About the Festival

interfilm & KUKI

Founded in 1982 in the squats of West Berlin as a Super-8 film festival, INTERFILM has gradually evolved to become an epic and audience-focused, Oscar-qualifying international short film festival with a distribution and sales agency. KUKI Young Short Film Festival Berlin grew out of interfilm’s small children’s section in 2008 and presently shows 13 programs of international shorts to young audiences aged 4-19. Held during the same festival week, interfilm and KUKI collectively present around 50 programs each year to an audience of approximately 20,000. While both festivals have a largely narrative focus, innovative film forms and fresh gazes can be found throughout all sections. Creative programming concepts have also brought forth interfilm’s legendary events including EJECT!, Sound & Vision and Full Dome, while KUKI’s great expertise centres on the involvement of teenage curators and in-depth film talks. The festival is accompanied by an extensive program of masterclasses, panels and talks featured at INTERFORUM for industry professionals and the interested public.

What's so great about short film?

While feature films often conform to a formula, the short form readily finds new ways to tell multi-faceted and daring stories. Independent from the commercial demands of big studios, investors and advertisers, a short film is usually less expensive and faster to produce, making it a more readily-accessible medium the world over. Thus, the short form tends to be more immediate, explorative, experimental, conscientious and authentic than the feature, bringing us closer to the world in profound, informative, empathetic and playful ways.

KUKI, Young Short Film Festival Berlin, has been campaigning for a diversity of perspectives since 2008. The films in our broad spectrum of programs deal with socially-relevant topics and raise questions, but they also inspire confidence and empathy. We believe in the power that lies in sharing stories and experiences. Wishing to inspire a fascination and appreciation of cinema in our young audience, we are committed to presenting the limitless creative potential of film by presenting a variety of form, technique and style. Encouraged by the input from our young audience, curators and juries and their astute comments and critical questions, we endeavour to remain true to our course of creating a festival that takes the interests and emotions of young people to heart.