Hamburg, September 28, 2003 - From September 19 to 26 Filmfest Hamburg had 28.000 visitors. There were shown 116 feature films from altogether 38 countries. These were projected onto 12 screens in five cinemas (CinemaxX, Abaton, Grindel, Holi, 3001).

Filmfest Hamburg welcomed among its guests German stars such as Heike Makatsch, Goetz George, Christiane Hoerbiger, Corinna Harfouch, Juergen Vogel, Armin Rohde and Katja Flint. Its international guests were among others Julie Walters, Sophia Loren with Edoardo Ponti, Isabelle Huppert, Ulrich Thomsen, Margaret Ménégoz, Jim Sheridan, Raymond Depardon, Jean & Louis Becker, Agnieszka Holland, Jacques Doillon and Peter Greenaway.
In total, 63 directors and 70 actors came to Filmfest Hamburg.

The following prizes were presented during Filmfest Hamburg:
The French actress Isabelle Huppert is this year's recipient of the Douglas Sirk Award. Each year Filmfest Hamburg honours with this renowned prize a personality that has rendered film culture great services through his body of work.

The Swedish film "Kops," directed by Josef Fares, was awarded with the Audience Prize of the Hamburger Abendblatt. The films of the section "Eurovisual" were competing for this prize.

The EMIL Award, presented by the programme guide "TV Spielfilm" and endowed with Euro 2.500, went to the Canadian film "The Mysterious Miss C." ("La mystérieuse Mademoiselle C."), directed by Richard Ciupka. The Children's Audience Prize was given to the Swedish director Ingela Magner for her film "Emma and Daniel" ("Emma och Daniel - Mötet").

The next Filmfest Hamburg will take place from September 24 to October 1, 2004.