The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, founded in 1954, is considered one of the oldest short film festivals in the world and one of the largest international platforms for the short form. It is unique due to the breadth of form and genres shown, but above all for its focus on experimentation. Countless filmmakers and artists from Roman Polanski to Cate Shortland, from George Lucas to Pipilotti Rist, presented their first works here. Both political and aesthetic developments are initiated through the Short Film Festival, such as the Oberhausen Manifesto, which is perhaps the most im¬portant group document of German film.

To the present day the Short Film Festival continues to lead the way: the equal treatment of video in the competition since the end of the 80s, the ongoing engagement with advertising and industry films, the introduction of MuVi – the first festival prize in the world for music videos from Germany – at the end of the 1990s, or its own film submission plat¬form, are all considered innovative and precedent-setting.

In 2024, the 70th edition of the annual festival organised five competitions: the International Com¬petition, the German Competition, the NRW Competition, the Children’s and Young People’s Film Competition and the MuVi Prize for the best German music video.

Visits to festival events were complemented by discussions with filmmakers, organisers and institutions from the fields of (short) film and media art in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, founded in 1954, is considered one of the oldest short film festivals in the world and one of the largest international platforms for the short form. It is unique due to the breadth of form and genres shown, but above all for its focus on experimentation. Countless filmmakers and artists from Roman Polanski to Cate Shortland, from George Lucas to Pipilotti Rist, presented their first works here. Both political and aesthetic developments are initiated through the Short Film Festival, such as the Oberhausen Manifesto, which is perhaps the most im¬portant group document of German film.

To the present day the Short Film Festival continues to lead the way: the equal treatment of video in the competition since the end of the 80s, the ongoing engagement with advertising and industry films, the introduction of MuVi – the first festival prize in the world for music videos from Germany – at the end of the 1990s, or its own film submission plat¬form, are all considered innovative and precedent-setting.

In 2024, the 70th edition of the annual festival organised five competitions: the International Com¬petition, the German Competition, the NRW Competition, the Children’s and Young People’s Film Competition and the MuVi Prize for the best German music video.

Visits to festival events were complemented by discussions with filmmakers, organisers and institutions from the fields of (short) film and media art in North Rhine-Westphalia.