All three competitions of the festival feature narrative films, documentaries, hybrid formats, animations, 3D productions and more. The International Competition shows contemporary aesthetics and new narratives. The German Competition features the best from the national short film and film academy scene. The Triple Axel competition features film of three minutes or less about a specific, annually changing subject.

Within the Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg and the Mo&Friese Junges Kurzfilm Festival, prize money of over 19.000 € is awarded by the juries and audiences. Among last year’s winners were, among others: Bárbara Wagner, Benjamin de Burca, Madsen Minax, Danech San, Jorge Jácome, Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel, Christin Turner, Ulu Braun, Taika Waititi, Simon Ellis, Emily Vey Duke and Cooper Battersby.

For young audiences, the Mo&Friese Junges Kurzfilm Festival presents several contemporary and relevant short films in its international competition programmes for different age brackets between 4 and 18 years.

The Laboratory of the Present section is conceived as a place for the examination of current issues based on film programmes and discussions. The Forum offers accompanying deepening rounds of talk in which the curators alongside guests from a wide range of fields further engage with the subject in discourses and offer additional context. The Hamburg Positions look at the world from a regional perspective. In cooperation with local partners, we are embedding the laboratory in the city beyond the timeframe of the festival itself.

Subjects of the last years were, among others: Afrotopia - In the Present Sense, “Humor nach #MeToo” in cooperation with the Kunstverein Hamburg, “Pleasure Rebels - Feminism, Sex, Anarchy”, “The Organic City”, “Cut it out! On Vanguards and Censorship”.

The cooperation partners include, among others: MARKK, Hamburger Kunstverein, HFBK Hamburg, Altonaer Museum, Hamburger Bücherhallen

Archive, image foundation, collection, database, gathering – a fundamental element of human behaviour. Archives are the foundation of our own understanding and memory space of our presence. Everything that still is will soon be gone and forgotten or, after all, preserved and kept. In the Archive of the Present section, we present film archives and their mental systems, show cinematic treasures and long forgotten pearls.

At the festival’s Open Space, we are creating an annually changing exhibition situation at the festival centre. Artists who work both in the cinematic and exhibitionary context present their current works here.

Artists of the last years: Akram Zaatari, Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca, Helena Wittmann, Nika Son, Alexandre Larose, Paul Spengemann, Mischa Leinkauf & Matthias Wermke, Rainer Kohlberger.