Summary of the 58th Hof International Film Festival

Good things happened in cinema in Hof

On Sunday, November 3, the 58th Hof International Film Festival 2024 (HoF IFF) came to a successful end with the plus7streamdays and many films online. Whether in cinemas in Hof, on the street in front of the bratwurst stand, in the virtual XR room, on the soccer field, in the festival center BG, in the Hoftex hall or on the digital channels, encounters between people took place everywhere. We succeeded in establishing an exchange between the filmmakers and the audience at all levels. This was made possible by a cross-generational, low-threshold, supra-regional and, as far as possible, barrier-free range of films, supporting program, talks and discussions.

Summary of facts:

• Screenings in 10 movie theaters,
• total duration 13 days, six days of screenings in Hof plus7streamdays with many films on demand,
• 16,000 visitors in Hof’s cinemas over six days with an 10% increase in the average occupancy rate of all cinemas to 61% with fewer seats due to the renovation of the cinemas compared to last year,
• 145 films programmed, including 57 world premieres, 10 European premieres and 66 German premieres from a wide variety of genres, from more than 20 countries.
• With a total of 850 guests - filmmakers, producers, distributors, industry experts and journalists, almost 10% more than in 2023 - a new record was set.
• The established HoF on Demand platform is the supra-regional offer for all those who cannot come to Hof but still want to take participate at the festival.
• A total of 7,000 film views on HoF On Demand, which is a slight decrease of 6% compared to 2023.
• Twelve film awards worth a total of 70,000 euros were presented, including the New German Cinema New Talent Award to Benjamin Pfohl for JUPITER and the highest endowed young director prize for a director in Germany, including a one-year mentoring program (by director Hans Steinbichler) for Lucas Dülligen and his feature film SCATTERED SUNSHINE.
• Retro homage to porn producer and director Howard Ziehm,
• Special FUTURE THINKING with artist duo Harriet Maria & Peter Meining,
• HoF XR with three German premiere projects, including DUCHAMPIANA,
• HoF PLUS supporting program: nearly 40 public events over five days, including talks, award ceremonies, and new formats like the Night Talk, Industry Dialogue, as well as the Filmtage Podcast Leinwandgeflüster — over 100 filmmakers participated in conversations and social media clips were recorded.
• Expansion of the HoF streaming channel to a 24/7 offering with 10 hours of in-house productions per day throughout the film festival (2023: 14 hours/day with 7 hours of in-house productions/day),
• Streaming of all talks and award ceremonies: 5,500 views via the HoF YouTube channel (2023: 3,500); all highlights from the live streams on the Filmtage YouTube channel,
• and guests including: Emma Bading, Jasna Fritzi Bauer, Nadeshda Brennicke, Caro Cult, Annette Focks, Dominik Graf, Peter Gödel, Philipp Hochmair, Timo Jacobs, Dietrich Kuhlbrodt, Lasse Lehmann, Friedrich Mücke, Rosa von Praunheim, Carin C. Tietze, Lisa Vicari, Johanna Wokalek, Stephan Zinner.

Outlook

The Hof International Film Festival is active throughout the year. These include the film series HoF Filmtage Rendezvous in Hof and Hanover, the presentation of Filmtage films at cinema screenings and the communication of premieres, film releases and other creative activities of the HoF family. For example in November:

Wednesday, 13.11.2024, 18.15 Monopol Kino Munich: Screening of  WHO’S AFRAID OF HITLER’S TOWN? in the presence of producer Julia Mitterlehner and director Günter Schwaiger, moderated by Thorsten Schaumann (HIFF Artistic Director)

Wednesday, 27.11.2024, 7.30 pm Kommunales Kino Hannover: HoF Film Festival Rendezvous with a surprise film from this year’s festival

The announcement and awarding of the Audience Short Film Award of the City of Hof 2024 is being planned at the Central-Kino Hof.