exground filmfest

herzlich willkommen // welcome

We would like to welcome you warmly to exground filmfest 36!

We have done everything in our power to assemble an excellent program: highlights from the big A-list festivals in Cannes, Berlin, Venice and Karlovy Vary are headed to Wiesbaden, including a slew of submissions for the 2024 foreign-film Oscar. Around 200 productions will be screened – a cross-section of international cinema’s class of 2022/2023, chosen from nearly 2,000 submitted short and feature-length films. The highest compliment you can pay our programming is to come out in droves to our festival venues once again.

From November 17 to 26, you also have a wealth of opportunities to enter into conversation with filmmakers and to expand your and our horizons. The pandemic years in particular proved that there are no true substitutes for the collective experience of cinema and in-person exchange!

In light of the difficult times ahead for culture in Wiesbaden in the coming years, we can only appeal to you to support us with your presence in the cinema, as we are not the only ones who do not know how things are supposed to continue in our hometown from 2024 on when it comes to culture. A sheerly untenable situation for all cultural institutions in Wiesbaden, since it removes any sense of certainty in planning. In addition, it is totally incomprehensible that city council members are here choosing to disregard the cultural development plan which they themselves voted to adopt.

Our thanks go out to all those who have supported us in 2023. Special thanks are due to the State Capital of Wiesbaden, the Hessian State Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and the Arts, Hessen Film und Medien GmbH and Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain. Our equally warm thanks go to all of our helpers, without whom we would not be able to put on the festival.

We are looking forward to ten eventful festival days full of new (filmic) impressions as well as to many attendees!

Your festival team at exground filmfest