Free cinema admissions on October 3, 2025
04. June 2025
After last year’s great success, the “Free Admission Day” at FILMFEST HAMBURG is entering its second round. On October 3, 2025, FILMFEST HAMBURG is giving all Hamburg residents a free visit to the cinema. In the five festival cinemas Abaton, Studio-Kino, Metropolis, CinemaxX Dammtor and Passage, all festival films will be freely accessible to the public on this day. This year’s FILMFEST UMS ECK cinemas are also participating with one free screening each.
“Our newly introduced ‘Free Admission Day’ was a complete success last year: 10,800 tickets were handed out. We are very pleased to continue this campaign on the Day of German Unity and thus inspire even more people for our diverse program. FILMFEST HAMBURG is a festival for everyone in Hamburg,” says festival director Malika Rabahallah.
With the “Free Admission Day”, which is financed with funds from the Ministry of Culture and Media, FILMFEST HAMBURG wants to continue to anchor itself even more firmly in the city’s society. In cooperation with community centers, district centers and social institutions, ticket contingents will once again be made available to people who have had little contact with the festival or the medium of cinema due to social, financial or cultural barriers.
Dr. Carsten Brosda, Senator for Culture and Media: “Culture is for everyone and plays a key role in ensuring that we live together in freedom and diversity. I am therefore delighted that the ‘Free Admission Day’ is entering the next round after last year’s successful launch, in order to make cinema culture and the festival feeling accessible to a wide audience free of charge. Cinemas are places of encounter, empathy and democratic discourse and I would like to thank FILMFEST HAMBURG and the participating cinema operators for opening their doors and auditoriums wide for shared film experiences on the Day of German Unity.”
Thanks to the support of the Hapag-Lloyd Foundation, many of the films shown on October 3 will be subtitled in German. The Deutsche Fernsehlotterie (German Television Lottery) is also once again involved as a sponsor and, among other things, enables barrier-free versions for visually impaired and deaf or hearing-impaired people.
FILMFEST HAMBURG will take place this year from September 25 to October 4, 2025. The latest films from all over the world will be shown for ten days. The complete program will be announced on September 9, 2025.
