MINISTER
TOBIAS GOLDSCHMIDT
FOUNDER & FESTIVAL DIRECTOR
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
INTERNATIONAL OCEAN FILM FESTIVAL SAN FRANCISCO
DIRECTRICE
BREST SURF FILM FESTIVAL
HONORARY PATRON
ULF KÄMPFER
MINISTER FOR GENERAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION, SCIENCE, RESEARCH AND CULTURE
BREST SURF FILM FESTIVAL
CHLOÉ BATISSOU
INTERNATIONAL OCEAN FILM FESTIVAL SAN FRANCISCO
ANA BLANCO
Festival Organizer
TILL DIETSCHE
MAYOR OF THE STATE CAPITAL KIEL
MINISTER FOR ENERGY TRANSITION,
CLIMATE PROTECTION, ENVIRONMENT AND NATURE
MINISTER
KARIN PRIEN
GREETINGS
GREETINGS FROM MINISTER KARIN PRIEN
Dear festival guests, dear film lovers,
Welcome to the CINEMARE Marine Film Festival – Northern Europe's largest festival of its kind! With its core focus on "Cinema of the Seas," CINEMARE offers a unique platform for filmmakers, artists, and scientists. I would particularly like to highlight the Marine Cinema for Schools, which CINEMARE has established as an extracurricular learning venue – both digitally and in the traditional cinema. Every morning, the cinema transforms into a classroom. In doing so, CINEMARE makes a valuable contribution to environmental education and cultural diversity in Schleswig-Holstein. I look forward to inspiring films and enriching encounters. Let's dive together into the fascinating world of the oceans!
Warm regards
Karin Prien
Minister for General and Vocational Education, Science, Research and Culture
GREETINGS FROM MINISTER TOBIAS GOLDSCHMIDT
Healthy oceans are a habitat for countless animal and plant species and an irreplaceable source of food, prosperity and recreation.
But the list of environmental problems facing the oceans is long: noise, nutrient pollution, munitions waste, warming, overfishing and pollution of all kinds require joint and, above all, determined efforts.
Schleswig-Holstein, as a state between the seas, has a special responsibility for marine conservation. That's why the state government last year put together an ambitious package for better protecting our Baltic Sea: the Baltic Sea Conservation Action Plan 2030. At the same time, our Wadden Sea National Park on the west coast is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year – with fantastic nature experiences for the whole family! The CINEMARE Marine Film Festival brings marine nature to the stage, fostering enthusiasm for protecting our oceans. The sea has many stories to tell.
I am looking forward to the many impressive films, wish the viewers much enjoyment and thank the organizers of the festival.
Tobias Goldschmidt
Minister for Energy Transition, Climate Protection, Environment and Nature
PATRON'S GREETING
Dear Kiel residents,
CINEMARE was founded in 2016, and since then I have had the honor of being the patron of this marine film festival, which has done impressive pioneering work. Nine years ago, the topic of "marine conservation" was far from being as established in the public consciousness as it has been since CINEMARE was founded.
Fortunately, today CINEMARE is a true center of expertise, a hub for raising awareness about marine conservation, and a network.
A partner of the German Ocean Decade Committee (DOK) and part of the sustainability strategy on the Kiel Fjord, Northern Europe's largest marine film festival showcases the beauty of the oceans, but also their fragility and preciousness. Beyond the cinematic experience, the festival offers a platform for discussing social issues such as climate change and our responsibility for the threatened marine environment and cultural space. As a city committed to marine conservation, we aim to serve as a beacon and motivate others to join us in this endeavor. And by the way: Together with CINEMARE, we are bringing back the Ocean Dome in August as part of the Ocean Race Europe.
I wish us all an inspiring CINEMARE Marine Film Festival 2025.
Yours sincerely,
Ulf Kämpfer
Mayor of the state capital Kiel
GRUßWORT DES FESTIVALLEITERS
CINEMARE turns 9!
We want to celebrate this with you, dear moviegoers, for five days. From over 300 submitted films, we've compiled a diverse program in collaboration with our partner festivals in Brest and San Francisco. My colleague Ana Blanco is bringing her first documentary film as a European premiere. Also new is the exciting collaboration with Digital Week at the school project day futureSPLASH! at the sailing camp on the Kiel Fjord. Here, CINEMARE, together with strong partners, is expanding the cinema program to include numerous open-air screenings. In addition to many strong women on screen, director Tatjana Mischke has a world premiere in store, which I'm particularly excited about: "Expedition to the South Pole." Student Academy Award-winning composer Sascha Blank has created a sound mix of the film without music, which he will perform live on stage. And: CINEMARE is once again bringing the "officially endorsed by the UN Ocean Decade" designation to the Kiel Fjord and, together with the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) in Berlin, will be awarding the German Marine Film Prize.
See you at the cinema!
Till Dietsche
Festival Director CINEMARE Marine Film Festival
PARTNER FESTIVAL: INTERNATIONAL OCEAN FILM FESTIVAL SAN FRANCISCO
Greetings from San Francisco!
In 2017 the International Ocean Film Festival had the great honor of being introduced to San Francisco's newest Sister City of Kiel, Germany, by our then mayor Mark Farrell. Now celebrating our 8th anniversary, we are excited to share our passion once again for the ocean with our friends of CINEMARE. As sister cities, our goal is to share our cultures, values, and our desire to learn from one another while protecting our oceans and its
marine ecosystems. The ocean unites us all, and our two ocean film festivals achieve our goal through the power of independent film. As we begin this journey of exploring faraway places, discovering new innovations in ocean science, and celebrating individuals of all ages who dedicate their lives to protecting our oceans, we are reminded of the importance of our oceans – and the joy we experience along the way. There is so much to learn and so much to share, we thank you for joining us on this amazing underwater journey. This time I'll be traveling to Kiel with my own film. which will be premier at SeaLevel on Thursday 15 May at 6 pm I look forward to seeing you there! I feel Kiel!
All the best from San Francisco
Ana Blanco
Executive Director International Ocean Film Festival San Francisco
PARTNERFESTIVAL: BREST SURF FILM FESTIVAL
Sharing a European vision of the Ocean.
This year is a special year. This year, France celebrates the Year of the Sea and will host the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in Nice from June 9 to 13 June, 2025. UNOC3 will be focused on “Accelerating action and mobilizing all actors to conserve and sustainably use the Ocean”. This should be a landmark event for the Ocean. The Brest Surf Film Festival is proud and honored to belabelled Year of the Sea – La Mer en commun. And just as happy and honored to continue to work alongside CINEMARE to promote a European vision of awareness, knowledge and preservation of the Ocean, through cinema, through amazing stories, through emotion and
through friendship. This year, the Brest Surf Film Festival #8 will run from May 7 to 10. For all these exceptional reasons, it will be difficult for us to come to Kiel, and for Till to come to Brest. Let’s keep on exchanging ideas, enthusiasms and coups de coeur !
All the best from Brest
Chloé Batissou
Directrice Brest Surf Film Festival
DISCOVER OUR
CURRENT PROGRAM
