Film. Art. Now. – 6th Congress on the Future of German Film
From April 29 to May 2, 2026, Frankfurt will once again become the center of the German-speaking film and culture industry: The 6th Congress on the Future of German Film will bring together film, culture, and media professionals as well as academic experts from various disciplines to spend four days debating burning issues relating to film, cinema, and society. This year's overarching theme is “Art.”
This is no coincidence. Art has always been a place where social change becomes visible, negotiable, and tangible. Especially in times of acceleration, uncertainty, and technological transformation, the question arises more urgently than ever: What will happen next – aesthetically, politically, institutionally?
The line-up of confirmed guests is equally interdisciplinary: It ranges from directors Faraz Shariat, Dominik Graf and Ulrich Köhler, to actress Maren Eggert and art theorist Bazon Brock, to political scientist and former presidential candidate Gesine Schwan, journalist Harald Welzer, and producer, director and author Saralisa Volm. The programme is further enhanced by, among others, Tim League, founder of the production company NEON and the Alamo Drafthouse cinema chain; philosopher and futurist Maya Van Leemput; pop musician Frank Spilker; and philosopher Catrin Misselhorn. ZDF news icon Claus Kleber will also be a guest.
From the very beginning, cinema was a hybrid entity: born out of technology, defined by spectacle, and at the same time a space in which different art forms mix like paint on a wet canvas. Theater, painting, photography, music – everything merged together to become something unique. Today, more than 130 years later, film has once again become the subject of debate: at a time when digital technologies, algorithms, and AI are challenging the cinema.
The Congress on the Future of German Film is dedicated to the question of how film asserts itself in the intersection of art, market, and technology – and what happens when film itself becomes the subject of artistic reflection. The focus is on films about art as well as film as art: authorship, curatorial practice, new forms of presentation, and changing ways of experiencing moving images.
The conference functions as a laboratory: a place for discussion, debate, experimentation, and collaboration.
We would love to invite you all to come along and join us. Save the date: April 29 to May 2, 2026