Regional Short Film Program
Frankfurt, Kassel, Mainz, Offenbach, Wiesbaden - budding and established filmmakers from all over Hesse and the Rhine-Main region will be competing in the regional short film competition to take home the coveted LICHTER-Bembel and 1,000 euros in prize money. The Filmhaus Frankfurt is donating the "Filmhaus-Gerippte" prize for up-and-coming filmmakers with a seminar voucher worth 500 euros and is celebrating the short form with us with three film reels full of cinematic creativity.
The films include: Bockenheim ghosts, a somewhat different grandchild trick, unpleasant underground encounters, a reconstruction of the Oury Jalloh case, a father-daughter's everyday life, philosophising about boredom. We also find out what beetroot has to do with eternal life, how science can be sexist and that pickles make good projectiles. We get an experimental look at conflicts, the naked truth and dating in space and, last but not least, there are stories about (no) kisses in Saigon and a life not lived.
Regional short films I: 17.04.2024, 20:15 h, Pupille - Kino in der Uni
Regional short films II: 19.04.2024, 17:30 h, Pupille - Kino in der Uni
Regional short films III: 19.04.2024, 20:15 h, Pupille - Kino in der Uni
CAMPUS GEISTER | Germany 2023 | Experimental | Rhein-Main-Premiere | Length: 04:30 Min | Director: Ali Zolghadriha (kollektive Arbeit)
The location: Unicampus Bockenheim, Frankfurt. The condition: Abandoned and decaying. Once a place of art, music and maths. The student centre: a meeting place for the alternative scene. Anyone browsing through empty corridors full of graffiti and dark rooms today might wonder: is this place haunted? Campus Geister, a collective project of the Theatre, Film and Media Studies degree programme, investigates this question.
The "Campus Ghosts" project is a collective work by Goethe University students studying different subjects and programmes at the TFM Institute. The idea for the film was developed as part of the seminar "Das hat Format" led by Gunter Deller in the winter semester 2023/24.
SWEET SALLY | Canada 2023 | Feature film | Rhein-Main-Premiere | Length: 04:29 Min | Director: Carolin Glomp
Suddenly, a stranger appears at the door of Annie, a 75-year-old lady who has just prepared afternoon tea. He claims to be a friend of her niece Sally and insists on being let in. Annie, worried about Sally, opens the door for him. This is a decision one person will soon regret.
After completing her film studies at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences in 2019, Carolin Glomp worked in various areas of the film industry, specialising in directing and screenwriting. She is currently writing her debut film screenplay. The film was made during a stay abroad in Vancouver, Canada.
STARREN | Germany 2023 | Animation | German premiere | Length: 05:43 Min | Director: Xiaoxuan Yu & Tianshu Yang
If looks could kill ... Many people know what it's like to be scrutinised and observed in everyday situations, such as on the underground, and to feel how glances travel along the body. The animated film Staring tells what this feels like sensitively and vividly - and in such a way that it gets under your skin.
The 2D animation short film is a graduation project at the Kunsthochschule Kassel. Tianshu Yang & Xiaoxuan Yu both studied graphic design in China. They have been studying and living in Kassel since 2017.
EINES KÜNSTLERS WEGLEIN | Germany 2023 | Documentation | Length: 10:00 Min | Director: Lisa Legina
What does she want to express with her art? What role, if any, does her Jewish identity play? These are questions that director Lisa Legina deals with. The most important thing is what happens to you during the creative process, says painter Oded Netivi. A studio discussion from artist to artist. Eines Künstlers Weglein is a delicate, sensitive film that inspires you to pick up a pen, brush or camera yourself.
Since beginning her Motion Pictures studies at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences in 2022, Lisa Legina's style and themes have evolved. Her first documentary film "Eines Künstlers Weglein" opened up a new way of artistic expression that she has pursued in her art ever since.
