From real political protest to artistic intervention and covert rectification of unjust processes: as part of this year’s focus on revolution, the films of the goShorts program deal with the manifold forms of revolutionary action. Six specially selected short films open up a space for questions of power and empowerment – of collectives and individuals, thoughts and ideas. 

The international short films are vying for the RheinMain Short Film Award, endowed with prize money in the amount of 2,500 euros, with the winning film to be determined by a regional jury. With THE EXHIBITION, this year’s program also features a short film that was part of last year’s edition of the East-West Talent Lab.

Curated by Sophie Brakemeier (media scholar, film critic, and long-time goEast program coordinator)

Screenings:
25.04.2026 20.15 Apollo OV + eng, ger SUB 
26.04.2026 19.00 Caligari OV + eng, ger SUB 

Quick, wild, witty, thought-provoking: welcome back to our Anarchoshorts! Love is redefined on an intergalactic cruise for singles (COSMONAUTS). In Bulgaria, a girl goes out on a limb for a VHS tape (ERASERHEAD IN A KNITTED SHOPPING BAG). Four activists become embroiled in moral dilemmas while attempting to liberate a bunch of hens (FREE THE CHICKENS). Flight, displacement and memories shape animated perspectives in the context of the war in Ukraine (I DIED IN IRPIN, MY GRANDMOTHER IS A SKYDIVER). A gigantic turnip wreaks havoc (THE BEETROOT) and a beekeeper relates the quiet life cycle of his insect companions (THE BRIEF LIFE OF A BEE).

Screenings:
22.04.2026 22.00 Apollo OV + eng SUB
25.04.2026 19.30, 21.30, 23.30 DFF, Frankfurt OV + eng SUB

Eight short films place Romani perspectives centre stage. Using documentary, fictional and animated forms, they treat diverse experiences in Central and Eastern Europe – including school segregation, deportation and state violence, foster families and intergenerational trauma. At the same time, they share moments of self-assertion, joy and resilience. The section opens our eyes to stories and existential realities that have been overlooked or silenced for far too long.

On Thursday, 23.04, at 14, a workshop titled “Respectful Romani Representation: Building the Framework” will take place in cooperation with the Critical Film and Image Hub and the Romani Filmmakers Network. Participation is limited to 20 people. Please register at goeast-orga@dff.film

Curated by Lisa Smith, Critical Film and Image Hub, Research Centre on Antigypsyism, Heidelberg University.

Screenings:
Romani Cinema Agains the Odds Programm 1
22.04.2026 18.00 Apollo OV + eng SUB
24.04.2026 18.00 DFF, Frankfurt OV + eng SUB

Romani Cinema Agains the Odds Programm 2
23.04.2026 19.00 Apollo OV + eng SUB

In this program of short films, we explore masculinity – in crisis mode. MARILENA DE LA P7, which revolves around a teenager’s first love and the trauma it causes, was one of the first films that Solomon produced. The film’s director, Cristian Nemescu, died tragically in an automobile accident shortly after the work was completed – Ada Solomon dedicated a film festival to him.  

Screening:
23.04.2026 22.00 Apollo OmeU

Short Film Programme: Rock / Paper / Scissors: Irena Vrkljan and the DFFB around 1968
When Irena Vrkljan came to Berlin in 1966 to study film directing at the newly founded DFFB, she was 36 years old, had experienced war and the Nazi occupation of Zagreb and was already a well-known poet and television writer in Yugoslavia. The programme places two of her Berlin films in dialogue with works by her fellow students Holger Meins and Harun Farocki.

Short Film Programme: Afterlives, Café Kuba, No Tomorrow Today
Three recent documentary works from Asia, Africa and South America that bring rarely seen aesthetic and political positions beyond the East-West axis into view.

Screenings:
23.04.2026 17.00 Murnau OmeU
26.04.2026 21.30 Murnau OmeU