May 8th - May 12th, 2024

The festival is organised by an association, founded in May 2007.
The festival takes place in the heart of Göttingen.
The festival is founding member of CAFFE - Coordinating Anthropological Film Festivals in Europe.
The Festival Programme, was composed by an international selection committee, including former and new members. More than 450 media had been submitted. 63 films were selected, 20 for the student category,  28 for the main festival and 15 which were screened only online..

The festival began with the student competition, in which 20 films took part. The Student Award and the Manfred Krüger Award were decided by a three-member international jury each.

Beside the presentation of new productions the festival had various main topics: "Living in the Margins", "Creating Belonging", "Coping with Political Constraints", "Coping with Personal Fate", "Filmmaking Styles", "Struggling with Environmental Crisis", "Fragments of Memory", "Gender Resilience", "Post-colonial Ex", "Performing Traditionperiments", "Working with Virtual Reality", "Performing Tradition", "Iranian Women Struggeling", "Revolution for Life", "Last Refuge", "Traumatic Experiences", "Living in Mexico", and "Preserving Culture".

The subject of memories was dealt with in several films and there were repeated discussions about how memories can be portrayed in film.

GIEFF Student Award 2024 Ceremony

The student award giving ceremony was taking place in the Forum Wissen.

The event started with a guided tour through the Museum Forum Wissen.

Thanks to all

Robert Scheck started the ceremony with many thanks to the visitors, the filmmakers, the moderators, the technical team and the interns.

Everyone made sure that we were able to experience another successful festival in 2024.

Special Recognition

GIEFF has decided to give Metje Postma a special recognition.

Metje Postma has been committed to visual anthropology and ethnographic film for many years.

She has also supported the festival in various ways from the very beginning of GIEFF.

We thank her warmly.

Presentation of the Student Awards

Most of the jury members and most filmmakers receiving an award or a honourable mention were in Göttingen.

More information about the films your can find here.

The decision regarding the Student Awards was made by international juries.  

GIEFF Student Award Jury 2024

Anne Chahine (Germany)
Martin Gruber (Germany)
Olivier Pollet (France)

Manfred Krüger Student Award Jury 2024

Metje Postma (The Netherlands)
Rosella Ragazzi (Norway)
Michael Schönhuth (Germany)

The winner of the GIEFF studend award, Liv Kisby, attended the festival.

Also the winners of the three GIEFF honourable mentions, Ilakkiya Mariya Simon, Anna Dobos and Haruka Fukao, were at festival.

The winner of the Manfred Krüger studend award, Pauline Shongov, attended the award ceremony online.

The winners of two Manfred Krüger honourable mention, Ignacio Rodriguez and Rachel Runesson, attended the festival and the award ceremony.

Films from all Over the World

62 films showed life in 45 countries. They were produced by filmmakers from 30 nationalities. The filmmakers of the films shown at the festival were available to answer questions after the screenings. Filmmakers who were unable to come to Göttingen were mostly connected online and were thus able to participate interactively in the festival.

Over 150 registered visitors followed the festival in Göttingen. They came from all over the world: Chile, China, Germany, France, Cameroon, Canada, India, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the USA.

Half of the filmmakers were present during the entire festival, which meant that it was also possible to talk to them about their films later.

Focal points 2024

This year, the international selection committee has put together a great program.

Habitats and the environment: People live in very different habitats, in the countryside, in the city or away from society, on garbage dumps, in ghettos, etc.
The development of the environment plays an important role here: for example, natural disasters, but also the exploitation of nature by profit-oriented companies or industrialization, the construction of dams or the commercialization of agriculture.

“Life on the edge” is a topic that has been in the spotlight several times, be it rice farmers or fishermen struggling to survive, seasonal workers or Afghan teenagers on the run. The films in “Struggeling with Environmental Crisis” focus on the impact of gold mining and deforestation on the environment and people in Brazil. In Australia, a man fights against marine pollution and ghost nets that indiscriminately kill sea creatures.

Gender destinies: People of all genders have specific experiences that affect their lives. In many cultures, women are confined to their role in the family. However, women are also actively involved in various social environments. Insights into the living conditions of migration are just as illuminating as those into the different realities of life for LGBTQIAP+ people.

The fate and struggle of women, women who are actively fleeing in Eritrea, women in Iran who are fighting for their children or trying to become independent of their gender role; or the resilience of women in a male-dominated society in Transylvania is the focus of the topic “Gender Resilience”.

Worlds of values: Insights into the diversity of worlds of faith deepen an understanding of the Other. For many people, religion as a world of values is an important point of reference, especially in times of upheaval. They enable people to find their own identity, while rituals and religious practices provide security.

The focal points “Coping with Personal Fate” and “Beyond the Matter”, for example, questioned well-known Japanese values and traditions that are rooted in Buddhism and scrutinized their continuity in modern times.
continuity in modern times or shows a couple mourning the death of their children as they scatter their ashes, thus showing resistance to social norms, as the scattering of ashes is considered unusual in Japan.

Migration: Many people want to migrate or have to migrate. They may go to a country purposefully to work. They may be forced to leave their country. They end up in temporary refugee camps and perhaps finally somewhere safe. They hope to feel at home somewhere or to make a home for themselves. It is often difficult for the second generation, who may not feel at home anywhere.

The topic of migration crops up again and again in the films in very different aspects. Be it a group of Afghan teenagers determined to smuggle themselves into Europe; refugee activists in their fight for a humane asylum system or a US-American woman in South Korea who runs a diner there because she misses the burgers at home.

Memories: The ability to remember allows us to feel alive. Memories of what has been left behind, of what has happened, are important in order to locate ourselves and to be able to act now. Remembering how something began makes it possible to build a deeper connection. In the context of film, the topic of memory poses a particular methodological challenge.

The theme of memory runs through the entire festival, in very different contexts. There are “Fragments of Memory”, where old film documents and pieces of writing are reassembled. There are “Political Constraints”, which take on an analysis with those affected, in Sri Lanka, in Chile, in Germany. There are “Postcolonial Experiments”, in which old material about actions in Namibia or the occupation of Puerto Rico by the USA is reprocessed.

Evoking Memories in/through Visual and Digital Media

During the festival, especially at the weekend, films dealing with the subject of memory were shown and discussed time and again.

Above all, the question of what means one has to represent memory.
In addition to photography and interviews, the main focus was on re-enactment, animation and virtual reality.

Virtual Reality

For the first time, GIEFF was presenting two Virtual Reality productions.

The Dugout Canoe https://www.gieff.de/11-05-2024-24.html#GIE24-1401

Surfacing https://www.gieff.de/11-05-2024-24.html#GIE24_VR

Talking about, looking at, relaxing from films

In the cafeteria visitors and filmmakers could meat, chat and discuss.

The students also interviewed several filmmakers as part of their university excursion.

These excursions met also in- and outside to discuss the films together or to have a meeting with one of the guests.

Finally, the visitors relaxed outside, in the little garden or on the steps of the Paulinerkiche.

A new partnership: Forum Wissen

The Forum Wissen of the University of Göttingen is a meeting place where knowledge is conveyed, reflected upon, discussed and created.

This year, for the first time, Forum Wissen and GIEFF e.V. decided to celebrate the Award ceremony at the Forum Wissen.

Additionally, the Forum Wissen offer two guided tours during the festival.

Travelling GIEFF

Since several years our festival films are travelling throughout Germany and the world,
very often they are shown at conferences or in seminars at the university, sometimes also at local cultural events.

If you are interested to organise a Travelling GIEFF please let us know: event@gieff.de

Travelling GIEFF at the Humboldt Forum Berlin