Even though internationalism takes centre stage, regional roots shouldn`t be forgotten. Even though the festival celebrates great cinematic art, young talent shouldn`t be neglected. The work of the HBK film class, the students at the Institute for Media Research at the HBK and the study programme Ostfalia Meda Design, shows that even during their studies students already possess a distinctive flair for cinema. The “Filmklappe” as well as the 24 hour Self-made Film Festival continues to prove the fact that creativity in film does not rely on having access to a lot of time and money. Even outside of educational institutions, people are busy producing films. With their regional background, these films consciously examine the complex and, at times, controversial themes of ”Travel”, ”Escape” and ”Fantasy”: 1000 MEXICANS, for example, tells the story of two friends on a road trip from Hamburg`s media world through to a journey full of adventure. Avant-garde and adventurous, Julia Ostertag, a graduate of the HBK film class, in her film DARK CIRCUS, also shows an escape from a desolate home into an occultist parallel universe. Lars Jordan takes the idea of “escape” literally and, in his film DEXIT, he sketches a dystopian future and asks politically-charged questions about claiming ownership of a “homeland”.