The Oberhausen Short Film Festival was founded by German cultural worker Hilmar Hoffmann who then served as the director of the Oberhausen Volkshochschule (an adult education center). Originally named the 1st West German Educational Film Festival, the inaugural event was organized in association with the Oberhausen Cinema Club (Filmclub Oberhausen). Its program featured 45 films from West Germany, France and the United States.
In 1959 the festival was renamed the West German Short Film Festival. Its growing popularity was due, amongst other things, to the fact that Oberhausen was the only city in West Germany where many films produced in East Germany and other countries of the Eastern Bloc were screened. The Oberhausen film festival was a symbolic bridge over the Berlin Wall and simultaneously a major platform for young filmmakers from the West. No wonder it was nicknamed short film mecca.
The festival received its current name, the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, in 1991, two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and a year after the German reunification. That same year, the festival hosted the national short film competition for the first time. Since 1993, the festival has featured both films and videos in its competitive programs. In 1999, the Oberhausen Short Film Festival introduced the world’s first music video award presented at a film festival, MuVi.
Screening about 450 films every year, the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen is one of the world’s largest film festivals. It is accredited by the FIAPF as a documentary and short film festival and serves as an Academy Award-qualifying short film festival. The festival hosts a national competition, an international competition, special screenings and programs, and a series of cultural and professional events. It also hosts year-round programs and maintains an archive of short films that have been screened throughout the history of the festival.
In 2020, the event was held online due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Photo: Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen
