42 Congratulators

Long & Sweet relationship
Best wishes to our friends and partners at Kassel Dokfest, with whom we have enjoyed a long-standing relationship for 30 years now!
The film Topic I & II by Pascal Baes was shown in the Short & Sweet program in 1991. And that screening was the beginning of a long and successful collaboration fueled by a shared passion and commitment for audiovisual arts. Year after year, argos has found a sympathetic ear and an expert eye in the dedicated team of the festival. Many thanks for this solid and fruitful collaboration. argos has found a reliable road companion, enthusiastically presenting countless artists from our collection!

Laurence Alary
for argos centre for audiovisual arts

Dear Dokfest – and dear Dokfest team – congratulations on your anniversary!!! For the ten years that the Dokfest has been part of my life, I have organized, written, moderated and shown films, learned a lot personally and professionally, but above all seen special films and had great conversations. I am very grateful for the input and the exchange with people from the team, filmmakers and guests – to me, this is also an important part of the Dokfest. With that in mind, I wish everyone a great 40th festival edition – and many more years of Kassel Dokfest.

Julia Allnoch
Cultural Manager

In 1995, I went to the Kassel Dokfest for the first time to write an article for the daily newspaper about the workshop conference interfiction, which took place for the first time that year. The event was one of the first in Germany to deal with the then brand-new medium of the internet from a social, political and cultural perspective.
This meeting was extremely important for my life, because it was here that I first met many of the people with whom I was to work and become friends with in the future. Perhaps most important of all was the first time Geert Lovink showed me the website of the net artists jordi.org in the makeshift internet café under the roof of Dock 4. Four years later I published my first book on internet art – I have remained faithful to the subject to this day.
Today, I regularly visit the Dokfilmfest with my students to produce a blog and to familiarize them with current developments in documentary film, media art and media culture – thanks to the excellent curation by Gerhard Wissner and his team.

Prof. Dr. Tilman Baumgärtel
Mainz University of Applied Sciences

The entire Schluckspecht team would like to congratulate you on your 40th birthday! Together we have experienced a lot and today we can look back on a very special shared history:
It was a grand idea, probably conceived over a glass of wine (or several), to bring the Dokfest to life. We remember the beginning well, also the small or big start-up difficulties and how well you always mastered it.

And the Dokfest has become a success story. Every year, we share the excitement with you, just like the visitors, about how the program will be perceived.
It is not a given that a good wine assortment is offered at the cinema, in most cinemas there is no wine or rather a mediocre one. But you are by no means a mediocre cinema either, when it comes to culture and delight, your standards are high, which is why we fit together so well. Your customers also appreciate this and enjoy a good prosecco, white or red wine before or after the screening.
We have grown old together, but not a bit tired! You bravely survived the Corona crisis and are back in full glory, the audience and we thank you for that!

We appreciate the excellent and uncomplicated cooperation with you and hope that it will continue in exactly the same way in the next 40 years.

Christoph Becker und Dimitrios Kitsu
Managing Directors of Schluckspecht Wine Store

Did the Kassel Dokfest change my life? Definitely yes. For whatever reason Gerhard Wissner talked me into taking the position as technical director of the Monitoring exhibition in 1999 – I’ve been working in this field ever since.

When I think about it, the festival has been part of my life for over 20 years. In the beginning, still in Dock 4 as a visitor. For years I took a week off for the festival and fell asleep in the cinema during the late screenings. It’s great to see how the festival has grown and still managed to keep its family character.

Congratulations on your 40th birthday and thank you to the staff throughout these years – for many wonderful and stressful experiences, for always managing to get the festival up and running with so much commitment and for consistently refining it. Chapeau!

Alexandra Berge
Office Manager Kasseler Kunstverein

Absolutely Killing It
Toronto 2018. Like many international cultural relationships, our friendship began on a café patio. Scott Miller Berry from the Rendezvous with Madness Festival said: Gerhard is in town, we have to meet up! So we sat over cold drinks, analyzed film trends and global festival developments. Festival director Gerhard Wissner has always had two eyes on the playful Canadian media art scene; soon we were tossing program proposals back and forth between Germany, Canada and China. In 2021 you invited me onto the jury for the Golden Key — thank you for an unforgettable week of screenings and debates with passionate colleagues.
The afterglow was equally fruitful: Gerhard recommended filmmaker Antonia Kilian — in 2022 she led the Doc Workshop oft he Goethe-Institut and the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto and experimented with local filmmakers on “emotional landscapes.” Soon after, Antonia won the German Film Award.
And you weren't just right about Kilian. Kapwani Kiwanga won your Golden Cube for Best Media Installation in 2019 — in 2024 she represents Canada at the Venice Biennale. In my suitcase from Kassel, I brought Zuhur's Daughters and The Case You home for Canadian audiences.
Here's to another 40 years of exchange and collaboration, dear Team Kassel!

