Dear audience, dear festival team,

The news is worrying. Global conflicts are increasing, the international order is faltering, rules and institutions for peacekeeping are losing their binding force. Under the title “Courageously Utopian”, this year’s edition of exground filmfest seeks to counter this state of crisis: with hope, togetherness and resistance to repression as well.

Grasping film as a means to address the current issues of our time makes exground filmfest a cinematic highlight. We look forward this year to extraordinary productions from the world of independent cinema. The program features works which garnered awards in Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Locarno, Rotterdam and Sarajevo – and the best of approximately 2,100 reviewed submissions. Attendees can take in numerous world premieres and other firsts in the “American Independents”, “Made in Germany”, “European Cinema” and “World Cinema” sections, as well as in the short film programs and competitions.

In spite of the festival’s rich international scope, films from Hesse are also well represented here. I am especially delighted that Sylvie Hohlbaum’s short film KUTTE, which was made with the support of Hessen Film & Medien and nominated for the German Short Film Award, is screening in the German Short Film Competition. I would also like to draw your attention to the contributions from RheinMain University of Applied Sciences Wiesbaden to the Wiesbaden Special – Short Film Competition.

None of this would be possible without the festival team, who live and breathe film. For this, we owe the all-volunteer organisational team not only our respect and gratitude, they also deserve our support. I am glad that funding from Hessen Film & Medien has been significantly increased over the past several years.

I wish the audience and film guests unforgettable cinema experiences and the exground team a smooth festival period.

Timon Gremmels

Hessian State Minister for Science and Research, Arts and Culture