Full cinemas, many guests, a great atmosphere and political statements: Taking stock of the 56th Hof International Film Festival

The 56th Hof International Film Festival can rejoice in its success. Audiences are returning to the cinema.

An increase in cinema admissions of 40% compared to 2021 puts film back in focus, evidenced by full cinema auditoria and the more than 700 accredited trade visitors and press representatives, twice as many as last year. The motto this year was "SOCIETY – Change as Opportunity", illustrated by the multifaceted programme with its 126 films - 75 features and documentaries, and 51 shorts.

Hybrid Normality

Hof Film Festival reached out to its audiences and, with HoF on Demand, created a platform to attract additional guests to the event. In addition, barrier-free participation was enabled for all those who could not come to Hof for various reasons. Most of the films were available for individual viewing on HoF on Demand after the German premieres, nationwide as well as for accredited persons, so constituting an additional superregional offer for all those interested in film.

With the HoF Live streaming channel, via YouTube as well as our homepage, Hof Film Festival offered an up-to-date communication interface from 10 a.m. to midnight. A varied programme was presented - up to 7 hours of self-produced and partly interactive content per day, such as director talks, panels, trailers, etc. Our Film Festival presence on TikTok was also launched, with its own storyline and a new look.

Soccer

The traditional match between FC Hofer Filmtage and FC Filmwelt, which all spectators considered high class and full of variety, ended 4:5.

Facts

• Total duration 13 days (six days in-person event plus7streamdays with almost all films on demand),
• an average of 14,000 visitors in Hof's cinemas over six days, signifying an increase of 40% by comparison to the previous year,
• the same number of premieres as in previous years,
• films available with Q&As online after their cinema premieres,
• presentation of ten prizes totalling 70,000 euros.
• A superregional audience could be reached through the HoF on Demand platform, an offer for not-yet-Hof-fans,
• approx. 7,200 film downloads on HoF on Demand by accredited and non-accredited viewers,
• Retro-homage to Roland Reber+Kollektiv,
• OUT OF THE BOX with three unusual independent projects as world premieres,
• HoF PLUS accompanying programme: 35 public events in five days, master class on the topic of documentary film, interviews with more than 100 filmmakers and social media clips recorded,
• our own HoF Streaming channel: 11 hours live streaming each festival day, 7 hours produced per day of our own content relating to the festival, 3,500 plays on the HoF YouTube channel, more than 52,000 visits to the streaming channel and the Filmtage website,
• all recorded live streams on the Filmtage YouTube channel.