BEST OF FILMSCHOOLFEST

Every fall, young up-and-coming film directors from all over the world are invited to present selected works at FILMSCHOOLFEST MUNICH, the internationally renowned festival for film schools. For one week in November, the short films made by these promising young directors can be seen at the University of Television and Film Munich (HFF), usually with the directors attending. In BEST OF FILMSCHOOLFEST, we show you some award-winning films as well as other outstanding entries from FILMSCHOOLFEST MUNICH 2022.
Selection for Best of Filmschoolfest 2023
In THE FORGOTTEN (Ehab Tarabieh): High up in the Colombian Andes, a farmer finds a coffin lying in a ditch. Inside it are a corpse and a pile of cash. He decides to take the coffin home with him. There, in the solitude of his hut, the dead man helps him to get over the disappearance of his son, who vanished without a trace.
IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE TODAY (Sophia Groening): “Hey, Nadija! I saw you today.” That’s how the message to the attractive woman at the next table starts off, but what should come after that? The teenage writers’ room can’t come to a consensus, and the intended recipient gets up and walks away. With amazing nonchalance, we witness moments that seem to be straight out of real life.
I WAS ATTACKED (Sara Massieu): This film uses animation to render visible the experiences of countless women from all over the world who have been affected by sexualized violence. Specific situations are portrayed, but the main focus is on what happens inside: the fear, the trauma, the feeling of powerlessness and helplessness that doesn’t end with the crime, but that is perpetuated by offenders who go unpunished and authorities who don’t take action.
I WAS NEVER REALLY HERE (Gabriel B. Arrahnio): Sam, a 17-year-old German-Ghanaian, and his mother, Rita, are finally able to welcome two long-awaited visitors from their home country; but the joy of reunion is clouded by the unresolved residence status of Gifty and her son, Kwesi. Sam is thus confronted with questions about his origins and identity, and also begins to fall in love with Kwesi;
WILL MY PARENTS COME TO SEE ME (Mo Harawes): Young Farah has been given a death sentence for terrorism. In the final days before his execution, a female officer guides him through the procedures of the Somali prison system. Her gaze remains impassive; routine shields a person from empathy. Or is she starting to doubt the justness of the punishment?