The Hamburg Short Film Festival is one of the most renowned and important short film festivals in Europe. Since 1998 it has also been dedicated to the younger audience with the young short film festival Hamburg Mo&Friese and shows current and relevant short films in eight international competition programs every year at the beginning of June, which meet their target group at eye level and take their personal point of view seriously.
Thanks to the presence of many filmmakers, numerous moderated events succeed in bringing viewers, filmmakers and specialist audiences together. In addition, annually changing film workshops introduce children and young people to aspects of filmmaking and stimulate their own creativity. In addition, the ” High 5!” screening for young filmmakers invites young filmmakers up to the age of 18 to submit their own short works.
Some screenings are already sold out. So act fast… Then head to the theater with your class. The experience includes post-screening discussions and a festival atmosphere. We look forward to seeing you! And to some great special guests.
Do you love movies and enjoy sharing your thoughts on them? If so, we’d love for you to join us as a reporter. When you apply, please tell us why you’d like to be part of our team. If you’re selected, we’ll send you access to a selection of movies, and you’ll create a short video about your favorite film for our Instagram channel.
Applications due by May 15
On the Sunday before the festival starts, our doors will be open to all film and craft enthusiasts aged 5 and over.
In the hall of the festival center Post we will show a great short film program on analog material and afterwards there will be lots of handicrafts, music, waffles, cake and disco.
You can also try out for yourself how to make pictures work.
And maybe Mo and Friese will even drop by in person.
Advance ticket sales for the afternoon and weekend events will take place online and via the venues from May 12.
Tickets: €3.50
Box office opening: approx. 15 minutes before the start of the performance
In case of technical problems: ticketing@shortfilm.com
During the festival week (June 2 to 5), moderated kindergarden and school screenings take place in the mornings at the cinema
Tickets: €3.50 per school and daycare child (accompanying persons free)
Group registration: The button is linked to the respective program.
Questions about booking at: anmeldung@shortfilm.com
All programs are presented in an age-appropriate manner. Foreign-language short films up to the age of 14 will be presented live in German Language. The competition program from the age of 14 is subtitled in German. We also offer some of our programs with translation into German sign language and audio description. These are marked accordingly.
We offer accompanying educational material for all film blocks in the competition, which can be used to prepare for and follow up on the visit to the cinema in class, covering both the content dealt with in the film and the cinematic aspects. All materials can be downloaded and printed out as PDF files from the end of May as a link to the respective program.
Accredited professional visitors can get tickets upon presentation of their festival pass. At the ticket counter in the festival centre Post Kaltenkircher Platz and in all festival cinemas (except filmRaum). You can register for the Short Film Festival Hamburg and for the Young Short Film Festival Hamburg Mo&Friese an accreditation here.
Festivalzentrum Post Kaltenkircher Platz: Augustenburger/Kaltenkirchener Straße
3001 Kino: Schanzenstraße 75 (040-43 76 79)
Abaton Kino: Allende-Platz 3 (040-41 32 03 20)
Bürgerhaus Wilhelmsburg: Mengestraße 20 (040-752 01 70)
Lola Kulturzentrum: Lohbrügger Landstraße 8 (040-724 77 35)
Metropolis Kino: Kleine Theaterstraße 10 (040-34 23 53)
Zeise Kinos: Friedensallee 7-9 (040-30 60 36 82)
Mo&Friese is a competition festival. That is why three children’s and youth juries, staggered in different age categories, each award a prize for their favorite film.
The Friese Prize is awarded by 7 to 9-year-old jurors for the programs from 4 and 6 years.
The Mo-Prize goes to a film from the 9+ programs chosen by 10 to 13-year-olds.
The Neon Prize is awarded by a jury of young people aged between 14 and 18 for films aged 12 and over.
In addition, a three-member adult jury selects a film from the 4+, 6+ and 9+ programs for the ECFA PRIZE of the European Children’s Film Association. The award includes a nomination for the “Best European Film for Young Audiences of the Year” in the short film category.
Jan Joonas Pevkur has been working at Just Film for six years already, and this is his first as the new head of the festival. The 21-year-old has studied Audiovisual Media at the Baltic Film- and Media School, producing and directing multiple shorts himself. He strongly believes that films for young audiences should be made by and with as many young people involved as possible, as they are the ones who have their hand on the next generation’s pulse.
Jule Murmann has been Head of Film Education at the International Women’s Film Festival Dortmund+Cologne (IFFF) since 2023. After studying media studies in Bonn, she spent six years working as a trainee, curator and project manager at the German Film Institute and Film Museum (DFF) in Frankfurt am Main, where her roles included helping to establish the Centre for Film Education, and three years at the Institute for Media Research and Media Education at the Technical University of Cologne. At the IFFF, she designs the programme for young audiences in both cities, from nursery school to sixth form – with a focus on diversity-sensitive, empowering, queer-feminist films.
Katia Papaspiliopoulos studied Philosophy at the Sorbonne University in Paris, and has a masters degree in Cultural Management from the Dauphine University. She worked at the cultural park Parc et Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris and at the V&M Theocharakis Foundation in Athens as an Educational Programs Manager.
In recent years, Katia collaborates simultaneously with various organizations and institutions where she programs, designs, coordinates, and implements educational programs and cultural events.
In this context, she has been the Director of Educational Programs at the Athens International Children’s Film Festival since its first edition in 2018 and is responsible for the Educational Programs at the Megaron Athens Concert Hall.
In addition to all the great short films that we like to watch with you in the cinema and then talk about, we are always delighted if you would like to take part in Mo&Friese. And there are many different ways to do this.
