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Lars Henrik Gass, long-time director of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, is leaving the Festival. From February 2025, Gass will be the founding director of the new Haus für Film und Medien (HFM) in Stuttgart. The 59-year-old author, film curator and cultural manager is regarded as an important theorist of contemporary cinema and a critical voice in the cultural sector. He was appointed director of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen in 1997.

“We very much regret the departure of Lars Henrik Gass. Through the clever inclusion of art and media trends, he has continuously developed this traditional Festival as a globally recognised trademark of our city. With him, a style-defining era comes to an end, in which the Festival moved from the town hall back into the city centre and opened up to the art world, pop culture and digital developments to attract a new audience. We wish Lars Henrik Gass every success in his new role,” states Oberhausen’s Lord Mayor Daniel Schranz. The call against all forms of anti-Semitism, which Gass, as one of the few prominent representatives of the German cultural scene, published and advocated shortly after the Hamas terror attack on 7 October 2023 in Israel, “is in accordance with the attitude of our city, which we have repeatedly demonstrated since the Hamas attack on Israel,” emphasises the Lord Mayor: “We have supported him in his clear statement.”

The representatives of the Festival’s shareholder, the City of Oberhausen, are currently working on a concept for the successor to the management and artistic direction of the Festival.

“After 27 years as director of the Festival, I am leaving Oberhausen with heartfelt thanks to the staff, the audience and the representatives of the city for the trust they have placed in me,” Gass states. During his time as festival director, outstanding filmmakers such as Andrea Arnold, Christoph Hochhäusler and Mike Mills were discovered, the world’s first prize for music videos at a film festival was introduced, as well as many innovative technical innovations such as digital platforms for film submissions; he also initiated the founding of the AG Kurzfilm and the AG Filmfestivals. He was also responsible for the first fully digital edition of a film festival in Germany during the coronavirus pandemic, which attracted a lot of attention.

As founding director in Stuttgart, he will be able to work with a large planning team on content, concept and organisation to lay the foundations of the Haus für Film und Medien Stuttgart (Film and Media House, HFM), which is unique in Germany, says Gass: “This pioneering institution is designed as an analogue and digital location for moving images in all their forms, from the past to the future.” In addition to film, all moving image formats from animation, games and software to virtual and augmented reality will find a home there on around 4,500 square metres from 2029.

Lars Henrik Gass, born in Kaiserslautern in 1965, has published texts and books on topics including the theory and future of film festivals and cinema as well as cultural and film funding. After completing his studies and doctorate at the Free University of Berlin, he took over the management of the European Documentary Film Institute in Mülheim an der Ruhr at the beginning of 1996 and moved to Oberhausen as festival director in October 1997.

Founded in 1954, the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen was a meeting point with filmmakers from the former Eastern Bloc with the motto “Weg zum Nachbarn” (Way to the Neighbour), became the nucleus of New German Cinema with the Oberhausen Manifesto in 1962 and is closely associated with prominent directors such as Alexander Kluge, Werner Herzog, Roman Polanski, Christoph Schlingensief and Wim Wenders. At the 70th Festival edition in May this year, 450 films were presented and 750 accreditations from 50 countries were recorded. The total number of admissions counted was around 16,000.

Source: International Short Film Festival Oberhausen