Oldenburg International Film Festival


The Oldenburg International Film Festival, sometimes called the European Sundance, has covered the international film scene in all aspects since 1994. It is held in Oldenburg, Germany.
WWW filmfest-oldenburg.deFB filmfestoldenburgIG filmfestoldenburg

History

Films such as Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden, Takeshi Kitano’s Kids Return, David Cronenberg’s Spider, Kevin Spacey’s Albino Alligator, Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight, Larry Clark’s Ken Park, Luke and Andrew Wilson’s The Wendell Baker Story, and The Fountain by Darren Aronofsky or indie hits like Larry Fessenden’s Habit, Cory McAbee’s The American Astronaut, Michael Polish’s Northfork, Paul Provenza’s The Aristocrats, Susan Buice and Arin Crumley’s Four Eyed Monsters or The Guatemalan Handshake by Todd Rohal, received their German premiere in Oldenburg.

Tributes and retrospectives

;Tributes
;Retrospectives

Awards

German Independence Award: Best Film (Audience Award)

German Independence Award: Best German Film

The Best German Film award is juried by an international panel of five—filmmakers, actors, artists, writers, producers—of which at least three members come from other countries than Germany. The films are shown in original version with English subtitles. Jury members have been, e.g., in 2011: Matteo Lovadina, Radley Metzger, Ildi Toth Davy, Soopum Sohn, and Matthew Modine. The 2012 festival saw an all-woman jury, consisting of Tamar Simon Hoffs, Gabrielle Miller, Lana Morgan, Debbie Rochon, and Mira Sorvino.
  • 2004: Andreas Struck — Sugar Orange — Germany, 2004
  • 2005: Catharina Deus — About a Girl — Germany, 2005
  • 2006: Birgit Grosskopf — Princess — Germany, 2006
  • 2007: Jakob Moritz Erwa — All the Invisible Things — Austria, 2006
  • 2008: Emily Atef — The Stranger in Me — Germany, 2008
  • 2009: Thomas Sieben — Distance — Germany, 2009
  • 2010: — Picco — Germany, 2010
  • 2011: Linus de Paoli — Dr. Ketel — Germany, 2010
  • 2012: Jan-Ole Gerster — A Coffee in Berlin — Germany, 2012
  • 2013: Tom Lass — Kaptn Oskar — Germany, 2013
  • not awarded since 2014 due to budget cuts

German Independence Award: Best Short Film

  • 2007: Marcos Valin, David Alonso — Atención al cliente — Spain, 2007
  • 2008: Liz Adams — Side Effect — USA, 2008
  • 2009: Hassan Said — Mute — USA, 2009
  • 2009: Tom Bewilogua — SCISSU — Germany, 2009
  • 2010: Jeremy Bradley, Reuben Sack — Salvation Insurance — USA, 2010
  • 2011: Markus Engel — Der letzte Gast — Austria, 2011
  • 2012: Meghna Gupta, Gigi Berardi — Unravel — United Kingdom / India, 2012
  • 2013: Patrick Baumeister — Preis — Germany, 2013
  • 2014: Kevin Meul — Cadet — Belgium, 2014
  • 2015: Martijn de Jong — Free — Netherlands, 2014
  • 2016: Ruken Tekes — The Circle — Turkey, 2016
  • 2017: Thierry Bessling, Loïc Tanson — Sur le fil — Luxembourg, 2017
  • 2018: Jeremy Comte — Fauve — Canada, 2018
  • 2019: Kahina Le Querrec — Blue Hour — France, 2019
  • 2020: Igor Nevedrov — The Coat — Russia, 2020
  • 2021: Lucas Camps — Wall#4 — Netherlands, 2021
  • 2022: Samuel Bereuther — Jockstrap Jesus — Germany, 2022
  • 2023: María Monreal — When Grass Grows — Spain, 2022
  • 2024: Diego Gaxiola — Nostalgia of a Alive Heart — Mexico, 2024
  • 2025: Jorge Florez Arcila — The Flower of Fear — Columbia, 2025

German Independence Honorary Award

Hans Ohlms Award for Best First Feature Film

Since 2023, the Hans Ohlms Award for Best First Feature Film is awarded in conjunction with the Hans Ohlms Foundation.
  • 2023: Takayuki Hayashi — From Dawn Till Noon On The Sea — Japan
  • 2024: Michael J. Long — Baby Brother — UK
  • 2025: Alejandro Castro Arias — Harakiri, I Miss You — Spain

Otto Sprenger Award

Seymour Cassel Award: Outstanding Performance

This actor’s prize is awarded for performances in films nominated for the Best German Film award.
  • 2012: Tom Schilling for his role as Niko Fischer in A Coffee in Berlin — Germany, 2012
  • 2013: Martina Schöne-Radunski for her role as Alex in Kaptn Oskar — Germany, 2013
  • 2014: ' for her role as Ruby in — Germany, 2014
  • 2015:
  • *Sarah Silverman for her role as Laney in I Smile Back — USA, 2015
  • *Nikola Rakočević for his role as Slav in Travelator — Serbia, 2014
  • 2016:
  • *Noémie Merlant for her role as Claire in Twisting Fate — France, 2016
  • *André M. Hennicke for his role as Udo in Strawberry Bubblegums — Germany, 2016
  • 2017:
  • * Lindsay Burdge for her performance in Thirst Street — USA, France 2017
  • *Gregory Kasyan for his role as Mills in Quest — USA, 2017
  • 2018:
  • *Victoria Carmen Sonne for her role as Sascha in Holiday — Denmark, 2018
  • *Gabriela Ramos for her role as Lili in Is that you? — UK, 2018
  • 2019:
  • *Patrycja Planik for her performance in Lillian — Austria, 2019
  • *Zachary Ray Sherman in Cuck — USA, 2019
  • 2020:
  • *Paz de la Huerta for her performance in Puppy Love — USA, 2020
  • *Daniel Aráoz in The Longest Night by Rob Lambert — Argentina, 2020
  • 2021:
  • *Eaindra Kyaw Zin for her performance in What happened to the Wolf — Myanmar, 2021
  • *Dakota Loesch in Anchorage — USA, 2021
  • 2022:
  • *Cyndie Lundy for her performance in Parsley — Dominican Republic, 2022
  • *Graham Earley in The Black Guelph — Ireland, 2022
  • 2023:
  • *Alexandrea Meyer for her performance in Beautiful Friend — USA, 2023
  • *Jon Jacobs in Passenger C — USA, 2023
  • 2024:
  • *Aki Kigoshi for her performance in A Wasted Night — Japan, 2024
  • *Tim Blake Nelson for his performance in Bang Bang — USA, 2024
  • 2025:
  • *Sabrina Amali for her performance in Maysoon — Germany, Greece 2025
  • *John Connors' for his performance in Crazy Love — Ireland, 2025