Few long weekend film fests command the prestige and faithful audience support that Hof has. This is a linchpin in the trio of German fests (with Berlin and Munich). Skedded conveniently every four month to bring the buffs, pros and insiders together for regular parleys on the state of the German film industry... Hof was always a hot tip for critics and film freaks of every kind, for this was a place to catch a glimpse of Monte Hellman and George A. Romero, soak in full retrospectives of Yank indies (John Cassavetes, Brian de Palma, flashes of Roger Corman´s oldies, horror pix, road movies and whatever else appealing now to the young crowd ) ... Hof traditionally has offered about the most thorough survey of the latest German films of any festival in Germany. Over the years topper Heinz Badewitz has expanded this base to include quality, non-mainstream products from around the world...Hof has even become known as the German Telluride...
VARIETY

...So for me Hof is a place where people get up (or stay up) at 9 A:M: to talk about movies, and the bouncers speak in whispers.
John Sayles

A Filmfestival better by Hof than Cannes
...I left Hof with the impression of a festival alight with the enthusiasm of its director an of an audience of young people responding, often wildly, to what pleased them in the films and also prepared to follow a director into sometimes inscrutable areas of creative invention. An unpretentious festival for movie devotees, as different from overblown Cannes as it is possible to be.
Forsyth Hardy in THE SCOTSMAN

...the most intimate German filmfestival...
DIE WELT

...Hof is like Baltimore; no pretensions, lot of blue collar attitude and proud of the fact that the best little "films from hell" always play there first. The Hof Festival has the best taste in programming, the wildest parties and the most insane film fanatics. For a director, attending in Hof is like winning a demented vacation on an American quiz show. I had a ball.
John Waters

...in Hof you can have (almost) everything: genuine information and wild entertainment, surprising discoveries and new attempts and first beginnings, attentive continuity (by the faithfulness Heinz Badewitz has to all the directors who have been in Hof before) and dazzling display of the unknown, suppressed and forgotten...
SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG

... What a lovely Festival! What lovely people... what great audiences. My sincerest and most heartfelt thanks for giving me the opportunity to experience these things. I will never forget them.
Rolf de Heer

Dubbed "Home Of Films" by Wim Wenders, Hof is famous for it´s thoughtful selection of some 40 features. Founded by the directors of the New German Cinema, Hof enjoys a high reputation among German film-makers and American cult figures like Roger Corman, Monte Hellman, John Sayles and Henry Jaglom, all of whom have attended retrospectives in their honour. The real applause should go to the peripatetic Heinz Badewitz, who had the idea for the festival more than 28 years ago. A screening in Hof often results in a distribution deal.
VARIETY INTERNATIONAL FILM GUIDE