ZWISCHENZEIT | Germany 2024 | Feature film | Rhein-Main-Premiere | Length: 12:12 Min | Director: Oli Jess
Waiting for the train. Who hasn't experienced it? It often has no consequences apart from the inconvenience of delays. Sometimes, however, unexpected encounters occur during these lost periods, the consequences of which are difficult to predict. Zwischenzeit tells the story of one such encounter.
The tranquil railway station in Ober-Ramstadt in southern Hesse served as the filming location. Clara Neun (screenplay & camera) and Oli Jess (director) are students at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences.
CELL 5 – A RECONSTRUCTION | Germany 2023 | Documentation | Rhein-Main-Premiere | Length: 30:00 Min | Director: Mario Pfeifer
On 7 January 2005, Oury Jalloh burns to death with his hands and feet bound in a cell at Dessau police station. Cell 5 - A Reconstruction is a forensic investigation into his death. The film takes "an unbiased stance and presents the events without moral prejudice. This approach allows the reverberations of the shock to go far beyond the immediate action and draw attention to the spectre of structural racism, which has its roots deep in society," writes the jury of the Hessian Film Prize in its citation for the Best Short Film Award, which was presented to Zelle 5 in October 2023.
Director Mario Pfeifer studied at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main. The main shooting of Zelle 5 - Eine Rekonstruktion took place in Babenhausen, Hesse. The short film was awarded the Hessian Film Prize in October 2023.
SCHATTENSPIEL | Germany 2023 | Animation | Rhein-Main-Premiere | Length: 04:20 Min | Director: Mayra Ebensen, Silvia Loose & Paula Wodniok
Being alone in the face of darkness - that's not nice. Schattenspiel shows how one's own creativity can be a bright light against fear and overpowering dark forces. How big can the monster behind the curtain be?
Mayra Ebensen was born and raised in Frankfurt and gained valuable experience at Schauspiel Frankfurt. Since 2022, she has been studying visual effects at the University of Television and Film in Munich together with Silvia Loose and Paula Wodniok. Schattenspiel is her first animated film.
AAV (FATHER) | Germany 2023 | Feature film | World premiere | Length: 11:48 Min | Director: Ariana Gansuh
During the school holidays, little Mika helps her father clean Frankfurt's apartment blocks to be close to him. Since the death of his wife, her father has withdrawn. Mika buys his daily beer with a tattered power of attorney and admires the golden stumbling blocks as he sweeps them, without realising what they mean. We experience two days in the life of a child, between being an adult and being a child. A life full of small, intimate moments of happiness, but also of confrontations with everyday racism.
Ariana Gansuh is an actress and author who lives in Frankfurt. Aav (Father) is her debut short film as a director.
A THEORY OF BOREDOM (DUNYALAND) | Germany 2022 | Experimental | Rhein-Main-Premiere | Length: 09:07 Min | Director: Julie Gaston
Five peculiar visitors of Dunyaland express their inner void. Meanwhile, a contemporary Alice stands at the rim of the rabbit hole, wondering what she may find if she jumps in. DUNYALAND is an experimental exploration of boredom and an invitation to look within.
Julie Gaston is an artist, actress, performer, film director, storyteller and founder and creative director of Les Gastons Film. Dunyaland is the result of a collaborative effort, realised with resources and talents from the region who have brought their unique skills to the project.
СОЛІННЯ (PICKLES) | Germany 2023 | Animation | Rhein-Main-Premiere | Length: 03:19 Min | Director: Oleksandra Krasavtseva
March 2022: images of destruction from Ukraine shake the world. Among them, a small ray of hope, a moment of cheerfulness: an old lady fights back. From her balcony, she throws a jar of pickled cucumbers at a drone: direct hit, total damage. Pickles takes on the modern heroic story with loving animation.
Oleksandra Krasavtseva grew up in Kyiv, Ukraine, and has been studying visual communication at the Kunsthochschule Kassel since 2018. Her short film Pickles, which is about events in her home country, was created there.
