Filmfest Dresden (''Dresden Film Festival'') is an international short film festival since 1989 based in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The focus of the competition is on short feature films and animated films. When the Filmfest Dresden was held for the first time before the fall of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

, it was used to present films that were previously banned or rarely shown in the GDR to the public. After the

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

, the focus of the festival had to change. Since

DEFA DEFA (''Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft'') was the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) throughout the country's existence. Since 2019, DEFA's film heritage has been made accessible and licensable on the PRO ...

's animation studios were located in Dresden, the decision was made to use the concept of a short and animation festival. The international competition of the festival has existed since 1992 and 1998, followed by the establishment of its own national competition, in which the €20,000 promotional prize of the Saxon State Minister for Culture and Tourism has been awarded since 2004. With a total of more than €67,000 in prize money, Filmfest Dresden is one of the best endowed short film festivals in Europe. The award for the best animated and feature films in the competitions is the ''Golden Horseman'' based on the equestrian statue in Dresden of the same name. Moreover, there are also audience awards, the ''Golden Horseman'' for best sound design, the LUCA Film Award for GenderEquality and the ARTE short film award. In addition to the competitions, the festival week offers an extensive range of special programmes with thematic and country focuses, retrospectives and youth films. These include a series of focuses, which each year highlight a specific theme and explore it in several film programmes. In April 2019, for example, the key focus was dedicated to the current filmmaking in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. Since 2012, the section "etc. - events, trainings, connections" complements the cinematic offer with panel discussions, lectures, workshops, exhibitions and receptions and is aimed at both professionals and the interested public.

External links

References

{{Reflist 1989 establishments in Germany Film festivals established in 1989 Film festivals in Germany Film markets Recurring events established in 1989