Oldenburg 2026: The Verdict
From the deeply personal to the searingly political, Oldenburg returned for 2026 with an array of creative, challenging, and arresting independent films.
Oldenburg 2026
Oldenburg 2026: The Awards
Zachary Nichols’ ‘Variations on Violence’ took home the top prize at this year’s Oldenburg Film Festival.
The Taste of Your Scales
The Taste of Your Scales is an ominous and unsettling fantasy is a coming-of-age story, where a boy learns the truth about the fish factory in which his father works.
Foreign Tongue
A Canadian woman wakes from a coma speaking in a Bosnian accent in Foreign Tongue, Boris Mojsovski’s meditation on the immigrant experience draped on a rom-com framework.
You Won’t Believe What Happened Before
An inflammatory video of the Prime Minister provides the McGuffin for Srdjan Janicijevic’s absorbing thriller, You Won’t Believe What Happened Before, which lays bare a world of corruption and moral compromise.
Stop the Car
Two brothers looking make a quick buck steal a car from the roadside only to find some unexpected cargo in Stop the Car, a slick moral drama.
Hello Mother
A young girl must wrangle a drunken father and a new step-mother in Hello Mother, Byambasuren Ganbat’s charmingly comedic and utterly earnest Mongolian melodrama.
Life After a Lifetime and Endless Rebirths
Gender identity, freedom and grief all become entwined in Life After a Lifetime and Endless Rebirths, Leart Rama’s propulsive and emotive short about a young woman clinging to the memory of her disappeared boyfriend.
Looking back at the films of Neil LaBute
Famous indie director, Neil LaBute, is celebrated with a retrospective in Oldenburg.
Strange Neighbors
The meditative wordless documentary, Strange Neighbors, explores the flow of life on a nature-rich island in the River Elbe and the machine of massive industry that otherwise dominates the waterway.
Miss Jobson
Bob Marley’s friend, lawyer, and fellow Rastafarian is given the spotlight she typically shuns in Miss Jobson, an unhurried and mellow observational documentary.
Asphalt Guerilla
In Asphalt Guerilla, Edgar Pera tells the tale of a far-left militant group in Portugal as a dense, mile-a-minute essay film that combines fiction, archive, documentary and AI to compelling effect.
Living Grounds
Apocalyptic foreboding permeates the gripping short, Living Grounds, told through a series of long takes, as a fatal accident becomes all too personal for someone attending the scene.
Bold Visions Abound at the 2026 Oldenburg Film Festival
Germany’s premiere independent festival, Oldenburg Film Festival, returns for its 33rd edition.