Chronicle

Good things happen in cinema

The program of the 58th Hof International Film Festival focuses on solidarity and respect in the face of global and social challenges, on the search for identity, unity and humanity, under the heading…

“Good things happen in cinema.”

The festival celebrates numerous new discoveries, especially the debut feature films, such as JUPITER by Benjamin Pfohl (New Talent Award, Critics’ Award, Best Setting) with Mariella Aumann as the impressive main actress of 14-year-old Lea, whose family falls for a cosmic cult. Lea must decide whether to follow her parents or make her own way on earth. In SCATTERED SUNSHINE (Friedrich Baur Gold Award), Lucas Dülligen explores the world of disoriented David, who leaves an addiction clinic to return to a life of excess. Jurijs Saule presents a psychological showdown in MARTIN READS THE QURAN: an exciting conversation about belief and unbelief, good and evil with Zejhun Demirov as a sympathetic family man with Iranian roots and Ulrich Tukur as a professor of Islamic studies.

Emma Bading is represented with three films: as director of the short films DOMESTICATED and SHUT UP AND SUFFER (Jury Short Film Award), which deal with the topics of femininity and role models in an entertaining and expressive way, and as actress in THE MAN FROM ROME by Jaap van Heusden.

Documentaries from all over the world, as strongly represented as ever before, confront us with serious topics such as environmental destruction, wars and their consequences, climate change, human rights and the shift to the right in society. In fascinating portraits, they feature artistically active individualists such as the “Atelier23” group in the opening film ZEPPELIN OBEN RECHTS, the sculptor Flavio Paolucci, the actress Barbara Sukowa and the author, lawyer and film critic Dietrich Kuhlbrodt.

Supporting program offers a variety of events

The HoF PLUS supporting program gains importance with almost 40 events taking place over five days, including talks, panels, award ceremonies, 7 minutes pitch and new formats like Night Talk, Industry Dialogue, Festival Podcast and a cooperation with the Theater Hof. Finally, on 21 December, the shortest day of the year, the Audience Short Film Award of the City of Hof is presented to Jonas Baumann for NO MORE POOL TIME. In addition to the winning film, the audience’s three favorite films include the short documentary WINDGEIST by Ester Miron and FIRE DRILL by Maximilian Villwock.

The 59th Hof International Film Festival glows as a vibrant place of beginnings, encounters, and creative development:

The place to grow

The festival opens with a live performance by the band “Unterbiberger Hofmusik”. In ÜBER UNTERBIBERGER, Matthias Ditscherlein portrays the Himpsl family of musicians, who combine Bavarian folk music with jazz, oriental rhythms, and global sounds. “Respect and don’t shit your pants” is their motto, which could just as well apply to the festival team: because in the summer of 2025, the news about the shutdown of the Scala cinema causes maximum activity. The “cinema gem, the dream in red” (Chris Kraus) is closed, in need of renovation, the technology is outdated. Thanks to an active HoF community and the city of Hof, new partnerships are emerging and new high-quality venues are being created at Arts Avenue, Neustädter Gymnasium, House of Music, and Freiheitshalle.

“For six days, Hof pulsates as a vibrant cinema experience world – every venue a magical place of discovery, every encounter an inspiring moment.” Thorsten Schaumann, Festival Director

The ticket container in the downtown area, legendary for its camping film festival fans and long queues, is also history: tickets are now available online and on site at the Bürgergesellschaft (BG) meeting center. There, for the first time, the film festival awards five film prizes for outstanding works in one evening. Julia Roesler’s LUISA, already honored with the German Cinema New Talent Award, also wins the prize for Best Set Design. LUISA provides an intense look at life in a residential home for people with disabilities, sensitively addressing the boundaries between closeness, trust, and abuse.

The Friedrich Baur Gold Prize goes in equal parts to Ina Balon for PLAN F, which juror Dominik Graf describes as “boundless, excessive, and carried by a fresh energy,” and to Alexander Conrads’ TOGETHER APART., a dialogue-driven relationship comedy about love and separation. Patricia Hector’s and Lothar Herzog’s documentary THE UNSPOKEN sensitively explores the memories of the last surviving witnesses of the Nazi era and is honored with the GRANIT Documentary Film Award. THE GOOD WOMAN by Masha Mollenhauer and HOUDA by Svea Ege tell impressive stories about female self-determination on the big screen, both of which receive short film awards from the City of Hof.

As a retrospective, the festival presents a homage to filmmaker Julia von Heinz, whose career is inextricably linked to HoF. Under the title #oF NEXT, cinema for the next generation is featured for the first time, with seven screenings of films rated FSK 12 and FSK 16.

The chronicle from the 2024 festival onwards is a team project by the Friends of the Hof International Film Festival.

Early beginnings