Is it possible that film festivals will once again reinvent themselves with the end of the Corona measures? At least that’s how it seems at the Regensburg International Short Film Week: The 29th edition of the festival, which is well known beyond the city limits, is to take place exclusively in Regensburg. So if you want to see the almost 300 short films of the current festival year, you have to go to the Ostentor cinema, the film gallery in the empty bag, the W1 center for young culture and the cinemas in the Andreasstadel (winter garden). The organizers have made it their mission to do one thing above all: “To revitalize the cinema as a meeting place and as a place for unique film experiences after a long dry spell.”
So hybrid was yesterday. To be more precise, last year, when the short films were shown in front of an audience in Regensburg – and streamed on the festival’s website at the same time. Everyone seemed to be satisfied with this solution, even though it was quite time-consuming for the organizers. Two years ago, the short film week could only take place online, in March 2020 it even had to be canceled after a few days. But now you can go to the cinema again, but unfortunately not as many people do it as before Corona. In the years before the pandemic, an average of 120 million people in Germany came to a cinema every year, in 2022 it was just 78 million. So the general conditions have changed, once again – and the cultural organizers are reacting to this.
It remains to be seen whether the dry spell of the cinemas can be ended by the Regensburg Short Film Week – it will probably still be a special experience for everyone involved. The longing of the audience and the makers for exchange and personal encounters is great. In addition to the performances, workshops, concerts and award ceremonies are planned. There are hardly any short films in regular cinema operations, but here you can see some from Canada, Mexico, Chile, Iran or the Congo. But national and regional events are also on the schedule: a total of 20 films from the Upper Palatinate and Lower Bavaria are shown in the so-called regional window.
29th Regensburg International Short Film Week, Thursday, March 16th to Sunday, March 26th, www.kurzfilmwoche.de