Every year we need the support of children and young people who rate the films or submit their own short works to us. Perhaps there are also film topics that you would like to get to know a little better? We have a wide range of workshops for this, which we offer not only during the festival week. And if you’d like to give others tips on which films are worth seeing, then you’ve come to the right place as a reporter.
Imagine if there were only summer or only winter – that would be boring, wouldn’t it? Contrasts make life exciting! And they’re everywhere: old vs. new, tidy vs. chaotic, day vs. night, big vs. small, brave vs. fearful, and so on and so forth…
This year’s theme for the High 5! Young Filmmakers’ Programme, “Opposites”, gave young filmmakers plenty of freedom to show everything that matters to them.
We will be showing a selection of the submitted films at
on Sunday, June 7 at the Festival Center Post.
The films for filmmakers up to 13 years of age will be shown at 12 noon, the films for filmmakers between 14 and 18 years of age as part of High 5! NEON at 2:30 pm.
High 5! NEON was curated by a youth jury and is presented independently in cooperation with the Esche Jugendkunsthaus and DREH DEINEN FILM! e. V.
High 5!
So 7.6. | 12 Uhr
Festivalzentrum Post Kino Saal
High 5! NEON
So 7.6. | 14:30 Uhr
Festivalzentrum Post Kino Lampenlager
Kurzfilm Agentur Hamburg e.V.
Junges Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg Mo&Friese
Bodenstedtstr. 16 | 22765 Hamburg
moundfriese@shortfilm.com
Mo&Friese is divided into three age-graded film competitions. A jury decides on the awards for each competition.
The Friese Prize is awardedby jurors between 7 and 9 years old for the programs from 4 and 6 years old.The Mo Prize goes to a film from the program from 9 years old, chosen by 10- to 13-year-olds.For films from 12 and 14 years old, a jury of young people between 14 and 18 years old awards the NEON Prize.
We look forward to receiving jury applications from enthusiastic short film fans by mid-April of each year.
If you like to watch a lot of movies – preferably in theaters – and can’t stop talking about them afterwards, then you’ve come to the right place! Because all you need for our jury is a passion for films and time during the festival week. As a member of the children’s or youth jury, you will discuss your cinema experiences with other film fans and decide which films win the prizes. If you are between 7 and 9 years old, you can apply for the jury of the Friese Prize, between 10 and 13 years for the jury of the Mo Prize and between 14 and 18 years for the Neon Prize. As an application, we would be delighted to receive a short text written by yourself. Tell us a bit about yourself and why you would like to be on the jury.
Kurzfilm Agentur Hamburg e.V.
Junges Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg Mo&Friese
Bodenstedtstr. 16 | 22765 Hamburg
moundfriese@shortfilm.com
We will get back to you as soon as possible after the application deadline on April 15 .
The Friese Prize is awarded by 7- to 9-year-old jurors for the 4 and 6+ programs. The Mo Prize goes to a film from the 9+ programs selected by 10- to 13-year-olds. For films aged 12+ and 14+, a jury of young people aged 14 to 18 awards the Neon Prize. All prizes of the international competition are endowed with 1000 euros.
In addition to the carefully curated and wide-ranging short film program, Mo&Friese Young Short Film Festival Hamburg offers creative workshops every year that approach the medium of film in very different ways.
Children and young people are invited to become active themselves in small groups. Together with experts from the respective fields, we provide insights into artistic filmmaking behind and in front of the scenes and encourage participants to be creative. The workshops usually take place between April and June. Registration must be made by email by the specified deadline. More detailed information on the currently bookable offers will be announced here in good time
Der Workshop MIT LICHT MALEN lädt Kinder zwischen acht und zwölf Jahren ein, mit 35mm-Filmstreifen, also das Zelluloid, zu experimentieren, darauf zu malen oder zu kratzen. Ihr erhaltet Bildstreifen und könnt diese mit verschiedenen Materialien zu euren eigenen Bildern gestalten. Dabei gibt es sowohl durchsichtige oder bereits belichtete schwarze Streifen als auch Filmschnipsel, auf denen noch der ursprüngliche Film zu erkennen ist.
Jedes Kind bearbeitet mehrere Bilder – pro Filmsekunde sind aber 24 Bilder nötig – , somit entsteht der fertige Film am Ende kollektiv durch das Zusammensetzen der einzelnen Bildstreifen von allen Teilnehmenden. Die Streifen werden aneinander geklebt, genau so wie es früher auch gemacht worden ist. So gestalten alle gemeinsam einen Teil davon.
Der fertige Film feiert seine Premiere dann am 31. Mai bei der Mo&Friese Party im Festivalzentrum Post.
Zur Zeit sind alle Plätze vergeben. Schaut gern kurz vor dem Workshop noch einmal auf unserer Seite, ob wieder Plätze frei geworden sind.
Some short film enthusiastic kids watched some films in advance last year and gave you an insight into their favorites on our Instagram channel.
A visit to a short film festival is also a wonderful experience for school groups. It is not just the joy of going to the cinema together with classmates, but above all the direct contact with the filmmakers, the opportunity to engage with different film content, formats and techniques, and, last but not least, the chance to ask any questions that come to mind, that makes a visit to the festival so special.
Every year, we invite teachers whose classes would otherwise be unable to afford a visit to the festival to attend free screenings.
To make this possible for as many classes as possible, we are always delighted to receive financial support. For June 2026, we are once again looking for sponsors who, with a tax-deductible donation of €100, can enable a class to attend the Junges Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg Mo&Friese at the cinema. Film discussion, filmmakers and festival atmosphere included.
We’ll take care of the rest. All you need to do is get in touch with us.
We look forward to hearing from you at: moundfriese@shortfilm.com