@JuttaBrendemuhl (Toronto/Berlin) curates and writes about film, among others for the Goethe-Institut and the EU Film Festival Toronto.

As every year, we are looking forward to the new program of the Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival. This year marks the 40th anniversary of this wonderful tradition. I warmly congratulate all the artists and the entire festival team on this anniversary and wish you a successful start into the next decade.
Founded in 1982, the festival is now a significant film and media festival with an international focus on documentary work in all its facets, with a special focus on new media. As big fans, we have been promoting the Dokfest since the very beginning and have thus always been a firm supporter at the side of those responsible for the festival team.
We are looking forward to a diverse Kassel Dokfest with many new impressions, current documentaries as well as experimental-artistic films.

Ingo Buchholz
Chairman of the Board of the Kasseler Sparkasse

I have been working with the Kassel Dokfest since 2015. Every year, 200 to 300 political science students in their first semester take part in DokfestCampus. The Dokfest team organizes a special screening with selected filmmakers for the students to inspire them to make their own documentary, probably for the first time in their lives. The best student films are then shown to the public in February in one of Kassel's wonderful arthouse cinemas. This collaboration is a highlight for us every year, and I am very grateful that the renowned festival, which brings together many (inter)national documentary filmmakers in Kassel, offers us this opportunity. I have learned a lot from this collaboration and had a lot of fun at the same time. Thank you and congratulations on your 40th anniversary!

Prof. Dr. Sonja Buckel
Professor of Political Theory,
currently Vice-President of the University of Kassel

The Dokfest has grown old. I can already see that when I look in the mirror in the morning. When I look in the mirror in the morning. But for the Dokfest, that’s good news. The routine with which six days of under-funded art and culture, entertainment, exhibition and party are produced year after year is extremely impressive, and is evidence of a formula for success that has been continually refined over the decades.

Actually, the Dokfest shouldn’t even exist. The city is too small, the scene too rare, the conditions too tough. So why does the Dokfest not only exist – why is it in fact so important?
One builds a crisis-proof relationship with friends. The Dokfest is no exception. It means something to us. With its history, with its uniqueness, with its program, with its relevance.
Thank you, Dokfest team! Here’s to old and new relationships and friendships for life!

Clemens Camphausen
Managing Director Machbar GmbH, Brand and Creative Agency

For us, it all started here with you! We premiered our first documentary that we produced, 89 MILLIMETERS, here. That was almost 20 years ago. Since then, we have been to many festivals with our films. From Berlin to Park City. From Tromso to Sydney.
And again and again in Kassel.

With films that we produced: YOU DRIVE ME CRAZY. PRE-CRIME. A SYMPHONY OF NOISE. INTO THE ICE.

With films from our world sales: SAKAWA. WHEN TOMATOES MET WAGNER. ONCE UPON A TIME IN VENEZUELA. EVERY FACE HAS A NAME.
In a place where not everyone expected it – in the middle of Germany – you have created something very special: A home – a very loving home – for documentary film.

Stefan Kloos & Anja Dziersk
Producers / Distributors / World Sales
Kloos & Co / Rise and Shine Cinema / Rise and Shine World Sales

Looking forward to the gray November happily? Yes! – Because then, finally, the Kassel Dokfest will take place again, where you can immerse yourself in familiar and foreign worlds, images and stories, for hours, days, nights. A "ray of hope" in dark times; always moving, touching, stimulating, and instructive! At the end, you are a little exhausted – and also a little sad because it is already over again. – With great thanks to the great team, I congratulate the Dokfest on its fortieth anniversary and wish it many more happy and audience-rich years (without a midlife crisis or other signs of old age)!

