FACING NEW CHALLENGES

With FACING NEW CHALLENGES, we explore the possibilities of the moving image beyond classic narrative cinema and focus on new tendencies along the border where film meets other media and art forms.

It’s up to chance!

Interactive video installation: 2025, Kilian Kretschmer in collaboration with Ioannis Theocharis (Karlshochschule)

On a 60m² LED wall, passersby can leave their fate to chance and become part of the installation. The work connects one’s personal past with the present and future, revealing how our relationships are shaped by memories and emotional, often forgotten objects. This creates a play between intimacy, reminiscence, and the search for the right object – or perhaps the right other person? With this video installation, media artist Kilian Kretschmer translates the research of Ioannis Theocharis on “forgotten objects”, realized in collaboration with the art network ato.

• When and where:
• On the façade of Planken Lichtspiele, P4, 13, 68161 Mannheim
• Every 15 minutes | Thu, Nov 6 – Sun, Nov 9 | Open to visitors at any time | No dialogue
• Accessibility: see p.73
• On Sunday, November 9, at 3:30pm, there will be a conversation between artist Kilian Kretschmer and Ioannis Theocharis in front of the cinema.

The work of media artist Kilian Kretschmer is characterized by his playful engagement with recording and transmission media, which he uses to challenge supposed truths. The intersection of virtuality and reality plays a key role in all his works. He lives and works in Karlsruhe.

Ioannis Theocharis is a research associate at Karlshochschule in Karlsruhe. His work focuses on ecological and political economy, as well as the mental infrastructures of social systems.

IFFMH on the River – "The Transmission"

Milz and Herzig

What connects Mannheim and Heidelberg? In the film festival’s name, it’s a hyphen; geographically, it’s a river: the Neckar. On November 15, 2025, artists Heidi Herzig and Judith Milz are inviting us aboard the decks of the Weisse Flotte, on the ship “Alt-Heidelberg”, to level differences and link the two cities via water: welcome aboard the river cruiser of a world forever on the brink of collapse.
The cinematic view through the ship’s windows, of the passing riverbanks, becomes the unrelenting background noise to Milz and Herzig’s "transmission": three hours of channel. A durational performance with surprise guests, in which the ship will sink twice and rise again from a depth of nine meters.

• When and where:
• Saturday, November 15, 2025
• Downstream: Heidelberg > Mannheim
• 10:00am boarding in HD (departure 10:30am), arrival 1:00pm
• Boarding point Heidelberg: Altstädter Ufer, Neckarstaden 25, 69117 Heidelberg
• Upstream: Mannheim > Heidelberg
• 1:10pm boarding in MA (departure 1:30pm), arrival 4:00pm
• Boarding point Mannheim: Garnier-Ufer (Collini-Center), below the former OEG station at the Kurpfalzbrücke
• Language: German

Accessibility: The docks in Heidelberg and Mannheim are accessible via the street. Parking is available directly at the boarding points. The Heidelberg dock includes an accessible restroom. The ship itself can be accessed via ramp; inside the ship, different decks are reachable only by lift. On the lower deck, there is a restroom for people with disabilities accessible via the lift.

Judith Milz has in recent years performed as an artist in a wide variety of spaces, from rooftops and church towers to the control cabin of a decommissioned nuclear research reactor, a truck-wash facility of Stuttgart’s waste management service, and a former tuberculosis settlement.

Heidi Herzig has appeared on stage as the Schlager singer Heidi Herzig since her 2019 album “So wie Du”. Together, Milz and Herzig founded the band “Landau Karriere”.