From 12 to 15 March 2026, the 27th dresdner schmalfilmtage will once again transform Dresden into a hotspot for the international cine film scene. Under this year's motto "Roots and Riots", the festival spans an arc from the origins of narrow-gauge film to its resistant, experimental impulses of the present day.

Visitors can expect a varied programme of international film series, competitions, live performances, workshops and activities for children.

Highlights include the International Found Footage Competition and the International Super 8/16 Competition, in which current productions from all over the world will be shown and honoured with jury and audience awards. Found footage, archive images and experimental approaches are just as much the focus as classic analogue film forms.

 The Live Formats offer a special festival experience: musicians set Super 8 films to music directly in front of an audience at the live soundtrack competition. Performative works such as Jan Kulka's Archeoskope performance or the audiovisual collaboration between Martin Klapper and Martin Ježek add installative and sonic dimensions to the cinema.

 Another focus is on outstanding artistic positions in the history and present of cine film: "Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer" traces a pioneer of moving images whose work still shapes fundamental questions of perception and movement today. Polish filmmaker Ewelina Rosińska condenses personal memories, landscapes and encounters into three poetic films. The Deadly Doris, a formative artist group and band of the 1980s, also takes centre stage. Their cross-genre and cross-media works between punk, performance, film and visual art still have an impact today. This focus is complemented by "Der Fleck" by Willy Hans, who creates a timeless intermediate realm between youth, desire and escape in a summery river landscape.

 The festival programme is also dedicated to the multi-layered perspectives on film, archive and everyday life. In the programme "Haus Halten", housework - often invisible within one's own four walls - is made visible. In "Invisible Hands", old film footage is used to reflect on care, "Clotheslines" sheds light on the topic of laundry and "The Advantage of Lying On The Floor" celebrates the act of lying down. Other programmes are dedicated to urban space, archival practice and political and poetic forms of amateur film: The National Film Archive Prague (NFA) presents historical films that open up new perspectives on cultural heritage, while "Film Restored - Film Heritage Festival Berlin" shows how restoration and archival work preserve films and make them accessible to a contemporary audience. Another highlight is the curatorial project "Archiving Feelings" by VideoClub, which combines amateur films, private archives and experimental video practices. Beyond classic documentary forms, it deals with history as a sensual, fragmented experience in the spirit of Latin American magical realism.

 There is also plenty for the next generation: young viewers and families can playfully discover the world of analogue film in the Schmalfilmwerkstatt für Kinder and in the children's film programme. Accompanying the film programme, the Festival Lounge, the Festival Gallery and moderated Get-together formats provide space for exchange between the audience, filmmakers and trade visitors.

 The complete programme and tickets are available at: www.schmalfilmtage.de