FilmschweSTERN*: Feministischer Kurzfilmabend

FilmschweSTERN* offers filmmakers and audiences a space for connection, discussion, and collaborative creation. We aim to draw attention to structural inequalities, open up concrete opportunities for support, and promote FLINTA individuals at every stage of their filmmaking careers—from beginners and students to established directors.

6 feminist short films carefully selected for the big screen—followed by a Q&A! 

Here’s what’s in store for you at the FilmschweSTERN* short film night:

Shut up and Suffer
(Emma Bading, 20 min.)

When the two extraterrestrial beings, Ryk and Nono, go to the quintessentially German gynecologist Dr. Kratzmann to have an abortion, they have no idea what bureaucratic hurdles and rules of conduct they’ll face.

Zero Time Moment
(Doria Dolmatova, 4 min.)

Zero Time Moment is a fulldome/VR short film inspired by the experience of emigration—the disorientation, physical uprooting, languages that fail to connect, and a body that cannot find rest. The film transports viewers into the architecture of fear: a state of consciousness in which time freezes and uncertainty takes on a spatial form—circular, inhabited, and ultimately accepted.

Südstrand
(Laura Baalmann, 30 min.)

Südstrand observes the microcosm of 16 teenagers during their two-week lifeguard duty on the Baltic Sea island of Fehmarn. The film shows how they navigate between responsibility, group belonging, and personal self-discovery, immersing itself observantly in their everyday lives, with the water serving as a silent, ambivalent companion that points to the growing number of non-swimmers.

Swan Lake
(Stella Deborah Traub, 6 min.)

When we’re sick, there’s only one thing—and only one thing—we want: to no longer be sick. The filmmaker spots a swan in a duck pond and, suffering from Long COVID, dreams of the realm of the healthy. An essay about enchanted patients and dreaming birds.

Lucy & Mia
(Kira Bosenius, 25 min.)

Lucy is overwhelmed—she has found in Mia someone with whom she feels a connection she hasn’t felt in a long time. Their relationship begins, as is so often the case, on the familiar ground of friendship, but with each encounter, Lucy’s hope grows that Mia might feel more for her. Driven by the fear of rejection and the desire for clarity, Lucy finally takes the decisive step: she opens her heart and confides in Mia, not knowing just how much this conversation could change everything.

Still Waters
(Renée Klöffer, 18 min.)

Surrendered to a depressive episode, Flori lives in isolation in the mountains. However, when a close friend, Mara, unexpectedly loses her job, Flori invites her over despite the ongoing episode. Mara’s visit disrupts Flori’s quiet life, and the harmony between the two begins to unravel. What starts as an almost uneventful stay turns into an encounter with their own inner struggles and a self-image that gradually seems to be falling apart.