HARD:LINE Film Festival Regensburg

The Festival for Extreme Cinema

Since 2010, HARD:LINE Film Festival has been the German destination for ambitious genre cinema: horror, thriller, science-fiction, body horror, slasher, folk horror, mystery — the full spectrum of what the established film industry likes to frame as 'extreme' and what the HARD:LINE audience appreciates as technically excellent cinema. In 2026, the festival turns 13 and is a fixture in the German genre cinema scene alongside Fantasy Filmfest and Weekend of Horror.

International Networking and Méliès d'Argent

HARD:LINE is a member of the Méliès International Festivals Federation (MIFF) — the European network of genre film festivals that annually awards the Méliès d'Or for the best European genre feature film. At each MIFF festival, a Méliès d'Argent is awarded for the best European short film — and HARD:LINE is the German awarding body for this prize. Directors from all over Europe submit their entries, with some traveling personally to Regensburg for Q&A sessions.

Two Venues

The main venue is the Ostentorkino on Adolph-Kolping-Straße — an arthouse cinema with festival DNA. Premieres are shown here, discussions with directors take place here, and occasionally there are concerts related to films or special editions. The Andreasstadel-Kino (also in Regensburg) shows part of the program one to two days later without premieres and special events — a second chance for films that were already sold out at Ostentorkino.

Strictly 18+

Due to the content shown, admission is strictly limited to adults. ID check at the entrance. HARD:LINE is not a shock festival, but a serious festival for a genre that otherwise receives little attention in the German festival landscape — films that deal with harshness but are consistently of a high technical standard.

Regensburg and the Film Audience

The UNESCO World Heritage city of Regensburg in the Upper Palatinate has an unusually active film scene — with Ostentorkino, Andreasstadel-Kino, and CinemaxX, it boasts a dense cinema landscape for a city of 150,000 inhabitants. Alongside the *Stummfilmwochen* (Silent Film Weeks) and the *Internationales Filmfestival Regensburg* (International Film Festival Regensburg), HARD:LINE is the third pillar of this scene — and undoubtedly the most specialized.