"Defiant" by director Visa Koiso-Kanttila wins the Prize of the Church Media Foundation in Finland at the International Chidren's and Youth Festival in Oulu 2025.
The FilmFestival Cottbus is one of the most significant international festivals dedicated to contemporary Eastern European cinema. Its three competitive sections feature films, youth films, and short films highlight exceptional talent, bold narratives, and innovative cinematic perspectives. Report by Ágoston Gőbel and Aida Schläpfer Al Hassani.
The Hof Film Festival is now in its 58th year and has become a hallmark of the city, which is why Hof likes to call itself the “Home of Films,” a phrase that is said to have originated with Wim Wenders. In the late 1960s and 1970s, the Munich film scene came to Hof (...). As a nostalgic reminder, this year there was a 35mm screening of Fassbinder's early work “Gods of the Plague”. Peter Paul Huth reports about the festival.
Light is always where a film festival begins. The screen brightens, faces glow, and for a moment the whole room shares the same pulse. That is what I felt as the Adelaide Film Festival opened with Jimpa (Sophie Hyde, Australia, Netherlands, Finland, 2025) — a film full of truth, heart, and soul. Festival report by Eloise Scherer
Mit einem jungen neuen Team unter der Leitung von Joanna Szymańska-Szcześniak und dem Programmdirektor Bartłomiej Pulcyn startete das Warschauer Filmfestival bei seiner 41. Ausgabe in gleich acht verschiedenen Spielstätten., so Holger Twele, Miglied der Ökumenischen Jury in Warschau 2025, in seinem Bericht.
Land of A Thousand and One Nights and Persian poetry, Iran has turned cinema into the art of suggestion: when speech is monitored, the image becomes a poem and editing a figure of style.
“To get straight to the point, Robert Redford was an idol of my youth.” This is how Peter Paul Huth begins his obituary for the famous actor, director, and festival founder.
Commentary on the award ceremony at the Venice International Film Festival 2025. By Peter Paul Huth
Peter Paul Huth's report praises two films from the Venice Classics series: “Blind Chance” by Krzysztof Kieślowski and “Matador” by Pedro Almodóvar.
Peter Paul Huth's report presents challenging, complex contributions from the international competition program.
Dossier
The lists in this dossier summarize the church film awards of past years.