Mirjam Ebersbach
Professor of Psychology

Dear Kassel Dokfest, dear Marie, dear Gerhard,

I still remember our meeting at the Cultural Office of the City of Kassel very well. Susanne Völker had brought us together there in December 2017. As President of the Lions Club Kassel, it was particularly close to my heart to honor and promote cultural achievements in their most diverse manifestations. "Fighters for the Film Festival" was the title of the HNA's article about our wonderful partnership, which, in addition to major financial support, included a jointly organized film matinee at the Gloria Cinema – we showed Fritz Lang's "Metropolis." And as a long-standing cooperation partner of the junges dokfest section, the Media Authority of Hesse (Medienanstalt Hessen) has been building bridges to young audiences and media education for many years.

The Kassel Dokfest is a special cultural gem that must be protected and supported. I am all the more pleased about the 40th anniversary and congratulate you and the entire team from the bottom of my heart!

Prof. Dr. Murad Erdemir
Director of the Media Authority of Hesse

Felicitations

To each all good
face to game
the game is called
long breath
in the application jungle
search and find
new way's light
flickering in the dark
the eyes glamour
and glory, hallelujah
step by step
awakened, achieved,
sorted, selected,
served filleted
courses in store
for the fest the curtain
draws to
each all good.

Thanks to everyone for their being, doing and persisting.

Sylvia Fischer
Film and Cultural Scientist and longtime Curator Short Film

Congratulations on the 40th Dokfest anniversary!
For a very long time now, we have been regular visitors to the Kassel Dokfest and look forward to new, interesting and stimulating films every year. With Biomarkt Greger, we are happy to support the festival with donations and natural produce, so that it can continue to be enjoyed by us and the city of Kassel. I, Claudia, have had a very special relationship to the Dokfest since I took over the bookkeeping on a transitional basis about 2 years ago. Since then I can appreciate how much intensive work, perseverance, passion and enthusiasm are involved in the project. Congratulations to the festival management Gerhard and Marie, who are doing a magnificent job, and to the many committed long-time and new employees.
Sincerely,

Claudia Neumann and Hans-Georg Greger
Management of Biomarkt Greger

When the Documentary Film Festival was first held in Kassel 40 years ago, I was a student in the Ruhr area. I decided to study and moved to Kassel in 1986. The first cultural event I experienced in Kassel was the Dokfest. Since then, I plan my appointments so that I don’t miss out on anything from the Dokfest program.
My thanks go to all those involved who conceive, plan, and realize the Dokfest with a lot of enthusiasm, energy, perseverance, and love. For the future I wish for the Dokfest to be financially secure.

Ayşe Güleç
Active Researcher, Curator, Art Educator

For 40 years it has been worth coming to Kassel for an absolute highlight among film festivals: The Kassel Dokfest is a must for all film fans. It is much more than a film festival that simply makes great films accessible to a wider audience. The Dokfest goes far beyond simply screening films, by inviting discussions, presenting exhibitions, and creating space for award ceremonies and workshops. It is a public festival rooted in the city with high potential for identification and at the same time attracts cineasts far beyond the confines of the city. The special genre of documentary film gains a particularly appreciative platform through the Dokfest.
We congratulate the Dokfest on four successful decades and wholeheartedly wish all the best for the future!

Matthias Haupt and Nicole Schlabach
Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thüringen (the cultural foundation of the Sparkassen in Hesse and Thuringia)

Warm birthday greetings to the Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival from Werkleitz. A special thanks to all those who have hosted the Kassel Dokfest so wonderfully year after year in the past. Werkleitz is looking forward to A38 continuing to connect us with Kassel. We at Werkleitz wish continued success and above all energy and good projection for the future!

Daniel Herrmann
Director Werkleitz Gesellschaft e.V.

Exactly 10 years ago, on the 30^th anniversary of the Dokfest, for the first time a work of mine was let through the hard door policy of the festival and selected for a screening. The joy was enormous and my frustrated plan to ‘never submit there again' was quickly forgotten. Two years later I got a job at the Kassel Dokfest door myself, within the exhibition section Monitoring. There I learned a lot about being a bouncer in a curatorial sense and about how challenging it can be to agree on a mini guest list with almost 10 door-people. And I took away with me that the door policy is actually not that strict, but the resources of the Dokfest Club are unfortunately limited.
So: Happy B'day Dokfest! I wish you lots of presents so that all these great filmic positions can continue to exchange and present themselves here in the future and you remain the hostess with the mostess.

Kerstin Honeit
Artist / Interim Professor for Spacial Concepts at the HBK Braunschweig

Dear Dokfest team, for more than ten years I have been looking forward to our annual ritual meeting at the end of the summer to discuss the film selection for the Evangelisches Forum. I am very happy that the Forum can be part of this highlight of the cultural scene as a cooperation partner. Your commitment and passion for film enriches the Forum’s educational work. Thank you for that. I wish you a lot of strength, innovative ideas, supporters and friends for the upcoming tasks during a challenging time for cinema. Congratulations on your 40th!

