As part of FILMZ, Capitol Kino Mainz will be activated for three late night screenings. Filmmm invites you to stay awake, watch, doze off, dream and to descend into the twilight. A found footage compilation film transforms the movie theatre into a historical spaceship. A program of shorts illustrates the more explosive side of experimental film in Germany and Austria. And an underseen French-German response to the giallo revives the feeling of classical midnight movie screenings.

The 40th Braunschweig International Film Festival screens 6 experimental short films by Thomas Bartels in a programme called "Im Kreise der Bilder - Circling Images". Bartels blew up 8mm, 16mm and still photographs on his animation stand onto 35mm stock and created poetic trips through various countries and imaginary landscapes - without words but with captivating soundtracks by Wolfgang in der Wiesche. When the programme was completed in 2011, analoge projectors were removed from the cinemas.

Curated and organised by Zhel Vukicevic and Kerry Baldry, Screamstation Fest presents two programmes exploring the shifting relationship between sound, image, narrative and cinematic form. Across 17 films from 13 countries, the 2026 edition moves from radical experiments in perception, structure and audiovisual language to short films engaging with sexuality, power, ecology, violence and the contemporary world. Ten works that approach cinema as a space for experimentation with image, sound, duration, movement and perception.