The Oldenburg International Film Festival, sometimes named as the European Sundance, has covered the international movie scene in all aspects since 1994. It is held in Oldenburg, Germany. Its open-minded approach leads to a mixture of movie premieres and original independent productions. Innovation and contrarian ideas are some features of the festival.
History
Rated among the top 5 Film Festivals worldwide for Independent Films by American film critic Chris Gore in his esteemed 'Ultimate Film Festival Guide', and ranked »Top 25 Coolest Festivals in the World« by MovieMaker, Oldenburg has fostered its success with a strong commitment to innovative and independent filmmaking.
Among the guests of honor were Alex Cox, Frank Oz, James B. Harris, Tim Hunter, Belgian cult director Harry Kümel, Jim McBride, Philippe de Broca, Andrzej Żuławski, Ken Russell, Jerry Schatzberg and Ovidio G. Assonitis who have all attended the festival for the retrospectives of their work. Icíar Bollaín, Seymour Cassel, Asia Argento, Stacy Cochran, Richard Stanley, Ben Gazzara, Larry Clark, Tim Blake Nelson as well as Luke and Andrew Wilson have attended the festival for tributes in their honor.
Internationally acclaimed films, such as Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden, Takeshi Kitano’s Kids Return, David Cronenberg’s Spider, Kevin Spacey’s Albino Alligator, Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight, Larry Clark’s Ken Park, Luke and Andrew Wilson’s The Wendell Baker Story, and The Fountain by Darren Aronofsky or indie hits like Larry Fessenden’s Habit, Cory McAbee’s The American Astronaut, Michael Polish’s Northfork, Paul Provenza’s The Aristocrats, Susan Buice and Arin Crumley’s Four Eyed Monsters or The Guatemalan Handshake by Todd Rohal, received their German premiere in Oldenburg.
Tributes and retrospectives
Tributes (by year) 1994: Nancy Savoca 1995: Katt Shea 1996: (none) 1997: Icíar Bollaín 1989: Seymour Cassel 1999: Asia Argento 2000: Stacy Cochran 2001: Ben Gazzara, Richard Stanley 2002: Édouard Niermans 2003: Larry Clark 2004: Tim Blake Nelson 2005: Luke Wilson, Andrew Wilson 2006: Peter Fleischmann 2007: Stacy Keach 2008: Marius Müller-Westernhagen, Michael Wadleigh 2009: Scott McGehee, David Siegel 2010: Timothy Bottoms 2011: Roger Fritz 2012: (none) 2013: Bobcat Goldthwait 2014: (none) 2015: Joanna Cassidy 2016: Nicolas Cage, Amanda Plummer 2017: Lou Diamond Phillips 2018: Keith Carradine 2019: Seymour Cassel 2020: (none) 2021: Mattie Do 2022: Andrea Rau 2023: Isild Le Besco, Jen Gatien
Retrospectives
1994: Alex Cox
1995: Frank Oz
1996: James B. Harris
1997: Tim Hunter
1998: Roberto Faenza
1999: Harry Kümel
2000: William Wellman Jr. 2001: Jim McBride 2002: Bernard Rose 2003: Philippe de Broca 2004: Andrzej Żuławski 2005: Ken Russell 2006: Jerry Schatzberg 2007: Abel Ferrara 2008: James Toback 2009: Bruno Barreto 2010: Radley Metzger 2011: Ted Kotcheff 2012: Phedon Papamichael 2013: Mania Akbari 2014: Philippe Mora 2015: George Armitage 2016: Christophe Honoré 2017: Edward R. Pressman 2018: Bruce Robinson 2019: Burkhard Driest 2020: William Friedkin 2021: Ovidio G. Assonitis 2022: Peter Hyams, John Hyams 2023: (none)
Awards
German Independence Award: Best Film (Audience Award)
1998: Richard Schenkman — Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God... Be Back by Five — USA, 1998 1999: Noah Stern — The Invisibles — USA, 1999 2001: Buket Alakuş — Anam — Germany, 2001 2002: Scott Thomas — Anacardium (Deranged)) — USA, 2001 2003: Michael Polish — Northfork — USA, 2003 2004: Dennis Iliadis — Hardcore — Greece, 2003 2005: Marcos Siega — Pretty Persuasion — USA, 2005 2006: Scott Dacko — The Insurgents — USA, 2006 2007: Jan Hinrik Drevs — Underdogs — Germany, 2006/2007 2008: Emily Atef — (Das Fremde in mir) — Germany, 2008 2009: Judi Krant — Made in China — USA, 2009 2010: Paul Gordon — The Happy Poet — USA 2010 2011: K. Lorrel Manning — Happy New Year — USA, 2011 2012: Jan-Ole Gerster — A Coffee in Berlin (Oh Boy) — Germany, 2012 2013: David Perrault — Our Heroes Died Tonight (Nos heros sont morts ce soir) — France, 2013 2014: Michal Samir — Hany — Czech Republic, 2014 2015: Tom Sommerlatte — (Im Sommer wohnt er unten) — Germany/France, 2015 2016: Emre Konuk — The Apprentice (Çirak) — Turkey, 2016 2017: Kubilay Sarikaya and Sedat Kirtan — Familiye — Germany, 2017 2018: Mikhal Raskhodnikov — Vremennye trudnosti — Russia, 2018 2019: Adam VillaSeñor and Reza Ghassemi — In Full Bloom — USA/JAPAN, 2020 2020: Miles Hargrove - Miracle Fishing — USA 2021: Scott Monahan - Anchorage — USA 2022: John Connors - The Black Guelph — Ireland 2023: Ayşe Polat - In the Blind Spot — Germany