IFFMH – Internationales Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg

FILM CLUB! on April 6, 2020 won't take place

To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the film club on Wednesay, April 6, 2020 won't take place.

Stay safe and look out for each other.

New Film Experience

The International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg (IFFMH) discovers and encourages young cinematic artists from all over the world. It’s a unique platform of cultural, political and social dialog through film and cinema. Founded in 1952, the IFFMH is the German film festival with the longest tradition apart from the Berlinale.

The IFFMH specializes in discovering new talented directors each year. Among the former newcomers from Mannheim-Heidelberg are François Truffaut, Rainer-Werner Fassbinder, Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch, Angela Schanelec, Atom Egoyan, Thomas Vinterberg, Derek Cianfrance, Hong Sang-soo and Guillaume Nicloux.

The IFFMH celebrates innovation as much as narrative and aesthetic courage. It stands for a new experience. The festival acts as a compass and trend scout, discovers newcomers and presents visionaries, opens up horizons and revitalizes the historical. The IFFMH creates a social experience context. As a mediator and networker of different cultural scenes, the IFFMH generates added value for filmmakers, audiences and cities.

Sections of the IFFMH

On The Rise

First to third works as German premieres in the competition for the endowed International Newcomer Award and the Fipresci Prize.

The international competition offers the opportunity to present outstanding early films and to discover their talents.

Pushing The Boundaries

Innovative and daring works by established directors as Metropole premieres. All films compete for the audience award.

With this section we create continuity. Here the audience can follow the career of former talents and festival guests. The prerequisite is the aesthetic intransigence and vision of the films.

Children’s Film Festival

Children's films as Metropole premieres.

An additional offer for families which reflects the clear programmatic line of the festival and offers more than just a film screening for the young audience.
Here, besides the educational concept, the contact with the filmmakers is very important! In workshops and cooperations with schools, audiovisual perception is practised in a playful way, attention is trained and speaking and thinking about Film inspired.

Facing New Challenges

Selected audiovisual art exhibits – from installations to concept films towards closed serial formats.

Concept films and web formats, especially in the close range of the experimental, belong at a well curated festival. The same is true for installations: just think of Julian Rosefeldt, Steve McQueen, Hito Steyerl or the late Harun Farocki. FACING NEW CHALLENGES reflects the relationship of film to other arts and shows extraordinary works of art in extraordinary places.

Homage

The new discoveries also need role models: two honorary awards for a female and a male personality of the film industry.

Everything new is created in the context of film history written by predecessors. The newcomers may place themselves in a concrete film artistic context which is set with an homage.

Retrospective

The historical section presents selected rediscoveries with a thematic focus: 35-millimeter projections and restorations.

As a festival with a long history, we place ourselves in the context of film history and preserve the film heritage. At the same time, curatorial lines and programmatic links to both current and past festival contributions can be drawn.