The Hamburg Film Forum Kinohafen is an international film forum held annually in Hamburg, Germany. Since its founding in 2010, the festival has provided a platform for independent filmmakers while fostering intercultural dialogue and professional exchange across borders.
Kinohafen focuses on contemporary cinema from Israel and the post-Soviet region, including works by filmmakers living and working in exile and diaspora communities worldwide.
Kinohafen Short 2026 will take place from December 12–13, 2026, at the historic Metropolis Cinema in Hamburg.
We are seeking fiction, documentary, animation, and experimental short films with a maximum running time of 35 minutes, completed on or after January 1, 2024.
The competition welcomes films exploring themes such as memory, identity, migration, cultural diversity, social transformation, and personal stories.
Selected films will be screened during the festival and evaluated by an international professional jury. In addition to the Jury Award, an Audience Choice Award will be presented.
Filmmakers whose works are selected for the competition will also be invited to participate in the festival's professional industry platform, held in a hybrid format (online and on-site), focusing on international co-production, film funding opportunities, and integration into the European film industry.
Participants gain access to:
Professional development: An online program focusing on co-production opportunities and integration into the European film industry.
Networking opportunities: A platform to showcase your work to industry professionals and audiences.
Educational seminars: Topics include grant applications, promotion strategies, and studying film in Germany.
Awards: Winners will receive an official certificate, granted either by our esteemed jury or by the audience through the Audience Choice Award.
Introducing the Jury Members of the Hamburg Film Forum Kinohafen Short:
Frank Müller
Producer at the company “Dopelplusultra,” also engaged in film and documentary production.
Antoine Cattin
Swiss and Russian director and cinematographer specializing in documentary films. He worked as an assistant to Sergei Loznitsa and co-directed several documentaries with Pavel Kostomarov, including “Peaceful Life” and “Mother” (nominated for the European Film Academy Award).
He also collaborated with Alexander Rastorguev, Pavel Kostomarov, and Alexei Pivovarov on the online projects “The Term” and “Reality”. Antoine is a recipient of multiple awards at international festivals and has taught documentary filmmaking at ECAL (École cantonale d’art de Lausanne) and the School of Arts and Creative Industries (SHIKI), an independent online educational project.
Erika Wotrich
Director of the Hamburg Center for Cinematographic Studies, CineGraph.
Professor Dr. Thomas Weber
Founder and co-shareholder of the publishing house AVINUS.
Since 2011, he has been a professor of media studies with a focus on film and television at the University of Hamburg. Recently, he was appointed Executive Director of the Institute of Media and Communication at the University of Hamburg.
