefully curated short films we discover new galaxies and - what is sometimes even more exciting - let the familiar shine in a new light. The moderated programs meet the young audience at eye level with relevant, diverse and challenging topics.

In OPEN SPACE, Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg's exhibition space, we are presenting the exhibition "Scenography of Space" by the Chicago-based artist duo Luftwerk, Petra Bachmaier and Sean Gallero. Color fields pass through the room on slowly moving surfaces. From red to blue, from blue to green. Spaces emerge within spaces, an ephemeral sculpture. An interplay of color, light and material.

The exhibition will be opened by Hamburg gallerist Melike Bilir. Galerie Melike Bilir is a Hamburg-based curatorial field for experimentation for contemporary art and performance. The gallery promotes critical engagement with the interdisciplinary fields of visual art through independent projects and collaborations.

Open daily from 11 am, free of charge.

If you watch a lot of movies, you need enough physical exercise to compensate. Luckily there is danceable music and bar action every night in the festival club! Whether it’s with one of numerous DJs, at the music video night or with the festival team itself at the desks. Open for all, always free, always fun.