Hannes Wesselkämper studied Literature, Art, and Media Studies at the University of Konstanz and the Film University Babelsberg. Since then, he has worked as a freelance film critic, lecturer, and panel moderator and film talk host. His curated short film programmes have been presented at various festivals and art spaces. He completed his doctorate in 2022 with a monograph on cinematic surfaces and the notion of spectacle. Since 2025, he has served as a member of the board of the Association of German Film Critics (VdFk).
Hannes Wesselkämper
Hannes Wesselkämper participated in “Greatest” Short Films of All Time 2025, a first-ever poll of its kind as a collective love letter to the art of short-form moving image. yanco and Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg, in collaboration with Talking Shorts, invited filmmakers, curators, distributors, critics, and scholars worldwide to nominate 10 audiovisual works under sixty minutes that they personally consider the “greatest” of all time. This was Hannes Wesselkämper’s submission:
| Movie | Original Title | Director | Country | Year | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regen Rain | Joris Ivens , Manus Franken | The Netherlands | 1929 | 16’ | ||
| Saute ma ville Blow Up My Town | Chantal Akerman | Belgium | 1968 | 13’ | ||
| Nuit et brouillard Night and Fog | Alain Resnais | France | 1955 | 32’ | ||
| Bridges-Go-Round | Shirley Clarke | USA | 1958 | 8’ | ||
| Nicht löschbares Feuer The Inextinguishable Fire | Harun Farocki | Germany | 1969 | 22’ | ||
| The Last Angel of History | John Akomfrah | United Kingdom, Germany | 1996 | 45’ | ||
| Meshes of the Afternoon | Alexander Hammid , Maya Deren | USA | 1946 | 14’ | ||
| Un Chant d’amour Song of Love | Jean Genet | France | 1950 | 26’ | ||
| Subjektitüde | Helke Sander | Germany | 1967 | 4’ | ||
| The Black Tower | John Smith | United Kingdom | 1987 | 24’ | ||