About the Festival
INTERFILM Festival
5/11/24 - 10/11/24
5/11/24 - 10/11/24
About the Festival
Founded in 1982 in the squats of Kreuzberg, INTERFILM is the oldest and largest short film festival in the capital that attracts international filmmakers and local film fans alike to the cinemas every year. The festival, which qualifies for the Academy Awards, has long been renowned beyond German and European borders.
INTERFILM and its sister festival KUKI - the young short film festival Berlin show more than 350 short films every year in more than 50 programmes, workshops and events. Both festivals see themselves as audience festivals with a focus on narrative film. Both festivals have set themselves the goal of curately reflecting current political and social events and creating a space for strong films with progressive content. Representation, reflection and empowerment are at the centre of programmes that deal with themes of post-colonial heritage, social participation, global injustice, sexual and gender self-determination and anti-capitalist positions. In short: INTERFILM & KUKI focus on the central potential of short film, its ability to reflect the red-hot zeitgeist. The selected short films and the colourful, loud, loving audience show that this does not have to mean dreary discourse events under the aegis of old white men.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Heinz Hermanns once again for his invaluable work, which over four decades has made INTERFILM what it is today: a celebration of short film with an international reputation, strong roots and confidence in the future.
Since 2020 the artistic direction of the festival has been taken over by a 10-member festival curatorium. A step that firmly anchors the diversity and polyphony of the short film medium in the artistic orientation and curatorial practice of the festival, and a concept that should also take the multifaceted nature of short film into account in the organisational structure of the festival. Living up to this claim is not always easy, but discussion is productive and monoculture is never sustainable. The signs of the times are complex and this must also be reflected in the way we work.
The Festival Curatorium is formed by Alexander Stein, Andrea Schwemmer, Cord Dueppe, Fredi Klutas, Heinz Hermanns, Matthias Groll, Matti Swiec, Monica Koshka-Stein, Moritz Lehr and Sarah Dombrink:
studied film, theater, ethnology and journalism in Berlin. After his studies he learned film animation at Kaskeline Filmproduktion and realized his own animated films as well as stage designs and projections for the Schaubühne Berlin, Schauspielhaus Hamburg and for the world exhibition spectacle "Flambee" in Hannover 2000. He joined interfilm in 1998 and took over the role of producer.
Viewing and Co-Curation: Reality Bites & Eject
studied theater, film studies and acting in Berlin and New York and has appeared on stage, TV and film. She co-curates the IC, plays in the swing band The Toolbox Orchestra, works as a presenter and programs at the Max Ophüls Preis and the Arab Film Festival San Francisco.
Viweing and Co-Curation: International Competition
studied film studies and has been part of the interfilm team since 2016, where he does the international distribution of our short films and also co-curates the International Competition.
Viewing and Co-Curation: International Competition
is an ultra-long-term student of German philology and something with culture. She has been a permanent part of the KUKI team since 2018, where she organizes, screens, curates, feeds social media, bakes cakes, and co-curates Teenage Riot. And because she likes all weird things, she is also co-curator of eject.
Viewing und Co-Curation KUKI
founded interfilm more than 40 years ago and has promoted interfilm internationally through various on-site contacts with filmmakers and institutions. He cross-searches the festival, curates with colleagues the Environmental Film Competition and is a curator and jury member at festivals worldwide.
Viewing and Co-Curation: Green Film Competition
has been an interfilmer for over 20 years. He studied sociology and journalism, enjoys writing book reviews, published the book "Das Digital" in 1998 and recently published "When Shiva rages, the world shakes - Hinduism as an adventure in everyday life in India". He has been curating at interfilm since the beginning, he looks after the website, organizes the monthly, nationwide short film programme series Shorts Attack and loves gardening.
Viewing und Co-Curation: International Competition and Green Film Competition
was born in Australia to Chinese-Russian and German immigrants and settled in Berlin in her early twenties in 1993. She has always been involved in music, film, performance and art and has worked at interfilm Berlin since 1998. Monica became Artistic Director of KUKI Young Short Film Festival in 2011, leads KUKI’s film-curation workshops for teenagers, gives talks and curates short film programs for festivals and institutes around the world. In 2021, she joined the short film selection committee at Berlinale-Generation and developed the digital film education platform, Kurzfilm im Klassenraum that was launched in 2022. Her focus lies on the inventive and empathetic potential of the cinematic short form and how film can help young people feel at home in the world and in themselves. For the adult side of interfilm, she researches films and co-curates the genre programs and Teenage Riot.
Viewing KUKI and Co-Curation KUKI
co-curates documentaries, mockumentaries, music videos and everything in between. He has made short films and music videos, but actually comes more from music and is active as a Dj. He studied art, music and media, where he first came into contact with short films: love at first sight.
Viewing and Co-Curation: Documentaryfilmcompetition & Reality Bites
started at Kuki in 2018 and moved to interfilm the next year, where he has been co-responsible for venues, shipping and sponsorship over the years, and since last year also sound & vision. The actor and speaker is also involved in the supporting program of the Performing Arts Festival Berlin and speaks for the Grandparents for Future podcast "Oma, Opa erzählt mal!".
Viewing and Co-Curation: Sound & Vision
is acquisition manager for interfilm Berlin's Short Film Sales & Distribution since 2018. Before that, she worked for the interfilm festival in variety of positions starting as location manager in 2011. In between, she graduated in Media Studies at the Film University Babelsberg. She co-curates the German competition and is a member of the Festival Curatorium, the artistic directorial team.
Viewing and Co-Curation: German Competition
