The Dresden Film Festival announced the lineup for its 2023 edition last week.
A total of sixty-four short films from twenty-nine countries will be screened in Dresden from 18 to 23 April 2023. From around 2.800 film submissions, the festival’s selection committees chose thirty (co-)productions for the International Competition, twenty-six entries for the National Competition and eight works for the Central German Competition (formerly Regional Competition). With a new jury prize, the films are now competing for sixteen “Golden Horsemen” and special prizes.
Among the total of thirty entries in the International Competition are thirteen animations, including Our Pain by Hayashi Shunsaku from Japan, who won the Golden Rider for Remember at the 2016 Filmfest Dresden and eleven fictional and six hybrid works. The number of (co-) producing countries represented here is twenty-seven, including Congo, Colombia, Taiwan, South Korea, Brazil, China, India and the Philippines.
The National Competition is also international: of the twenty-six entries, six films were made as co-productions, among which with Ecuador, Croatia and Colombia. As in previous years, the number of independent productions (sixteen) outweighs contributions from film schools (ten). The Bauhaus University Weimar, Film Academy Baden-Württemberg, Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB) and the Kassel Art Academy are represented here.
The Central German Competition promotes regional filmmaking. Music plays a role in some of the eight entries: in their music video Mróčele, the Kolektiw Klanki takes its own fresh look at Sorbian culture. Lou Wildemann created experimental imagery with Cybo for Poly Poly’s track of the same name. The soundtrack (Daydreamer) for Julius Gintaras Blum’s documentary Chemkids was provided by Chemnitz-born Selma Juhran, who is also part of the film as a performer and voice-over.
Below is the full lineup of the 2023.
International Competition
- Maria Schneider, 1983 by Elisabeth Subrin (France, 2022)
- Mulika by Maisha Maene (Congo, 2022)
- Koerkorter (Doc—Apartment) by Priit Tender (Estonia, 2022)
- Szczypigłówki (Headpric Kles) by Katarzyna Miechowicz (Poland, 2022)
- Flores del otro patio by Jorge Cadena (Switzerland/Colombia, 2022)
- HU DE jU BU (Tin Er Stabs Tin Er) by jie Shen (China, 2022) (German premiere)
- Municipal Relaxation Module by Matthew Rankin (Canada, 2022) (German premiere)
- Potemkinistii (The Potemkinists) by Radu Jude (Romania, 2022)
- 가리사니 (The Gartisani) by Jin Woo (South Korea, 2022) (German premiere)
- Heart Fruit by Kim Allamand (Switzerland, 2022)
- Aaaah! by Osman Cerfon (France, 2023)
- To Write From Memory by Emory Chao Johnson (USA, 2023)
- Airhostess —737 by Thanasis Neofotistos (Greece, 2022)
- 각질 (Persona) by Sujin Moon (South Korea, 2022)
- Will My Parents Come to See Me by Mo Harawe (Austria/Germany/Somalia, 2022)
- Manchmal Weiss Ich Nicht Wo Die Sonne (Sometimes I Don’t Know Where the Sun) by Samantha Aquilino (Switzerland, 2O21)
- Asterión by Francesco Montagner (Czech Republic/Slovakia, 2022)
- An Avocado Pit by Ary Zara (Portugal, 2022)
- The Debutante by Elizabeth Hobbs (UK, 2022)
- Simo by Aziz Zoromba (Canada, 2022)
- Can’t Help Myself by Anna Ansone (Latvia, 2022)
- Priyo Ami (Dear Me) by Suchana Saha (India, 2022)
- Our Pain by Shunsaku Hayashi (Japan, 2023) (World premiere)
- The Lighting by Chihying Musquiqui (Taiwan/Togo/Germany, 2021)
- Écorchée (Skinned) by Joachim Hérissé (France, 2022)
- Am Pangabagat Nin Talakba Ha Likol (It’s Raining Frogs Outside) by Maria Estela Paiso (Philippines, 2021)
- Infantaria (Infantry) by Laís Santos Araújo (Brazil, 2022)
- The Land of Milk & Honey by Isabelle Nouzha (Belgium, 2022)
- Un Doi Perfect (Perfect Two) by Xandra Popescu (Romania/Germany, 2022)
- ミニミニポッケの大きな庭で (In the Big Yard Inside the Teeny—Weeny Pocket) by Yoko Yuki (Japan, 2022)
National Competition
- Intro by Anne Isensee (2022)
- Cell5—A Reconstructon by Mario Pfeiler (Germany/UK/USA, 2022)
- The Guardians of Refuse: A Short History of Rubbish by Susann Maria Hempel (2022)
- It Doesn’t Have to Be Today by Sophia Groening (2022)
- The Scent of Beetroot and the People Who Live Forever by Petra Stipetic and Maren Wiese (2023) (German premiere)
- Tremor by Rudolf Fitzgerald Leonard (2022)
- Dear Mahsa by Martin Pflanzer (2022)
- Aribada by Simon(e) Jaikiriuma Paetau and Natalia Escobar (Colombia/Germany, 2022)
- The Waiting by Volker Schlecht (2023)
- Staging Death by Jan Soldat (Germany/Austria, 2022)
- Being That Boy Again by Jan Koester (2022)
- Returning South by Sofia Ayala (2022)
- 11 by Vuk Jevremovic (Croatia/Germany, 2022) (German premiere)
- Testigo del viento (Wind Whisperer) by Fernanda Caicedo (Germany/Ecuador, 2022)
- Urban Solutions by Minze Tummescheit, Luciana Mazeto, Vinfcius Lopes and Arne Hector (2022)
- Backflip by Nikita Diakur (Germany/France, 2022)
- Simteam Cä Esti De A Mea (I Knew You Were My Kind) by Vanessa Gunesch (2022)
- Homesick by Maja Bresink (2022)
- Lake of Fire by Neo Zoon (2022)
- In/Finite by Daniel Maaß (2023) (World premiere)
- Lockdown Dreamscape by Nicolas Cebbe (2022)
- Moddergat (Mudhole) by Job Antoni Schellekens (2022)
- Kolaj (Collage) by GüIce Besen Dilek (2022)
- Oh, Butterfly! by Sylvia Schedel Bauer (2022)
- Madar Tamam E Rooz Doa Mi Khanad (Mother Prays All Day Long) by Hoda Taheri (2022) (German premiere)
- Pussy Love by Linda Krauss (2022)
Central German Competition
- Cybo by Lou Wildemann (2022)
- Dieser Lange Atem, Beates Laden Betreffend (This Long Breath, Concerning Beate’s Shop) by Olaf Held (2023)
- Saft (Juice) by Mona Keil (2022)
- Mróčele by Kolektiw Klanki (2021)
- Biegen und Brechen (Make or Break) by Falk Schuster and Mike Plitt (2022)
- Rude Witness by Assaf Cruber (2022)
- Daily Tales –Part One: The Magnificent Beauty of a Train Ride by Alexander Dietrich and Johannes Flick (2023)
- Chemkids by Julius Gintaras Blum (2022)
More info can be found on the festival’s website.
