The 37th Filmfest Dresden (April 8-13, 2025) is the ideal platform for the premiere of NEXT GENERATION SHORT TIGER 2025 with its top-notch line-up of films and supporting programme as well as numerous international professionals. The screening will be held in the Schauburg cinema on Saturday, April 12, at 4 pm. For the second time the 54th Sehsüchte International Student Film Festival Potsdam (April 23-27, 2025) will also be hosting the NEXT GENERATION SHORT TIGER 2025 as a special screening. As per tradition, the new programme of shorts will then be presented on Tuesday, May 20, as a market screening at the Marché du Film of the Festival de Cannes (6.15 pm at Olympia 2)

"The anniversary tiger shines in all colors, and this year's NEXT GENERATION SHORT TIGER program is just as colorful and diverse. To visit all the birthplaces of the selected filmmakers would require a trip around the world", says Jolinde Sawahn, first deputy of the FFA Executive Board and head of funding. "It is all the more wonderful that all these films made in Germany are now traveling the world from Saxony. Thank you to Filmfest Dresden for five years of hospitality!"

“With Next Generation, German Films is presenting one of the oldest and most popular talent initiatives in Cannes and is continuously developing it further. Especially through the combination with the FFA Short Tiger 15 years ago and the cooperation with the Filmfest Dresden 5 years ago, the program has gained significantly in each case,” says Simone Bauman, Managing Director of German Films about the anniversary of the NEXT GENERATION SHORT TIGER program this year. “With their different styles, perspectives and approaches, the filmmakers address the complex present and their films give us confidence that we can make a difference, even on a small scale.”

The films of NEXT GENERATION SHORT TIGER 2025:

• BALKONE von Xenia Smirnov (monströös Studio für Animation, Animation, Short Tiger)
• DO SOMETHING von Sofija Živković (Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, Animation)
• FUTURE IS PANORAMA von Muschirf Shekh Zeyn (Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München HFF, Fiktion)
• LAST CALL BLUE von Tillmann Betz (DFFB, Fiktion)
• MONUMENT von Maksim Avdeev (Dokumentarfilm)
• OBEY, OBEY von Akira Kawasaki (DFFB, Animadok, Short Tiger)
• PEAR GARDEN von Shadab Shayegan (Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, Animation, Short Tiger)
• RECORDARI von Carolina Cruz (Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, Animation)
• SILENT NIGHT von Jonathan Schaller, Philipp Schaeffer (Schaeffer/Schaller Filmproduktion, Dokumentarfilm)
• SPÄTSOMMER 91 von Olaf Held (experimenteller Dokumentarfilm, Short Tiger)
• TAKO TSUBO von Eva Pedroza, Fanny Sorgo (Animation, Short Tiger)

Detailed information about all the films and filmmakers can be found here.

The selected films can be screened by registered users on the industry platforms Festivalscope Pro and T-Port  from the beginning of May. In addition, industry professionals can request a personal screening link from German Films (nextgeneration@german-films.de).  The SHORT TIGER award winners can be booked by German cinemas via the interfilm Berlin distribution network.

Following the premieres in Dresden, Potsdam and Cannes, the programme can be seen at international festivals such as the one in Warsaw as well as at the Festivals of German Films organised by German Films abroad, including Buenos Aires, Paris, Rome, and Madrid.

The joint initiative of NEXT GENERATION SHORT TIGER by German Films and FFA has existed since 2011. The criteria for the SHORT TIGER AWARD by FFA are: maximum length of seven minutes, entertaining and innovative, and particularly suitable for screening in cinemas. A jury of experts decides on the winning films and awards prize money of € 5,000 to each film. NEXT GENERATION was initiated by German Films in 1997 to introduce young talents from German film schools to international audiences. Submissions for the programme may not be any longer than 15 minutes. Entries may be submitted by German film schools, technical and art colleges with film training courses, but AG Kurzfilm can also accept applications from the independent film scene.

German Films and the  FFA would like to thank AG Kurzfilm, interfilm Berlin and Filmfest Dresden for supporting NEXT GENERATION SHORT TIGER 2025.