Frankfurt film collective wins coveted Cinematheque Prize 2025!

Frankfurt film collective wins coveted Cinematheque Prize 2025!

Cinema connects people like no other medium. The Frankfurt film collective proved this impressively by being awarded the Cinematheque Prize 2025 yesterday. The prize, which is awarded by the Kinematheksverbund, underlines the importance of cooperation between different actors in film art. This form of “connection” is reflected not only in the analogue film screening, but also in the colorful collaboration between the five key institutions in Frankfurt am Main, which together offer a unique space for cinema culture. This is what it is about Film Forum Höchst, the German Film Institute & Film Museum, the Pupil – cinema in the university, the Film collective Frankfurt yourself as well as the Asta Nielsen cinema library. This community is not only a platform for films, but also a lively, social and political place.

The jury justified the award with the high importance of collaborative work. Differences are not ignored, but rather make cinema even more productive. The jury members praised the collective for its ability to create a plural space that impresses with both the diversity of voices and the type of events. The collective is grateful not only for the award, but also for the collaboration and support from the Deutsche Kinemathek Foundation.

Film series and prospects

As part of the award, the film series “Not without Love – Barbara Sass' retrospective” is currently running, which can be seen from November 11th to 16th, 2025 in various Frankfurt locations such as the Haus am Dom and the ballroom in the Student House. The coming months also offer excitement, because the films by Róza Berger-Fiedler and Judit Elek are already in the starting blocks. The series “Remembering is Living”, which will be shown in the DFF cinema in winter 2025, and “How long does a person live?”, which will run from September 10th to December 7th, 2025 in the DFF cinema and in the remake, are promising highlights. An insight into past film series such as “The Reverse Life – Alain Jessua's retrospective” or “The Obsessions of Antoinetta Angelidi” shows that the offering was consistently high-caliber.

The Frankfurt Film Collective had its origins in September 2013, and the success of these independent cinema events is also in line with the goals of film and media policy integration. The urgency of diversity, inclusion and anti-discrimination in the film and cinema industry, which are actively promoted by the federal government, is also highlighted. From January 1, 2025, the film funding agency will take on the responsible role of jury-based cultural film funding, which the film sector has received extremely positively. Minister of State for Culture is convinced that talent film funding will provide significant impetus for aspiring filmmakers from the end of 2025.

With current developments, the Frankfurt film collective is not only a beacon for artistic development, but also an important pillar for the film community in Germany. We look forward to the upcoming films and events that await us in the next few months.