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60th edition · Home of Films

Internationale Hofer Filmtage

Kino ist Leben. You are the Story. Leave a Spark.

20–25 October 2026

For sixty years, a small Bavarian town has been the place where new German and independent cinema shows up first. The 60th Internationale Hofer Filmtage run from 20 to 25 October 2026, in the cinemas of Hof and, for a week after, online.

Plakat der 60. Internationalen Hofer Filmtage
Illustration: Sebastian Stamm

What it is

Heinz Badewitz started the Hofer Filmtage in 1967 as, in his words, the world's smallest film festival: a matinee and a handful of short films. It grew into the yearly meeting point of new German cinema and earned its nickname, das Festival der Neuentdeckungen, the festival of discoveries. Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog, Tom Tykwer, Caroline Link and Maren Ade all showed early work here. Thorsten Schaumann has run it since 2017, after Badewitz died in 2016.

What to see

The full 2026 programme has been online since 1 October. What the festival is built around:

The opening film
The festival opens on 20 October with Zoey & Ben, which Alexander Conrads shot over ten years, one new episode each year: Ben unexpectedly becomes the full-time father of his nine-year-old daughter Zoey. Before it runs Chéri on Top, a short by Liselotte Séchet, a student at the HFF München.
A short and a feature, together
A Hof signature: many screenings pair a short film with a feature. Premieres, most of them German first showings, are usually introduced by the director, who stays for questions afterwards.
Around 130 films in six days
Roughly half are international independent titles, the rest new German work, across fiction, documentary and short film. This year the programme has 27 international features.
The Retrospektive
Every year since 1976 the festival honours an internationally known filmmaker with a retrospective. For the 60th edition there are two homages. One is for Julie and Roger Corman, with six films from their production house, among them The Fall of the House of Usher, Little Shop of Horrors and Martin Scorsese's early Boxcar Bertha; Julie Corman comes to Hof as guest of honour. The other is for the Swiss-Canadian director Léa Pool, from Emporte-moi to her latest film, On sera heureux (2025).
HoF Plus
Around the screenings: classics shown on 8, 16 and 35mm film, filmmaker talks and master classes, a seven-minute pitch to industry, and a nightly talk show on the festival's channel.
Younger audiences and XR
The #ofNext strand programmes cinema for a young generation, and HoF XR shows extended-reality work.
The football match
The filmmakers' team, FC Hofer Filmtage, plays the local FC Filmwelt Hof, a fixture for decades.

Sixty years

The anniversary edition runs under the motto Kino ist Leben. You are the Story. Leave a Spark. It brings a new prize, the Planet Rebels Award, worth 5,000 euros from the Oberfranken Stiftung, for a feature or documentary on the climate, the environment and the future; the jury also weighs how sustainably each film was made.

Three exhibitions in the city
All free to visit, in the weeks around the festival:
60 Jahre Home of Films
Freiheitshalle Hof · 21 September – 30 October 2026
Six decades of Hofer Filmtage posters.
Das Theater im Sucher – Die Fotografin Ruth Walz
Theater Hof · 18 September – 29 October 2026
Five decades of theatre photography by Ruth Walz. Ladenburger's documentary about her has its world premiere in Hof.
Filmkunst auf Papier – Kultplakate der Hofer Filmtage
Klostergalerie der Diakonie Hochfranken · for the anniversary
Original film posters from the archive of the Freunde der Hofer Filmtage.

The prizes

A selection of the awards and what they carry. Ten films compete for the Förderpreis Neues Deutsches Kino, presented with the Filmpreis der Stadt Hof on Thursday 22 October at 18:00 in the Festsaal of the Freiheitshalle. Twenty-one compete for the Granit. The other prizes are presented on Friday 23 October.

Förderpreis Neues Deutsches Kino
German Cinema New Talent Award
10,000 €
Granit – Hofer Dokumentarfilmpreis
documentary award
7,500 €
Hans-Vogt-Filmpreis
for sound
5,000 €
Planet Rebels Award
new in 2026, for films on climate, environment and the future
5,000 €

Tickets

Anyone can go: the festival sells single cinema tickets to the public, no accreditation needed. A ticket costs €9. For anyone who finds that hard right now there is a social ticket at €7.50, with no proof asked. A pass for 5 screenings costs €40, one for 10 costs €80; buy the pass before choosing the films. Online sales opened on 13 October, and the box office in the Bürgergesellschaft, Poststraße 6, sells tickets from 17 October.

Many films then stream on the festival's own platform, HoF On Demand, for a week after their premiere, until 1 November. Streaming is available in Germany only.

Festival ticket shop2026 prices, from the festival's ticket shop

Getting there

Most venues sit in Hof's old town, a few minutes' walk apart, with the Central Kino at Altstadt 8 as the hub and the Bürgergesellschaft as the festival centre. This year films also play in two halls of the Freiheitshalle and at the Klangmanufaktur across the street, a short way west, and a free shuttle bus runs between the venues every 20 minutes, Wednesday to Sunday from 12:00 to midnight. Hof has its own main station; the train from Munich takes about three and a half hours. Deutsche Bahn's discounted Veranstaltungsticket works for the trip, and the festival runs a rideshare board for anyone driving.

Festival rideshare board
The venues
Central Kino
main venue
Altstadt 8
Bürgergesellschaft
venue and festival box office
Poststraße 6
Arts Avenue
step-free via the side entrance
Bachstraße 10
Freiheitshalle
two screening rooms for the first time, the opening and an exhibition
Kulmbacher Straße 4
Klangmanufaktur
new in 2026, across from the Freiheitshalle
Kulmbacher Straße 1
Cinemas: tap for showtimesFestival venue

Common questions

When are the Hofer Filmtage 2026?
From 20 to 25 October 2026, in Hof, Bavaria. It is the 60th edition.
Can anyone attend, or is it for the industry?
Anyone can attend. The festival sells single cinema tickets to the public; a ticket costs €9. No accreditation is needed.
What is the opening film?
Zoey & Ben by Alexander Conrads, on 20 October, with the short Chéri on Top by Liselotte Séchet before it.
Is there audio description or subtitling for deaf viewers?
At selected screenings, for the first time. The GRETA app plays audio description, subtitles for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers, or amplified sound on your own smartphone, in sync with the film. The festival app marks those films with the GRETA symbol.
Can I watch the films online?
Yes. Many films stream on the festival's platform, HoF On Demand, for a week after their premiere, until 1 November. Streaming works in Germany only.
What kind of festival is it?
A festival for new German and international cinema, long the place where young directors show early work. It was founded in 1967.
Why is it called Home of Films?
Wim Wenders gave it the name at the 25th anniversary in 1991, for how often filmmakers return to it.

Facts on this page checked on 16 October 2026.

Sources