Susanne Jakubczyk
Art Historian, Ev. Forum Kassel

I experienced my first Kassel Dokfest as a projectionist. I was a film student in my first semester and more interested in Tarantino than in documentaries. Operating a vision mixer, I sat between different playback devices (Betacam, DVD, Mini-DV, Hi8, 16mm, 35mm etc.) and watched the films on the reference monitor, or through the small control window in the projection room that gave a view of the screen. I remember how irritated I was by the extreme range of subjects and styles of the films, many were experimental, abstract, while others were brittle and rigid in form. It was my first intense exposure to documentaries and the cineastic power they can unleash. This original fascination continues to this day, and for that I am incredibly grateful to the Dokfest! Happy Birthday Kassel Dokfest!

Zuniel Kim
Freelance Filmmaker

November in Kassel, practically always dark, usually also wet and cold. Best festival weather, then. In 2007 I was at the Dokfest for the first time, and in 2009 a work of mine was screened for the first time. Since then, I have often been invited as a guest, for which I am very grateful. What I have always admired about Dokfest is that it strives to be accessible and open without sacrificing discursive depth. Thank you for the great times with you, all the encounters, and the countless videos I've had the chance to watch. At the risk of 39 others writing the same: Here's to the next 40 years.

Prof. Vika Kirchenbauer
Artist

I press the play button on the video recorder and look tensely at the screen. Will the projection start as expected or is there a problem? As the technician for the Videofest 1996, I sit in the back corner of the projection room in Dock 4. The videotape is threaded into the drive with a whirring and clacking sound, audible to all. The video recorder is the size of a microwave and weighs almost 20 kg. Gerhard and I had to carry it up the stairs together. We set up more than eight players and a lot of technical equipment around it, because with the 15 videos in the “Short & Sweet” program almost a dozen different formats are used. The projectionist becomes a video DJ, the technology a challenge. The video is running. Picture and sound are good – brief relaxation before concentrating on the next video. I wish the Dokfest many more exciting moments for the audience.

Jens Lange
Dokfest Media Technology (1990–1999)

Exactly 10 years ago I was involved in the realization of the 30th Kassel Dokfest and corresponded with those who congratulated at that time. Now I am the one who is congratulating you for the 40th edition and this really honors me. When the traveling documentary film festival was presented at the Filmladen in Kassel in 1982, you were obviously very well aware about the importance and reach of the documentary film as a genre. It is great and thanks to your tireless work that the traveling film festival has developed into a locally based film festival that is also one of the three most significant film festivals in Germany.

Film art is very close to the visual arts, with which in turn – and not only because of documenta – Kassel is associated. With the Fridericianum, the Kassel art school, the very active independent art scene and the many young galleries and exhibition spaces, Kassel is a very committed place in terms of contemporary art – and the Dokfest is a wonderful networker and enriching partner, which I already appreciated during my work at Fridericianum, but also in connection with documenta.

The Dokfest itself demonstrates its affinity with the visual arts through the many performances and presentations by renowned artists, such as the concert of "Les Reines Prochaines" with Pipilotti Rist in 1991, the films presented by Jonas Mekas in 1994, and the 1996 exhibition of the work of Tony Oursler, who had been awarded the Kassel Arnold Bode Prize that same year – to name a few. With Monitoring the Dokfest added an exhibition to the film screenings in 1997. Your idea was to give space to video art, which asks for different conditions than film. The constant expansion of the festival to include new categories was a concept anyway. In addition to the short and feature film categories and the Monitoring exhibition, there is the DokfestLounge, the DokfestForum in collaboration with Fridericianum, junges dokfest, workshops such as at interfiction, the outdoor screening "A Wall is a Screen", Dokfest-Brunch + Matinee, the Hessian University Film Day, which is held regularly during the Dokfest in Kassel and, of course, the award ceremonies with the trophies, which are ceremoniously presented at the end of each festival. That all this has worked so smoothly over the years is thanks to your non-stop activism, your optimism and your perseverance. Stay strong.

Andrea Linnenkohl
documenta

Congratulations on the Dokfest anniversary.

From the beginning we were interested participants as well as supporters of the Dokfest, through our friend Irmhild Scheuer we were often well informed about the films in advance. We always look forward to this week in the otherwise gloomy month of November!

