Oldenburg 2023

Festival Reviews

Oldenburg Film Festival 2023: The Verdict

by Stephen Dalton | Sep 17, 2023 | Festivals, Oldenburg 2023, Spotlight, The Festival Verdict

Germany’s premiere festival platform for rule-breaking indie cinema celebrated its 30th edition with audacious acid-punk UFO comedies, bleak kidnap thrillers and a ground-breaking peek into the multiverse.

Oldenburg 2023: The Awards

by TheFilmVerdict | Sep 17, 2023 | Festivals, Oldenburg 2023

Turkey’s chilling political thriller ‘In the Blind Spot’ grabs the Best Film prize at Oldenburg.

Beautiful Friend

by Stephen Dalton | Sep 16, 2023 | Festivals, Featured, Oldenburg 2023

A sociopathic amateur film-maker kidnaps the woman he wants to play his fantasy girlfriend role in Truman Kewley’s quietly chilling psycho-thriller debut ‘Beautiful Friend’.

Grill

by Ben Nicholson | Sep 16, 2023 | Festivals, Oldenburg 2023, Verdict Shorts

The cruelty of an uncaring welfare state is brought into sharp relief in Jade Hærem Aksnes’s stomach-churning satirical drama about poverty, Grill.

Seaweed

by Ben Nicholson | Sep 16, 2023 | Festivals, Oldenburg 2023, Verdict Shorts

A young boy grieving the loss of his mother forms a bond with a desert drifter in the heart-warming Israeli drama, Seaweed.

The Wait

by Stephen Dalton | Sep 16, 2023 | Festivals, Oldenburg 2023

Spanish director F. Javier Gutiérrez’s atmospheric but underpowered horror western ‘The Wait’ offers a fistful of familiar supernatural tropes.

The Belgian Wave

by Stephen Dalton | Sep 16, 2023 | Featured, Festivals, Oldenburg 2023

Cult director Jérôme Vandewattyne uses a spate of real UFO sightings as the launchpad for ‘The Belgian Wave’, an incoherent but highly entertaining acid-punk sci-fi road movie about close encounters of the surreal kind.

Charcoal

by Carmen Gray | Sep 16, 2023 | Festivals, Oldenburg 2023

A dark, absurdist farce of wicked schemes bred of hardship in smalltown Brazil reveals helmer Carolina Markowicz as a bold talent.

Our Males and Females

by Ben Nicholson | Sep 15, 2023 | Festivals, Oldenburg 2023, Verdict Shorts

A mother and father are confronted with an agonising dilemma as they attempt to prepare the body of their young transgender child for burial in Ahmad Alyaseer’s ‘Our Males and Females’.

From Dawn Till Noon on the Sea

by Ben Nicholson | Sep 15, 2023 | Festivals, Oldenburg 2023

A kidnapping sees the lives and fates of three troubled youths become entwined in Takayuki Hayashi’s serene and solemn feature debut, From Dawn Till Noon on the Sea.

Frames of Alicia

by Stephen Dalton | Sep 15, 2023 | Oldenburg 2023, Festivals

A troubled young Swedish woman finds Copenhagen to be a town without pity in Danish director Adam Benjamin Mikkelsen’s slight, disjointed but emotionally powerful debut ‘Frames of Alicia’.

Enter the Clones of Bruce

by Stephen Dalton | Sep 15, 2023 | Festivals, Oldenburg 2023

David Gregory’s entertaining documentary ‘Enter the Clones of Bruce’ chronicles the bizarre explosion in Bruce Lee lookalikes and copycat films that followed the martial arts superstar’s death 50 years ago.

Robot Dreams

by Ben Nicholson | Sep 14, 2023 | Festivals, Oldenburg 2023

A friendship between a dog and a robot in 80s New York provides the foundation for a beautiful and touching exploration of relationships in Robot Dreams.

Dream Maker

by Ben Nicholson | Sep 14, 2023 | Festivals, Oldenburg 2023, Verdict Shorts

A man uses virtual reality to experience and retouch the memory of his deceased daughter in this poignant, thought-provoking Iranian sci-fi, Dream Maker.

Maestra

by Carmen Gray | Sep 14, 2023 | Festivals, Oldenburg 2023

Maggie Contreras reveals workplace realities for female orchestra conductors as global candidates vie for a Paris contest title, in a warm, glossy doc with surprising political bite.

Little Girl Blue

by Carmen Gray | Sep 13, 2023 | Festivals, Cannes 2023, Oldenburg 2023

Mona Achache brings invention, curiosity and raw vulnerability to excavate traces of three generations of female writers in her family and power abuses in France’s literary scene.

Cleaner

by Ben Nicholson | Sep 13, 2023 | Festivals, Oldenburg 2023, Verdict Shorts

A tentative friendship begins between a cleaner and the woman who employs her in Cleaner, a delicately wrought drama about relationships and their boundaries.

MILC Metaverse Finds its Home with the Oldenburg Film Festival

by TheFilmVerdict | Sep 4, 2023 | Interviews & Profiles, Festivals, FestMarket Clips, Oldenburg 2023

Renowned for its innovation, for its 30th anniversary this year, the Oldenburg Film Festival has partnered with the MILC Platform and The Film Verdict to take its first virtual steps into the Metaverse. Users can immerse themselves in virtual Oldenburg and its rich...

Oldenburg Film Festival Announces Line Up

by TheFilmVerdict | Sep 1, 2023 | FestMarket Clips, Festivals, Oldenburg 2023

Oldenburg Film Festival celebrates 30 years with it's latest selection: Allmen and the Secret of the Koi GER Director: Sinje Köhler Cast: Heino Ferch, Andrea Osvárt, Samuel Finzi, Uwe Kockisch Beautiful Friend USA Director: Truman Kewley Cast: Adam Jones, Alexandrea...

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