1985, the ‘MÄNNER Year’, celebrated the resurrection of the German film. However in the following year, there was already talk of a ‘disastrous tendency of ambiguous comedies’. But in 1986, there was reason to celebrate again: the festival completed its second decade. Doris Dörrie thanked Heinz Badewitz for ‘20 years of Hof’, brought along her film PARADIES (PARADISE) for its premiere, and received the very first Film Award of the City of Hof, an honour that would continue to be awarded every year for services to German film and, in particular, to the Hof Film Festival.

1985 – At the premiere in Hof, Doris Dörrie’s success MEN… was awarded a standing ovation.

The Film Award of the City of Hof has been awarded since 1986. 2003 – Dominik Graf (centre) receives the Film Award of the City of Hof from Lord Mayor Dieter Döhla (right).

But awards were actually never intended to be part of the festival, and to this day the festival has remained without a competitive section and without a jury. The awards in Hof – Eastman Promotion Award, the awards for Best Production Design and Best Visual Film Critic – are all presented by companies and organisations or by the city of Hof itself, which does, however, rely on the suggestions and recommendations of festival director Heinz Badewitz, who is solely responsible for the programme selection. Over a thousand films are submitted each year, and some 100 films – mostly features – are shown at the festival, for whose organization on location Badewitz thanked Rainer Huebsch (‘the man without whom nothing would work’) at the 1986 anniversary edition of the festival.

The festival is now heading toward its 40th year. This year, 2005, will host the 39th edition from 26th – 30th October in eight cinemas including the six venues at the Central in the town centre and the Scala and Regina, the festival’s original locations. Since 1999, the Scala, as the largest of the eight cinemas, hosts the opening film with a 30 minute head start on the screening in the Central. Badewitz greets the audiences in both cinemas, says a few moody words about the start of the festival, points out seats still available (in the case that there are any, which is becoming more and more seldom), and earlier, when smoking was still allowed, he never forgot to warn about the dangers of smoking – for both one’s health and the projection. Today, he reminds the audience, ‘Please don’t forget to turn off your mobile phones.’

Now back to chronological order. ‘Grandpa’s cinema still alive and kicking’, the Süddeutsche Zeitung commented on the edition of 1987, and the German films presented – among them HIMMEL ÜBER BERLIN (WINGS OF DESIRE) by Wenders, Jan Schütte’s DRACHENFUTTER (‘Dragon’s food’), and Percy Adlon’s OUT OF ROSENHEIM. ‘Half-hearted and conform’ is what they were called. A year later, Laurens Straub, one of the promoters of young German cinema, received the Film Award of the City of Hof and complained they had not succeeded in emancipating film from a so-called ‘false competition’, in which the only important criterion was to duly entertain the audience. Film, he continued, had distanced itself ever more from the participation in ‘what life’s all about’.

For German films, it was the year of the women. They showed films about love: Pia Frankenberg’s BRENNENDE BETTEN (‘Burning beds’), Monika Treut’s (highly controversial) DIE JUNGFRAUENMASCHINE (‘Virgin machine’), Ute Wieland’s (acclaimed) IM JAHR DER SCHILDKRÖTE (‘Year of the turtle’), Helma Sanders-Brahm’s MANÖVER (‘Maneuver’), Vivian Naefe’s PIZZA-EXPRESS, and Bettina Woernle’s DER EINBRUCH (THE ACCOMPLICE).

1988 – The year of the women: above: IM JAHR DER SCHILDKRÖTE, Ute Wieland (director) with actors Heinz Bennent and Katharina Fallenstein right: Monika Treut presents her film JUNGFRAUENMASCHINE (‘Virgin Machine’).
	oben: Pia Frankenberg war in Hof mit Ian above: Pia Frankenberg visits Hof accompanied by Ian Dury, lead actor of BRENNENDE BETTEN. left: Vivian Naefe (PIZZA EXPRESS)

During the 1990 festival, the city was beleaguered as a popular shopping destination for tens of thousands of East Germans. Nevertheless, Badewitz did without entries from the former GDR: ‘We won’t participate in the hunt for the last film hidden away in some drawer.’ The film about the opening of the border came from the West. Christoph Schlingensief gave it the title DAS DEUTSCHE KETTENSÄGENMASSAKER (THE GERMAN CHAINSAW MASSACRE). East Germans (‘Ossis’) were massacred by West Germans (‘Wessis’) who wanted to make sausage-meat out of them.

The German film scene was further represented by Praunheim with AFFENGEIL (LIFE IS LIKE A CUCUMBER), Peter Sehr with DAS SERBISCHE MÄDCHEN (THE SERBIAN GIRL), and Sönke Wortmann with EINE WAHNSINNSEHE (‘A mad marriage’). Dennis Hopper contributed to the international programme with THE HOT SPOT, as did Paul Schrader with THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS (based on a novel by Ian McEwan).

1991: 25 years of Hof. Hof no longer is a football town. The FC Bayern Hof, which in 1967 just barely missed getting into the national league, once again failed to make it to the highest amateur class. So the traditional film festival football match can certainly be considered the most important one of the year – one in which the FC Hof Film Festival deemed to make up for the 0:5 loss the year before. But it didn’t work out: KARNIGGELS-director Detlev Buck guarding the goal was unable to prevent a 2:3 defeat.

But the festival was a success. Badewitz: ‘The whole world wanted to come to Hof.’ And: ‘The programme was better than ever before.’ However, the best did not come from Germany, but rather from Canada (Atom Egoyan’s THE ADJUSTER), from the USA (BOYZ ‘N THE HOOD), from England (RIFF-RAFF by Ken Loach), from France (DELICATESSEN) and from Belgium (TOTO L’HERO).