We wish the festival – and us😀– another beautiful and exciting 40 years.

Ursula Maaßen and Reinhold Kolb-Maaßen
for many years committed supporters of the cinemas in Kassel and the Kassel Dokfest

We have been part of the Dokfest community for more than 20 years now. And every year we look forward to the international flair that sweeps through Kassel's art house cinemas in November. It is impressive to see how dedicated the Filmladen Kassel e.V. curates its festival programs, shedding light on current relevant topics and issues. With a focus on authentic people and the real life, with impressions, emotions and insights, the films touch and inspire the festival guests and stimulate discourse. This is exactly how the Dokfest enriches Kassel's cultural landscape for us, which we are happy continue to support. Like KVG and Städtische Werke are important parts of Kassel’s urban community, we are convinced that the Dokfest belongs to Kassel – today and for the upcoming 40 years. We wish all the best and much success for the future.

Dr. Michael Maxelon
Chairman of the Board of Management of Kassel Verkehrs-Gesellschaft AG and Städtische Werke AG

Dokfest Kassel was the first festival I exhibited at. That was in 2012, when I had not yet finished my diploma thesis "Triangular Stories". That's why I only applied for the festival with the concept. I had known the festival since my studies in Dresden, when my then art history professor had taken me along as a set-up helper in 2007. Connecting stacked monitors with coaxial cables in an unheated hall and finding the monitors whose color errors matched best was a very important experience for me that was to lead me from theater to film and television. When I then exhibited my video installation on the NSU in Kassel, it was above all the reference to Kassel as the hometown of Halit Yozgat, who was murdered by the NSU, that gave my work new dimensions in conversations with the visitors*. Thank you for the connections you make!

Henrike Naumann
Artist

Dear team of Kassel Dokfest,

Congratulations on 40 years of Kassel Dokfest and many thanks for the great work of the last decades! We are very grateful to have been represented at the festival many times already. Due to its precise film selection, the proximity to art and of course due to the international media art exhibition Monitoring, the festival plays an important role in the European festival landscape, and has done so for many years. We wish all participants a great jubilee party and increasing budgets – so please keep up the good work!

NEOZOON
Film-collective

In June 2011, I was in Bad Ems, visiting a small castle converted into studios for artists. I am very grateful that the boyfriend of one of the artists told me there was a festival in Kassel, I should apply to. The combination of documentaries, shorts and video art seemed like a great fit for me. And I was lucky enough to have my installation ”Stories from the suitcase” shown in the Monitoring section that same year. The welcoming atmosphere, the generosity and support, far exceeded my expectations. Since then, I have travelled from Sweden roughly every other year to attend the festival. I have always had a great time and afterwards, I have felt revived. Over the years, I have developed friendships with some of the artists and filmmakers, I have met at the festival, and with some of the hosts too. I am looking forward to what the next 40 years will bring. Happy anniversary!

Björn Perborg
Artist and filmmaker

Dear Dokfest, now you are already 40 years old. The time with you has flown by. As your long-time fans and supporters, we have to say: Respect! Indeed, you don't look the least bit tired. Even today you are a multi-talent: versatile, perceptive and surprising! We are proud to accompany you on your journey and look forward to many more festivals, interesting perspectives and tangible food for thought. Because we have not had enough of it by a long shot!

Kai Reinhard
CEO of Micromata GmbH

2006: I’m studying at the Kunsthochschule. My close friend and flatmate Vera Maria Glahn (who established the DokfestLounge in the following years) asks if I would be interested in working for the Dokfest. From now on until 2020 I will take care of finding accommodations and booking hotels for the attending festival guests. No matter where various artist residencies take me over the years, I navigate my way from Tbilisi or Los Angeles through the very hospitable accommodation offers of Kassel’s film friends.

In 2017, a certain Austrian filmmaker, Rainer Kohlberger, visits the festival. I book him a room at the Stadthotel. Immediately after his arrival he calls me somewhat grumpily. He doesn’t know how to get to the Monitoring opening and I politely explain him the way. By chance we meet in the exhibition spaces, both of us having sneaked away from the opening speeches.

2022, the year in which the initial spark for the Dokfest lies 40 years in the past, is when our daughter comes into existence, who will be born in March 2023. Rainer and I got married in the meantime. Without wanting to get too sentimental here: Without the Dokfest, our relationship and our daughter would probably not exist! I think that’s pretty terrific. Therefore, this text is not just a birthday greeting, but a grin put into words, a grateful hug and a document of great anticipation for the festival and family years to come.

