exground filmfest in Wiesbaden is amongst Germany’s most important film festivals for international independent productions. exground filmfest is an important meeting place for journalists, specialized visitors, and guests from the film business.
Many (debut-) films from by now world wide renowned directors had their German or European premieres in Wiesbaden. To name but a few from the last years: 9 SOULS by Toshiaki Toyoda, GERRY by Gus Van Sant, THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA by Tommy Lee Jones, DEPARTURES by Yojiro Takita, SOMEWHERE TONIGHT by Michael Di Jiacomo, GANTZ 2: PERFECT ANSWER by Shinsuke Sato, AFTER LUCIA by Michel Franco and BETHLEHEM by Yuval Adler.
Guests in Wiesbaden included German Film Award winner Oskar Roehler, Oscar winner Les Bernstein, Katja Esson (Oscar nominee), Susan Emshwiller (script writer for POLLOCK), Adam Green with his film debut GEMSTONES CRACKIN’, New Wave icon Anne Clark as well as the German shooting stars Josefine Preuß, Simon Gosejohann, Dietrich Brüggemann, and Axel Ranisch.
Accompanying programs, such as workshops, exhibitions, concerts, parties and panel discussions, top off exground filmfest.
Main program
American Independents
Independent US productions: from masterpieces with celebrity casts via genuine “Indies” low-budget films with cult potential.
Made in Germany
Brand-new productions from Germany of special quality and originality – arthouse, low-budget films as well as trash jewels and genre films with international format.
International
Box office smash hits, artistically innovative films, and underground cult movies from all over the world.
Short film programs covering all genres
The shorter the better: at exground filmfest, this is true amongst all genres – and especially for the short film programs loved so much by the audience.
Special program
Focus
Every year, exground filmfest takes a special look at the filmic work of a specific country. In cooperation with colleges and local institutions, we already presented big and small masterpieces from Fennoscandia, Austria, Great Britain, France, Canada, the Benelux countries, Spain, Sweden, Latin America, Israel, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Greece, Iran, Turkey as well as the Philippines. In 2019, the focus will be dedicated to latest productions from Brazil.
Retrospective/Homage
exground filmfest dedicates a program to a specific director’s work every year. These compact and exquisite screenings already presented directors as Abel Ferrara, Michael Haneke, Mike Figgis, Claire Denis, David Cronenberg, Julio Médem, Roy Andersson, Eyal Sivan and an homage to German actor and director Ulli Lommel.
Competitions
exground filmfest’s contest programs have become an important forum for numerous promising young filmmakers – not least due to the huge audience interest in works off the cinema mainstream. At exground filmfest 33, cash prizes and non-cash prizes of EUR 17,500 are awarded.
German Feature Film Competition
This year, the audience will decide on the jury director’s award within our festival section Made in Germany, endowed with a prize money of EUR 1,500.
German Short Film Competition
One of the traditional highlights and audience hits, a nationwide contest for the best German short film, endowed with a total of EUR 9,500.
International Short Film Competition
A professional jury will hand out the award for the best international short film, endowed with EUR 2,000.
Wiesbaden-Special – Short Film Competition
Contest for short films by Wiesbaden production companies or local directors, audience award endowed with EUR 500.
youth days – International Youth Film Competition
A youth jury will award the best international feature film from the youth days program with EUR 2,500 – and the best international youth days short film with a prize endowed with EUR 500. In 2013, an additional audience award was introduced – endowed with a prize money of EUR 1,000.
youth days – Wiesbaden Youth Film Competition
Cannot be held 2020 due to Covid-19.