A touch of Hollywood reached Landshut on Sunday evening as guests walked a red carpet into the Alte Kaserne for the awards ceremony. Guests, filmmakers and the public watched every winning film, with comedian Götz Frittrang, Balkan brass band Kein Vorspiel and rap group ES Mafia providing entertainment. Television presenter Christoph Bauer hosted the evening.
For four days, the Lower Bavarian state capital focused on German-language short films for the ninth time.
More than one hundred film stories were presented, with 3,000 spectators watching many of them in high-definition image quality through digital-cinema systems.
The jury for the BMW Short Film Award favoured closely observed interpersonal dramas with strong performances. First prize and €1,500 went to Reto Caffi’s German-Swiss coproduction On the Line. Felix Hassenfratz received second prize and €900 for Suspicion, while Oliver Haffner’s Lick Milk won third prize and €600.
The audience selected two love stories, placing Steffen Reuter’s Mickey & Maria first and Steffen Weinert’s The Pick-Up Artist third. Adam Neumann’s family drama Glasshouse Failure took second place.
Felix Stienz won the first CityCountryYouth award for young films and €500 with Antje and Us. Alexander Dirninger and Sebastian Mayr received second place and €300 for Underneath We Are All Naked, while Hadrian Hammer’s The Mark won third place and €200.
Further awards covered children’s films, with young spectators choosing their favourites through a voting ceremony.
On Sunday, the children selected Paul’s Grandpa.
My Date From Hell placed first in both the Friday and Saturday screenings. The animated film follows a devil searching for love who finds his dream woman and happiness in housework. Filmmakers Tim Weimann and Tom Bracht from the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg worked on the project for four years. It also won the inaugural Newcomer Animation Award and €1,000, provided by MedienCampus Bayern, which also supplied the audience-award prize money.
For many spectators, the Landshut Short Film Festival is a fixture in the calendar. A couple from Munich said they had attended on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for six years. One Landshut viewer who watches three competition blocks in succession said the compact telling of complex stories remained fascinating.
Residents again hosted filmmakers privately and celebrated with them late into the night. The festival described the response as confirmation of its position among southern Germany’s leading short-film events.
Media coverage was also more visible. Alongside articles in newspapers and magazines, television and radio teams reported from the festival. Bayerischer Rundfunk programmes Kino Kino and Rundschau covered the event, while Abendschau broadcast live from Kinopolis on Friday. Südwild, the broadcaster’s new youth programme, brought its mobile television studio to Landshut and reported throughout the week. Bayern 5 Kultur, Radio Trausnitz and Radio Galaxy carried radio reports.
