HOMAGE TO JULIA VON HEINZ

The homage of the 59th Hof International Film Festival 2025 is dedicated to the director, screenwriter and producer JULIA VON HEINZ. She began her career with one of her first short films in Hof in 2003. Today she is among Germany’s most successful auteur filmmakers and has long made a name for herself internationally through numerous projects. Her films set standards for German cinema and show that ambition and emotionality do not exclude one another. They unfold a multifaceted portrait of Germany, looking back to history, pulsating with the present, without losing the sensuous and entertaining.

“Reflective, deep, and socially engaged – that is Julia von Heinz as a filmmaker and as a person. Her career is inseparably tied to Hof. With her voice, she makes a mark – not only in film – that resonates worldwide. It is the right moment to pause and celebrate her extraordinary cinematic work together on the big screen in a tribute”, says Thorsten Schaumann, Artistic Director of the Hof International Film Festival.

Julia von Heinz, born in 1976 in West Berlin and raised in Bonn, began her path as a director via detours: her applications to film schools were rejected; before earning her diploma as a cinematographer, she worked as a media designer. Even with her short films, she drew attention. In 2005 she became an artistic collaborator with Rosa von Praunheim at the Babelsberg Film University Konrad Wolf, where she earned her PhD in 2012. There is hardly a prize in Germany that she hasn’t received for her films (German Film Prize, Bavarian Film Prize, Goldener Spatz, etc.) as well as many nominations at festivals worldwide (Turin, Venice, etc.).

Julia von Heinz gained international attention in 2020 with her political drama UND MORGEN DIE GANZE WELT, which competed at the Venice International Film Festival and opened the 54th Hof Film Festival. The film, in which Julia von Heinz processed her own Antifa past, was Germany’s entry for the Oscars in 2021. TREASURE, based on Lily Brett’s bestseller Too Many Men, is her first international project and celebrated its world premiere at the Berlinale in 2024.

The Hof International Film Festival has had a long-standing close connection with Julia von Heinz. The short film LUCIE & VERA premiered at the festival in 2003. Since then she has been a regular guest in Hof and presented films here in the following years: in 2008 the documentary STANDESGEMÄß about three aristocratic single women; in ROSAKINDER in 2012 she and five directors tackled the absurd challenge of reconciling the relationship with her father figure Rosa von Praunheim; 2013 followed the feature HANNA'S JOURNEY and in 2018 FÜR IMMER UND DICH, before she opened the Hof Film Festival with UND MORGEN DIE GANZE WELT in 2020. In 2021 Julia von Heinz received the Hof City Film Prize.

These nine films by Julia von Heinz will be shown at the 59th Hof Film Festival: 

• LUCIE & VERA (2003)
• WAS AM ENDE ZÄHLT (2007)
• STANDESGEMÄß (2008)
• ROSAKINDER (2012)
• HANNAS REISE (2013)
• ICH BIN DANN MAL WEG (2015)
• UND MORGEN DIE GANZE WELT 2020)
• ELDORADO KADEWE (2021, Miniserie – Folgen 1-3)
• TREASURE (2024)