Regional short films II
Length: 87 Min
Location: Pupille - Kino in der Uni
FR, 19th April - 17:30 h
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THE SCENT OF BEETROOT AND THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE FOREVER | Germany 2023 | Animation | Length: 12:29 Min | Director: Petra Stipetić & Maren Wiese
A scientist discovers the key to immortality: the scent of beetroot. Through its excessive use, the entire planet is soon enveloped in an impenetrable magenta-coloured atmosphere. Immortality spreads like a virus: death is not only avoidable but impossible. In real interviews, the inhabitants talk about their lives in this dystopian utopia.
Petra Stipetić and Maren Wiese both studied at the Kunsthochschule Kassel and have already realised several projects together. Vom Duft der Roten Beete und den Menschen, die ewig leben was nominated for the Hessian Film Award 2023 and was honoured with the Golden Hercules of the Dokfest Kassel in November.
HEY EHM | Germany 2023 | Feature film | Rhein-Main-Premiere | Length: 02:30 Min | Director: Benjamin Kessler
Who still writes today when you can send voice messages? It's not that simple. With delicate nervousness about the what and how, Hey Ehm shows how quickly words can sometimes fail you. Starting, cancelling, starting, cancelling, starting, apologising - a vicious circle in modern digital friendship.
The film was made in Benjamin Kessler's shared flat in Wiesbaden, where he has been living for three years and where he took his first steps in narrative filmmaking.
GAZE IN BATTLE | Germany 2023 | Documentation | Rhein-Main-Premiere | Length: 20:06 Min | Director: Ayla Pierrot Arendt
Gaze in Battle follows director Ayla Pierrot Arendt's transition from mere observation to a searing experience in Israel/Palestine in the summer of 2023. As protests unfold in Tel Aviv and violence intensifies in the West Bank, Arendt grapples with threats and contradictions. Using a blue screen, diaristic voiceover, and experimental performance, Arendt illustrates personal involvement, until reality compels her unwilling participation. Amongst a people divided under the same striking blue sky, her gaze is creating an urgent record of life on the brink of terror and war, rather than weighing sides. Emphasising her limited perspective, Arendt cropped the 4k 16:9 footage to a square format.
Ayla Pierrot Arendt studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and choreography & performance at the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies in Gießen. Arendt's hand-drawn animation and performance art films have been shown at renowned festivals worldwide since 2007. Arendt is currently working on the walk-in 4-channel video installation DEATH IN PEACE (2024), as the 2nd part of her trilogy WAR AND PEACE, funded by HessenFilm und Medien.
POINT. LINE. WAVE. ANGLE. GRADIENT. | Germany 2023 | Experimental | World premiere | Length: 01:44 Min | Director: Gleb Bondarev
The dancer Gleb Bondarev is fascinated by the beauty of forms, the precision and expression of movements. Dancing, he needs no words to convey his story to us.
Gleb Bondarev lives in Dieburg and studies Motion Pictures at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences. He is also a dancer with experience in various fields.
BANNKORB | Germany 2024 | Feature film | Rhein-Main-Premiere | Length: 19:12 Min | Director: Vincent Ercolani, Julius Schulze Farwick & Nicholas Dues
Josef lives a seemingly peaceful life in a remote hut in the forest. He keeps bees and lives self-sufficiently. But behind the idyllic façade lurks his dark past. Josef, once an SS colonel during the Second World War, is haunted by the horrors he committed.
Filmmakers Vincent Ercolani and Nicholas Dues studied directing at Mainz University of Applied Sciences. Together with Julius Schulze Farwick, they wrote the screenplay and directed the film.
WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING IN COBURG? | Germany 2023 | Documentation | World premiere | Length: 10:42 Min | Director: Leonie Kunkel
Around 100 student fraternities that are members of the Coburg Convent meet regularly in the town that gives Coburg its name. But what are their aims? The slogan "Honour, Freedom, Friendship, Fatherland" already suggests that the answers are scary. What's actually happening in Coburg? interviews members and experts against the backdrop of the convention meeting.
Leonie Kunkel studies at the HfG Offenbach. Was passiert eigentlich in Coburg? is her debut film, which is celebrating its premiere at LICHTER.
