Conclusion of the 36 Filmfest Dresden: Almost 15,000 visitors
Growth in cinema attendance // 37 Filmfest Dresden: 8-13 April 2025
After the award ceremony last Saturday evening, the 36th edition of Filmfest Dresden came to an end on Sunday. Between 16 and 21 April a total of almost 15,000 festival visitors attended 183 events at the 17 Dresden venues. The slight decline in total visitor traffic compared to the previous year can be attributed to the halving of the audience at the open-air programme on Schlossplatz. Around 2,230 people attended, despite the adverse conditions of cold weather and heavy rain. The film festival was able to record growth in the cinemas: Here, around 9,750 people - around 1,400 more than in 2023 - found their way into the cinemas. The events of the supporting programme etc. - events. trainings. connections. attracted 2,812 interested people (2023: 2,150) to the various venues. Ten Golden Horsemen and six special prizes worth 72,000 euros were awarded at the festive awards ceremony on Saturday evening at the Schauburg Filmtheater. The 37 Filmfest Dresden will take place from 8 to 13 April 2025.
"We are satisfied with this year's figures, more people came to the cinemas and the supporting program and the Short Film Open Air is dependent on the weather," said festival directors Sylke Gottlebe and Anne Gaschütz. "Once again, we had an incredible time during the festival week with film screenings and events, intensive and inspiring discussions and encounters. Our thanks go to the filmmakers from near and far who entrusted us with the presentation of their work. We hope that our aim of being a platform for the art of film, but also a forum for political discourse and intercultural exchange, has paid off."
Among the most successful film events at the 36 Dresden Film Festival were the programmes of the International, National and Central German Competition, which were viewed by a total of over 4,300 people. The children's and youth program was also successful as usual with almost 2,000 viewers: the Kids 1 programme once again recorded the most visitors (489). In the special programmes, the series "The Future Starts Today" from the focus programme "Dreaming Utopia - It's going to be beautiful" was particularly popular, closely followed by the programme "Short Tiger Next Generation 2024", which celebrated its premiere at Filmfest Dresden for the fourth time. Also well attended were "Discourse Europe 2", "Animated 1", the "Focus Québec", the "Regional Focus" and the popular "Seriously? WTF! - Welcome to the Zoo" (Cinema Digestif 2) in the late programme at Thalia cinema.
Among the most successful events in the supporting programme etc. - events. trainings. connections. included the panels "What's the Point of Artificial Intelligence?" and "Cultures of Debate", the three Sandwich Talks in Phase IV and the exhibition opening "Dreamer" in cooperation with Galerie Raskolnikow and the Archiv der Avantgarden - Egidio Marzona (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden).