The text was written as part of a seminar at the University of Rostock and was written by students! Have fun!

The first block of Young Film 2023 began on Friday, April 28 at 12:30 p.m. with a loud foghorn that alerted the audience of the M.A.U.Club to the start of the first short films of the FiSH Film Festival. After a melodic opening by the numerous choir members of the Käthe-Kollwitz-Gymnasium, Clara Winter as moderator introduced the themes of identity and relationship of the first film block. This comprised four short films. The start was made by the comedy “Pizza D’Amour” by 27-year-old Elsa van Damke from Berlin, which deals with the parent-child relationship on the topic of sexuality as well as conservatism of children. The second short film “Von Scham und Haar”, a poetry slam inspired experimental film by Kira Marie Jockers (22 years old from Cologne), criticized commenting on other bodies in relation to self-discovery and identity. This was followed by the short melodrama “Karl” by 20-year-old Elisa Büchner from Euerdorf, Bavaria. The short film involved the condemnation of non-named relationships, in this case with an autistic person. Finally in Block 1 was “Das zieh ich an, wenn ich tot bin,” a documentary by 26-year-old Marvin Menné from Mainz.

His short film dealt with three individual stories in dealing with the topic of death. Afterwards, the five-member jury came on stage at the M.A.U. Club for a discussion about the four short films. Meanwhile, there was little disagreement among them and the exchange of their perspectives as experts.

The next round was also colorful. With a broad spectrum of topics and film styles used, the short films of this year’s Young Cinema once again demonstrated how multi-faceted FiSH can be.From absurdity to profundity, everything was there to excite the amateur film watcher and do justice to every kind of film fan. It was about trauma, about the change of ideals, about old friend.

Parallel to the premiere of the 48-hour film challenge at li.wu., one of the highlights of the day started at 6 pm.

For two hours, the international short films of the OFFshort celebrated their debut in the M.A.U Club and were able to deliver a good performance.Compared to the previously smaller short films, the average running time of the OFFshort films was around 10 minutes.The extended time allowed for more complex stories, but also had to keep a balance with the attention span of the viewer, who was busy with the subtitles on the side.Nevertheless, the auditorium remained filled and the audience’s applause only increased.

Since the OFFshort’s films come from countries in the Baltic Sea region, it was interesting to see what other perspectives and inspirations the artists brought from their homeland.Diverse were the film styles, for example.Among the five short films there were three real film productions, one claymation and one hybrid of cartoon and real life.But even among the actor shorts there were different styles like a black and white detective comedy, or a desolate reflection on stagnant Lithuania.All in all, a healthy mix of entertainment and political criticism.