ADAMS RIPPE | Germany 2024 | Animation | World premiere | Length: 02:30 Min | Director: Svenja Döbert
What do car design, medical research and space suits have in common? Like many things in our society, they are mostly focused on men. Adams Rippe explains how ignorance in medical research has been to the detriment of women.
Svenja Döbert grew up in the Rhine-Main region and studied at Mainz University of Applied Sciences, where she also discovered her enthusiasm for 2D animation. The short film Adams Rippe is her bachelor's degree project.
DIE NACKTE WAHRHEIT | Germany/Belgium 2023 | Documentation | Length: 10:14 Min | Director: Lena Grobusch
"I don't want to be looked at, I want to be seen." A naked woman sits on a sofa and is painted by an artist: Lena Grobusch's film questions the objectification of women. She provokes a re-evaluation of the female body, towards self-determination and authenticity.
Lena Grobusch is currently studying for a Bachelor's degree in Motion Pictures at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences. During her semester abroad in Belgium, she made her first short film "The Naked Truth" in collaboration with the artist Katharina Hamp, which led her to the medium of film. Since then she has experimented mainly with analogue film and Super 8.
ASTRO_PLANTBOY_69 | Germany 2024 | Animation | World premiere | Length: 07:58 Min | Director: Theo Lucas
Dating in space seems to follow the same laws as dating on Earth. Apps are supposed to make it easier to find and get to know people, but in the end, a personal, chance encounter is perhaps the nicer way to make a connection.
Theo Lucas lives and works in Hesse. He completed his studies at the Kunsthochschule Kassel with his short film astro_plantboy_69.
Regional short films III
Length: 90 Min
Location: Pupille - Kino in der Uni
FR, 19th April - 20:15 h
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GELBES RECHTECK | Germany 2023 | Documentation | World premiere | Length: 06:07 Min | Director: Janis Schmidt
"Smoking in this station is only permitted in the designated areas" - these delimiting yellow lines open up a space for communication in which the whole of life is depicted. Gelbes Rechteck observes people travelling, smoking, and telling everyday stories but also gives deeper insights into their opinions, views and philosophies of life.
Janis Schmidt has been studying Visual Communication with a focus on film and moving images at the Kunsthochschule Kassel since 2021. His work deals with random everyday situations to approach the psychology of human behaviour. His debut short film Gelbes Rechteck was shot at Kassel Wilhelmshöhe station.
SAIGON KISS | Germany/Vietnam/Australia 2024 | Feature film | Rhein-Main-Premiere | Length: 22:00 Min | Director: Hồng Anh Nguyễn
The queer romance Saigon Kiss unfolds in the streets of the vibrant metropolis of Saigon. Mo and Vicky meet by chance when their motorbike breaks down and discover an unexpected bond. Amidst the hustle and bustle of the city, they find solace and tenderness in each other's company.
Hồng Anh Nguyễn is a Frankfurt-born queer Vietnamese-German director and screenwriter. She works between Frankfurt am Main and Ho Chi Minh City. Her films have been shown at international festivals such as Clermont-Ferrand and BFI Flare. During her school days at Heinrich-von-Gagern-Gymnasium, she took part in workshops and seminars at the Filmhaus Frankfurt and the Wiesbaden Media Centre.
PETRUSHKA | Germany 2023 | Animation | Length: 02:46 Min | Director: Ulrich Stöcker
Love overcomes all obstacles - as the saying often goes. In the bittersweet animated film Petrushka, presented as a Hessen Talent at the Berlinale 2024, opens the eyes of an enraptured dancer who, out of longing, gets rid of the strings of his marionette existence.
Ulrich Stöcker has been studying "Animation and Game" at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences since 2021. In his projects, he focuses on developing new formats that combine classical music with new media. The 3D animation Petrushka was realised as a semester project at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences.
GOLEM'S BREATH | Germany/Czech Republic/United Kingdom 2023 | Experimental | Length: 16:16 Min | Director: Vincent Rabas-Kolominsky
What was it actually like back then, in Prague? The experimental film Golem's Breath follows the protagonist to Prague and explores how the medium of film can approach history - the history of a city and a family. The partly animated film is based on the story of the director's family, who fled Prague after the suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968.
