FILMZ - Festival des deutschen Kinos

FILMZ - Festival des deutschen Kinos

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Audience voting shapes FILMZ – Festival des deutschen Kinos in Mainz, where current German and German-language cinema competes across feature, medium-length, documentary and short-film sections. The short-film competitions include regional work from the Rhine-Main area, animation and unconventional films in the andersARTig section. The programme also includes a symposium, international co-productions in Spotlight, screenplay pitching and the 55-hour filmmaking challenge 55FILMZ.

The festival dates back to 2001 and is organised by volunteers from FILMZ e.V.; the City of Mainz is its official presenting body. The dates for the 25th edition are 2–15 November 2026. Its programme adds a short-documentary competition and experimental-film screenings, with Capitol and CinéMayence as the principal cinemas.

Country

Germany

Dates

2 November 2026 — 15 November 2026

Awards and prizes

In 2026, the audience chooses the winners in eight competition sections: feature film, documentary, medium-length film, short film, local short film, andersARTig short film, animated short film and short documentary. The feature-film award includes the Mainzer Rad trophy and €1,500; the documentary award carries €1,500 and the medium-length award €800. The City of Mainz special prize for outstanding film achievements carries €2,500 and is selected by the competition curators. A separate €1,000 Medienförderung Rheinland-Pfalz special prize recognises a film with a cultural or economic connection to Rhineland-Palatinate.

Festival rules

The 2026 regulations cover German and German-language cinema. Films must be no more than two years old at the time of programme selection in mid-July and must not yet have had a German theatrical release. Short films are up to 20 minutes; the medium-length category covers 20–70 minutes. Submissions require an online screener; download links are not accepted. Any use of artificial intelligence must be disclosed in the submission and in the film; works without AI are preferred in selection. Selected films require a DCP. Films in languages other than German, and films with strong dialects, require German subtitles; English subtitles are requested for German-language films. Submitters must hold the screening rights and grant the festival the stated screening and promotional permissions. The official submission page contains the full conditions.

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