In Germany, too, there is still no explicit separate field of study or chair for the subject of film festivals, even though interest in the subject has become clear at various universities and colleges on the basis of isolated scientific work in various disciplines. 

The research projects carried out by the Filmfestival Studien initiative are based in media economics, but occasionally also take the perspective of communication studies, economics and social sciences. To date, the following (commissioned) studies and research approaches have been carried out and developed by colleagues of the research initiative, also in cooperation with other scientific institutions:

2022 Film Festivals in Times of Corona 

All the analyses presented here first published under the title:
A quantitative study of the activities and formats of the German film festival sector in 2021.
by Tanja C. Krainhöfer und Dr. Tobias Petri

2019 Mapping of Collaboration Models among European Film Festivals
Qualitative Study of Different Forms of Collaborations among European Film Festivals
by Tanja C. Krainhöfer on behalf of the European Commissionpublished on February 9, 2019

As island events, film festivals – even those players such as the IFFR, the IDFA and the Sarajevo Film Festival, which, over time have turned into year-long activities – must master a multitude of challenges inherent in their structure. Collaborations, formal or informal, offer key options for tackling these difficulties. The EU encourages film festivals to collaborate and network, in order to achieve greater synergies that could maximize the impact of European support. This study provides an overview of the diversity and multitude of collaboration models among European film festivals. By means of a differentiated analysis, it presents empirical findings on the strengths and weaknesses of these models and those that have proven themselves on a broad basis over the long term. These results are supplemented by recommendations for action for the European Commission in addressing the most urgent problems currently hindering film festivals from promoting the further exploitation of valuable potential for European filmmaking.
Report in English

2017 Geschichten und Filme kennen [keine] Grenzen / Stories and Movies Have [no] Boundaries
Quantitative study of the program diversity of the Berlin International Film Festival from 1980 to 2016.
by Tanja C. Krainhöfer, Dr. Thomas Wiedemann, Konrad Schreiber
Publication February 3, 2017

Based on the question of the extent to which the Berlinale program from 1980 to 2016 reflects, by means of the programmed films, a balanced proportion of the filmmakers represented in terms of their gender, age, origins or socialization from the new and the old German states, the study illuminates an investigation period of 37 years which spans the terms of office of the two festival directors Moritz de Hadeln and Dieter Kosslick. The study follows the insight that the influence of an „A-festival“ like the Berlinale, which reaches far beyond the national market and decides on the basis of its program selection which films distributors from around the world will see and possibly buy, whether for theatrical exploitation, DVD or online releases. Thus, an A festival not only curates its own programming, but also partially justifies the decisions of the entire film industry.

Report in German
Report in Englisch

2016 Frauen zeigen ihr Gesicht, Männer ihre Filme / Women show their Faces – Men, their Films!
Quantitative Untersuchung der Repräsentanz von Filmwerken von Regisseurinnen im Programm deutscher Filmfestivals / Quantitative Study on the Representation of Film Works by Women in Germany’s Festival Program
von/by Tanja C. Krainhöfer und/ and Konrad Schreiber

As an example for the German film festival landscape, the study conducted by Tanja C. Krainhöfer and Konrad Schreiber looks at the programs of 19 Bavarian film festivals in 2015 and thus at 1830 film festival entries that were directed by a female or male director. It shows that even though awareness of gender-responsive programming is becoming more prevalent among film festivals, films by women are significantly underrepresented at German film festivals. Only ONE out of 19 film festivals has a gender-balanced program.

Report in German
Report in English