Vincent Rabas-Kolominsky studied in Freiburg and Glasgow. He completed his Master's degree in Filmmaking and Media Arts at the University of Glasgow with the short film Golem's Breath. Vincent's mother's side of the family comes from Wiesbaden, where he spent much of his childhood. He has lived in Wiesbaden again since 2023 to work as a film producer. The film is about his grandmother, who lived in Frankfurt until her death in May 2023.
MECHANICAL RESONANCE | Germany 2023 | Experimental | Rhein-Main-Premiere | Length: 04:14 Min | Director: Juejun Chen
Through the artful combination of image and sound, Juejun Chen creates a fascinating synthesis between human movement and mechanical work in her experimental film Mechanical Resonance. Film footage from Chinese dance schools, legs in tights, splayed feet, rattling, hissing, whirring: the film talks about the promise of a free body in dance and at the same time takes a critical look at the parallel of industrial efficiency.
Juejun Chen is currently studying at the Kunsthochschule Kassel. Video art is one of the many creative ways in which she uses the medium. Her work also includes painting, performance and installation.
POLENSTRICH | Germany 2023 | Feature film | World premiere | Length: 11:50 Min | Director: Adrianna Amra Bartosiewicz
Frankfurt's "Polenstrich" in Ostend is something of an institution in the city as an openly illegal labour scene. In the short film Polenstrich, we meet Leo, a young man from Poland who tries to support himself and his mother with odd jobs.
Author and director Adrianna Amra Bartosiewicz recently completed her second degree in Motion Pictures at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences. She is currently working as a junior producer in a film production company and is honing her skills in writing and filming stories for various projects. The story of Polenstrich is inspired by true events and aims to draw attention to aspects of the labour shortage in Frankfurt.
DER ZEIGEFINGERZEIGER | Germany 2024 | Animation | World premiere | Length: 01:52 Min | Director: Jan Riesenbeck
According to the dictionary, the index finger is the most frequently used. It bears its name because it is preferably used to point to an object or a direction. However, it can also be used to admonish, threaten, accuse or flip others the bird. Some people turn this hobby into a profession and become professional pointing fingers. But there are also other possibilities, as this charming animated film shows.
Jan Riesenbeck studied in the film class at the Kunsthochschule Kassel. His short films have been shown at festivals around the world and have won numerous awards. His current project "Mein Name ist Hase" was honoured with the Wim Wenders Scholarship and was nominated for the Hessian Screenplay Award. Der Zeigefingerzeiger was created as part of the series "Erdlinge" (AT: Modern Characters), the development of which was supported by HessenFilm und Medien. The production took place in Kassel.
DAS NICHT GELEBTE LEBEN | Germany 2023 | Documentation | World premiere | Length: 10:16 Min | Director: Veve Kiselev
What does home mean? - a feeling, a smell, a sound, a place. In her film, Veve Kiselev takes us on a poetic journey that reveals where she comes from and where her path will lead her. 23 years ago, her family left Atbasar, Kazakhstan, to find a new home in Germany. Now she returns to discover the paths of her earliest memories and the roots of her identity.
Born in Atbasar, Kazakhstan, Veve Kiselev grew up in Wetzlar in central Hesse from the age of five. She completed her studies at the HfG Offenbach, where she specialised in video, sound and performance. Das nicht gelebte Leben is her graduation film.
VERZERRT | Germany 2024 | Animation | World premiere | Length: 05:17 Min | Director: Kristin Garrelts
Verzerrt tells the story of Lou, who is confronted with the challenges of social interaction. Lou longs for acceptance and belonging. As he tries to fight his insecurities and integrate himself, his body becomes a manifesto of his inner conflicts.
Kristin Garrelts lives and works in Wiesbaden. She studied communication design at RheinMain University of Applied Sciences, specialising in 2D animation, illustration and editorial design. She completed her studies in early 2024 with her graduation film Verzerrt.