Der Neue Heimatfilm is an international 5-day film festival which takes place every year at the end of August in the town of Freistadt, Austria.
[1][2] The festival, celebrating the genre of the "new Heimatfilm" (German pronunciation: [ˈhaɪmatˌfɪlm]), was held for the first time in 1988.
In recent years the theme of identity, closely related to the term heimat – German for home or motherland – and often explored through the perspective of films about migration, has developed into a key focal point of the festival, but films telling stories of life and structural change in rural areas also feature heavily.
The Freistadt Honorary Prize is also awarded for special services to the genre.
At the 2017 festival 80 films were shown, and a total of 3500 visitors attended.