21 December 2023: Short Film Day in Hof

„Publikumslieblinge der Hofer Filmtage“ und Preisverleihung sowie „Wie es früher war“ mit 16mm Vorführung

On 21 December, the shortest day of the year, is Short Film Day. Within this context, two events in Hof celebrate the short film:

The top five audience favorites from 64 short films of the 57th Hof International Film Festival will be screened at the Central-Kino Hof at 07 pm. The audience was able to vote both on site at the Hof cinemas and online at HoF on Demand until November 6. In addition to the Jury Short Film Award of the City of Hof 2023, which went in equal parts to MY ORANGE GARDEN by Anna-Sophia Richard and Can Tanyol for CRAZY BLOOD on 27 October, the Audience Short Film Award 2023 will also be presented. Audiences across Germany voted for the following top five short films (in alphabetical order):

• RELEASE, direction Eveline Schönefeld (17 min)
• THEO, direction Sejad Ademaj (8 min)
• NO ONE LIKE YOU, direction Maximilian Riemer (17 min)
• CRAZY BLOOD, direction Can Tanyol (18 min)
• INTERVAL, direction Theresa Rehe (14 min)

The five directors will provide insights into their work in a discussion with the artistic director of the Film Festival Thorsten Schaumann and the audience. Afterwards, Lord Mayor Eva Döhla and Peter Nürmberger, Head of the Department of Culture, will present the Audience Short Film Award of the City of Hof 2023, endowed with € 2,500.

For "How it used to be", Andreas Fickenscher from Kopf Hof e.V. will be standing at his old 16 mm projectors in Kafe Jasmin in Hof, also from 7:00 pm. Using old school educational films and so-called cultural films, the audience will embark on an analog journey through time from the 1930s to the 1980s. Some of the films have been carefully restored frame by frame especially for this screening. These are films that were no longer given any importance in the transition to the digital age and were thus consigned to oblivion. But precisely between all the spectacular and special things of today, these plain and simple films develop their charm.

"How it used to be" was awarded the Short Film Day 2023 Creative Award for its special concept and idea.

The Hof International Film Festival was founded in 1967 exclusively with screenings of short films. Short films often represent the first signatures of talent and at the same time are becoming increasingly important as an independent format, especially in the digital age of short attention spans. The festival has always shown a short film and a feature-length film together in a single screening. In order to place a stronger focus on short films, the City of Hof awards a jury prize and an audience short film prize, each endowed with 2,500 euros.

Since the introduction of the nationwide Short Film Day in 2012, the Kopf Hof e.V. association has participated annually with a self-curated short film program. For 18 years, the association has brought the annual short film reel "Augenblicke" to the Scala Filmtheater and organizes the annual short film open air "Uferflimmern" in the summer, where short films from the entire history of film are selected for a specific focus and are sometimes still shown with portable 35mm projectors.

The Short Film Day was born in France in 2011 as "Le jour le plus court". It has been held in Germany since 2012 and is coordinated by the AG Kurzfilm as the Federal Association of German Short Film and has since developed into an internationally significant cultural event with more than 20 participating countries. The motto of the 12th Short Film Day is "In the Balance" and this year, for the first time, a record number of over 460 events are taking place.