This year we show 84 films in three competitions – 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 this year's theme "Three".

In the competition for the Triple Axel, films are shown that are a maximum of 3 minutes long and are dedicated to the theme "Three" this year.

The Laboratory of the Present is a place for reflection on societal, social and cinephile questions. Selected artists, programmers, curators and change makers think in films and programs about positions and theses. Our talk format Forum is where we discuss extensively with international guests who expand the questions and theses with additional disciplines and views.

Feminism is not a completed project, but an ongoing practice of seeing, listening, and resisting. In five film programs, curators from England, Germany, Tanzania, and Argentina bring together cinematic works that explore the past, present, and future of feminist struggles. The programs ask how images can make power relations visible and how cinema can open up spaces for alternative narratives, community, and solidarity. Curated by Maxa Zoller, Sophie Holzberger, Elisa Linseisen, Gertrude Malizeni and Lucía Salas.

Waiting is not a pause. It is a regime. At airports, in administrative offices, on the outskirts of the city, and in digitally mediated spaces, time is organized as a state of limbo: movements are postponed, decisions deferred. Waiting disciplines bodies and regulates mobility. "On Waiting" features two film programs curated by Yazid Anani.

Hamburger Positions presents intersectional perspectives on the struggle for self-determination and gender equality. Under pressure from right-wing authoritarian movements, achievements such as civil liberties, diversity, and decolonization are currently under attack. Speech bans and the normalization of violence undermine the processes of democratic negotiation between majorities and minorities. Two film programs combine a diverse, multi-voiced spectrum of documentary and fictional short films with films from the archive of the Norddeutscher Rundfunk. Curated by Florian Wüst.

Archives are an inspiration. Treasures found there can shed new light on the present. They are always collected for the future. In the Archive of the Present section, curators and guests present their very personal approaches.

On March 24, 1976, the last dictatorship in Argentina began with a military coup. It would become the most violent one. The economic and political violence that emerged across Latin America from the 1960s through the 1990s gave rise to a different idea of cinema: one that had to confront the face of history swiftly and collectively, with a new form and a new grammar. Two programs present a series of films that look at this moment — at what led up to it, and what came after. Curated by Lucía Salas.

The images of queer and non-queer older people who died of AIDS already carry their stories within them – as traces that continue to resonate in their absence. Often created as home videos, educational films, or advertisements, these fragmentary archives leave behind “unfinished” narratives. The program continues their impulse by revisiting, honoring, and reimagining these legacies. Curated by Sarnt Utamachote.

Voices brings together cinematic perspectives from Iran and Kosovo. Two film programs explore the aftereffects of history, memory, and social transformation — as well as the forms of resistance and lived experience that emerge from them. Curated by Eroll Bilibani and Afsun Moshiry, in collaboration with Parisa Shams and Mokthar Namdar.

With the section Wildcard, we create space for distinctive cinematic positions beyond the festival’s fixed program strands. This year, we present a milestone of Cuban feminist cinema by Sara Gómez, alongside a short film program by the Belgian artist Eva Giolo.

The Young Short Film Festival Hamburg Mo&Friese presents film programs for children and young people between 4 and 18. The carefully curated and moderated programs meet the young audience at eye level with relevant, diverse and challenging topics.

In our Open Space, the exhibition area of the Hamburg Short Film Festival, we are presenting this year the interactive installation EACHOTHER 互 (Work in Progress) by Irish artist David OReilly. It will be shown publicly for the first time.

Open daily and free of charge from 11 a.m.

In the Forum, in-depth discussions and conversations are held with our international guests who expand the themes and questions posed in the film programs to include other artistic disciplines and perspectives.

For accredited industry professionals: The Industry Day on festival Friday serves as a meeting place, a forum for exchange and a source of inspiration in one: Alongside industry representatives, students, and an interested audience, we look at current developments, challenges, and prospects in the (short) film industry.

We kick off the day with coffee and Franzbrötchen (cinnamon flavored pastries) at the Wake-up Call, then move on to a keynote on the Female Gaze, panels on the future of short film and a KODAK Masterclass. Formats such as the roundtables invite you to get actively involved, share your perspectives and engage in conversation with one another.

In cooperation with MOIN Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, the festival invites film students and representatives of the film industry to exchange ideas and network with filmmakers from other universities, as well as to get in touch with representatives of the film and media industry and the international festival scene and to position themselves with their own projects.

If you watch a lot of movies, you need enough physical exercise to compensate. Luckily there is danceable music and drinks every night in the festival club! With numerous DJs, open for all, always free, always fun.

With the Post as our Festival Centre, we're situated right at the very epicentre of one of Hamburg's largest inner-city spaces in transition here in the district of Altona. What grew and grew over a long period of time is now being converted, rethought, reconnected. A concert hall, a new public transport station, a whole cultural apparatus. We are taking a look at what has been – and what is still to come: The exhibition "Where do all the people live?" (daily from 11 am, free admission) shows photographs by Heinrich Klaffs and the film “Raus!” by Achim Buttmann. Neighbourhood tours around Diebsteich (Fri. 06.06., 4:40 p.m., English / Sun. 08.06., 4 p.m., German / with registration) and a lecture (Sun. 08.06., 5:30 p.m., German) shed light on the history and planned changes to the area.