Julia Charlotte Richter
Video Artist
Administrator of the Professorship “Kunst im sozialen Raum” (Art in Social Space), Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig (Braunschweig University of Fine Arts)

Dear Kassel Dokfest,

I have been a faithful companion for ten years and the encounters and exchanges with invited filmmakers and artists have been particularly impressive for me.

During my Dokfest internship in 2012, Tatiana Konstantinova, whose beautiful short film "Clear Prop!" was presented at the festival, was a guest in my shared apartment. I remember deep conversations with her, with the numerous artists I had the chance to meet during my time in the Monitoring viewing committee, and long discussions after screenings as a Dokfest visitor. I also think of great retrospectives, such as the screenings of the Kassel Film Collective, and those of numerous film schools that have been presented over the years.

On the occasion of this 40th anniversary, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all those who make the Dokfest and these moments possible through their passion and commitment.

Thank you!

Anna-Lisa Scherfose
Curator / Art scholar

Klaus’ mother brings a sack of walnuts to Dock 4 for the premiere, keeping little Sarah happy at the cash desk, being mesmerized, November wouldn't be bearable without it, discussing passionately, getting involved, building the guidance system, despairing of the guidance system, Lorenz on stage with Timo Hildebrand, no longer wanting to build the guidance system, being persuaded to do so again, admiring Gerhard for his persistency, because of the guidance system and in general, the key visuals of the catalogs in retrospect as present as yesterday, Gottfried Stollwerk and the beautiful Petra, allowing oneself to be touched, being alienated, learning from Steffen, talking shop about tractors with Mechthild, getting through the program overview in one weekend, cursing, showing solidarity, being happy. Connected over 27 years, more than half of my life.

Josephine Schmücker
longtime companion of the Kassel Dokfest

Dear Dokfest Kassel,

You and I are both turning 40! So allow me to say: Let's skip the midlife crisis and start our best years together right now. We have certainly been through some things, regretted some, celebrated many and look confidently into the future despite difficult past years.

Even at a very young age, you were a strong advocate for artistic documentary film and young talent in Hesse. We also have this conviction in common: A strong new generation is essential for the development of a diverse and sustainable cultural landscape and lays the foundation for a steadily growing and vibrant film scene in Hesse.

I look forward to many more years with you, with countless relevant documentaries, extraordinary video art and, above all, with all the wonderful people who contribute to making you exist.

Anna Schoeppe
CEO Hessen Film & Medien

At the North Hessian gateway to the world, Kassel, in the town’s most beautiful cinemas, created by the most charming team - the best documentaries, talks and exhibitions.

For 40 years! Congratulations! And respect! And more of it! And with the kindest regards.

Johanna Süß
Director, LICHTER Filmfest Frankfurt International

Congratulations on 40 years of Kassel Dokfest! Around 250 current documentary and artistic films – prizes and awards of international renown – conferences and discussions – network meetings and "Monitoring" – all this every year. Dokfest has long since become a permanent fixture among film and media festivals, internationally as well. The team and the number of supporters have been growing steadily over the past years and Dokfest makes the very best of it! My personal highlights: the jury meetings for the "Golden Key", the BALi cinemas becoming the most sustainable cinema in Hesse in 2018 and a Christmas party in the summer. Stay experimental and brave, turn day into night and make the nights long in the darkness of the cinemas and keep being so active and rousing. All the best and best wishes for impact, recognition and enthusiasm!

Warmest

Susanne Völker
Head of Cultural Department of the City of Kassel 2017-2023

From 2014 to 2020, I helped shape the short film program of the Kassel Dokfest six times. In the summers, I came to the city as a guest to watch thousands of films in darkened conference and seminar rooms (later also in puppet theaters) with my fellow committee members, to discuss and deliberate – not only, but also about how many cat videos are too many. Eating at Bashi's and master chef Haack's, sleeping in guest rooms and former childhood bedrooms of festival supporters, with flat-share or family connections, with people who became friends. In November, I was the host myself: for many excited artists who often traveled a long way, for their films and for the attentive, open-minded Kassel audience in front of the huge screen of the BALi cinema. It was a celebration every year – this year it's a very special one: Happy 40th and thank you for letting me be a part of it for a while!

Ulrich Ziemons
Co-head of Berlinale Forum Expanded