sff depicts spaces of reality and opens up spaces of possibility

From April 21 to 24, the shorts film festival (sff) at Hochschule Offenburg will once again transform the Forum Cinemas in Offenburg into a meeting place for young filmmakers. This year, a total of 72 films were selected for the tri-national student competition from among 620 submissions from Germany, France, and Switzerland. They offer a multifaceted and powerful glimpse into what is currently on the students’ minds. This youthful perspective on the world is at times skeptical, accusatory, and dystopian, but also curious, brazenly cheeky, and intelligent—it reveals realms of reality and, above all, opens up realms of possibility. In times of unsettling change within our democratic societies, this is more important than ever. 

In total, the sff comprises 13 competition sections: Seven sections offer a mix of short, medium-length, and animated films; five are dedicated exclusively to documentaries; and, following the great success in 2025, there will once again be a section dedicated solely to animated films. This time, the section was co-curated by Peter Kaboth, the new professor of animation at Hochschule Offenburg. Three independent expert juries will decide which films will be honored at the awards ceremony on Friday, April 24, starting at 7 p.m. The jury for short, medium-length, and animated films consists of renowned filmmaker Pepe Danquart, Thorsten Schaumann, artistic director of the International Hof Film Festival, animator, author, and illustrator Urte Zindler, and author and director Max Disbeaux. The documentary film jury consists of Gudrun Hanke-El Ghomri (SWR’s Arte representative for documentary film), Michaela Kobsa-Mark (documentary filmmaker), and Erik Winker (film producer). The Sound Jury consists of Karolina Trybala (singer) and Max Schlichter (musician). A total of 10,000 euros in prize money will be awarded: in the traditional categories of Best Short Film, Best Animated Film, Best Medium-Length Film, and Best Documentary, as well as for Best Sound, Best Cinematography, the Prize for Best Production from Hochschule Offenburg, the Jury’s Special Prize, and the City of Offenburg’s Freedom Prize. In addition, the Mittelbadische Presse readers’ jury will select the winner of the Readers’ Choice Award. And the audience will once again have a say: In each competition block, the audience will vote for a favorite, which will receive a prize of 100 euros. The awards ceremony will be hosted by Kai Wißmann and accompanied live by the sff band from the School of Media, which is reformed each year.

In addition to the film screenings, the audience can look forward to lively conversations and discussions with the filmmakers in attendance. For example, Markus Birkle, professor of music and sound at Hochschule Offenburg, will focus on the acoustic elements of the films in interviews with the filmmakers. Also part of the exciting supporting program is the film *STAU/FALL*. Created as part of the three-year research project *BECOMING RIVER*, which examines the Murg River as a terrestrial system, the film documents a performance and a concert at the Schwarzenbach Dam. Following the screening, geographer Rüdiger Glaser from the University of Freiburg, Prof. Daniel Fetzner, Ephraim Wegner, and Adrian Schwartz will discuss the relationship between art and science. As part of the collaboration with universities in Mainz initiated by Prof. Sabine Burg de Sousa Ferreira, the “Dok-Lab” workshop on story development will also be offered to registered students. In this workshop, SWR-ARTE editor Gudrun Hanke-El Ghomri and Cologne-based film producer Erik Winker will mentor the students with the goal of developing film ideas for documentary formats until they are ready for the market. In addition, there will be a seminar on the director’s self-expression and a screening of the medium-length film “Lehitraot,” shot on 65mm Kodak film. The latter will be complemented by a panel discussion on cinematography and the extraordinary production techniques used on the film stock, which is also being reused in some new blockbusters. A singer-songwriter breakfast, a screening of a series by media students from Hochschule Offenburg, permanent installations at the Billetschen Schlösschen, and an sff concert & party round out the supporting program.

The complete sff program can be found at www.shorts-offenburg.de

Incidentally, this year marks the first time the trinational student film festival has received financial support from the Ministry of Science, Research, and the Arts. “This funding specifically recognizes the festival’s long-standing cultural quality, as well as the artistic and social relevance of the submitted films,” explains Prof. Sabine Burg de Sousa Ferreira, the festival’s artistic director. Sabine Burg, Ania Berger (responsible for programming and organizational management), and Kai Wißmann (program director and festival host) have jointly led the shorts festival since 2025.

Advance Ticket Sales

Advance tickets and the festival pass will be available starting Tuesday, April 7, at FORUM Cinemas Offenburg, www.forumcinemas.de. From Tuesday through Thursday, tickets cost 7 euros (regular) / 5 euros (reduced for students); on Friday, the day of the awards ceremony, they cost 11 euros (regular) / 8 euros (reduced for students). Reduced-price tickets are available exclusively with a student ID at the box offices at FORUM Cinemas Offenburg. The festival pass, which is valid for all screenings including the awards ceremony, costs 50 euros (regular) / 35 euros (students).

PROGRAM OVERVIEW sff 2026

Tuesday, April
21 7:00 p.m. Opening: The Crown of Creation (Short Films) – Theater 1
9:00 p.m. Documentary & Experimental (Documentaries) – Theater 1
9:00 PM No Bedtime Stories – Theater 8

Wednesday, April
22, 10:00 a.m. Special: Singer-Songwriter Breakfast - Radio Gaga Social Club
2:00 p.m. Special: Project Katie Screening Series by Students of the Media Faculty - Radio Gaga Social Club
4:00 p.m. Men’s Stuff ?!? (Short Films) – Theater 8
5:00 PM Against the Rules (Short Films) – Theater 1
6:30 PM Special: STAU/FALL – Sound, Body, and Dam (Film & Discussion) - Theater 8
7:00 PM Hard Feelings (short films) - Theater 1
8:30 PM Out of Place (Documentaries) - Theater 8
9:00 PM My Inner Voice – Best Sound (Short Films) - Theater 1

Thursday, April
23, 1:00 p.m. Special: “Kaffeeklatsch” Seminar—Directors’ Self-Presentation with Michaela Kobsa-Mark and Adrian Schwarz—Radio Gaga Social Club
3:00 p.m. Lost in Space (Documentaries) - Theater 8
4:00 p.m. Animated Worlds (Animated Films) - Theater 1
5:30 p.m. On Letting Go and Starting Over (Documentaries) - Theater 8
6:30 p.m. Home (Short Films) – Theater 1
8:00 PM Men’s Thoughts (Documentary Films) – Theater 8
9:00 PM Special: sff Concert & Party – Spitalkeller

Friday, April
24 10:00 a.m. Special: Seminar on Story Development in Documentary Film with SWR/arte Editor Gudrun Hanke-El Ghomri and Cologne-based Producer Erik Winker - Hochschule Offenburg (for registered students only)
4:00 p.m. Special: Medium-length film “Lehitraot” (FR/DE, 40 minutes); following the screening, Noah Lischka (director), Joshua Ewert (screenplay and cinematography) will discuss the making and visual language of this graduation project—shot on 65 mm film—with Kevin Hartfiel (freelance cinematographer) and Prof. Sabine Burg de Sousa Ferreira—Cinema 8
7:00 p.m. Awards Ceremony & Winning Films - Theater 1

Tuesday through Thursday, April 21–23

12:00 PM–8:00 PM Special: Exhibition “Portraits on the Light Line” alternating with re:main—an interactive sound installation by students from the Faculty of Media - Billetsches Schlösschen in Bürgerpark