FiSH Film Festival Rostock (FiSH Filmfestival Rostock)

FiSH Film Festival Rostock

FiSH Filmfestival Rostock

Also known as: FiSH – Filmfestival im StadtHafen
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FiSH Film Festival Rostock is a spring festival for filmmakers up to the age of 26 from Germany and the Baltic Sea region, held in Rostock since 2004. At its centre is JUNGER FILM, a national short film competition of 20 to 30 films chosen from around 500 entries. Alongside it runs OFFshorts – Young Baltic Cinema, a competition for young filmmakers from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Sweden, organised with partner festivals in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Competition films run up to 30 minutes.

The festival's distinctive format is the public jury discussion: after on-stage talks with the filmmakers, the juries debate and assess the competition films live in front of the audience. The programme also includes the PopFiSH Music Video Awards for music videos from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the Medienkompetenz-Preis MV for media education projects. FiSH is organised by Medienwerkstatt Rostock. The dates of the 2027 edition are 22–25 April 2027.

Country

Germany

Categories

Music Video, Short

Dates

22 April 2027 — 25 April 2027

Awards and prizes

JUNGER FILM: Film des Jahres (3,000 euros, MV Filmförderung / State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern); GoldFiSH awards (1,000 euros each, City of Rostock); Sputnik Prize (500 euros, from the cinema crew of the Fusion festival, for films beyond the mainstream, with an invitation to present the film at Fusion). OFFshorts: Young Baltic Cinema Award (2,000 euros, City of Rostock); Youth Jury Prize (1,500 euros, Provinzial Nord). Audience Award in JUNGER FILM and OFFshorts: 1,000 euros from Branchenverband Film und Medien MV plus audience donations. Young Audience Award MV (500 euros, Provinzial Nord), chosen by young cinema-goers from schools across Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. PopFiSH: Jury Prize (1,000 euros) and Audience Prize (350 euros) for the best music videos from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, plus the Katapult online prize. The juries discuss the films and decide the awards publicly on stage.

Festival rules

JUNGER FILM and OFFshorts accept films of all forms, themes and genres, up to 30 minutes long, by directors no older than 26 at the time of completion. Under the current terms (October 2025), films must have been completed after 1 January 2024. JUNGER FILM is for directors living in or from Germany; OFFshorts is for filmmakers living in or from Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, Norway and Finland. There is no entry fee. A selection committee decides by February, and a film can be admitted to one competition at most. Filmmakers must attend in person or via Zoom to be eligible for awards. Viewing copies: MP4 (H.264, Full HD) on USB media or via web link. Screening copies: best possible quality with English subtitles, at least 1920x1080. The call for entries opens every year at the beginning of November.

Contacts

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