OSNABRUECK.- Productions by internationally renowned media artists and the innovative works of new masters from the academies will be presented at the 22nd European Media Art Festival. The EMAF is one of the most influential forums of international Media Art. As a meeting point for artists, curators, distributors, gallery owners and an audience of specialists, the festival has a great impact on the topic and aesthetics of Media Art. Each year the festival offers its visitors a current overview of new experimental films, performances, lectures, an exhibition and the Media Campus. Around 250 current contributions will be selected this year for the festival from a total of 2400 submitted works, offering a comprehensive insight into the latest tendencies in Media Art.

An international jury will present the "EMAF Award" for a trend-setting work in Media Art and the "Dialogpreis" of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the promotion of intercultural exchange. Furthermore, the jury of the German Federal Association of Film Journalists will award the prize for the best German experimental film of the year.

One highlight of this year's film programme is the film "Double Take", which will be screened on Thursday, 23 April at 6 p.m. at the Filmtheater Hasetor. Johan Grimonprez portrays Alfred Hitchcock as a paranoid professor of history who unwittingly becomes involved in an ambiguous mind game during the Cold War era. The maestro always says the wrong things at the wrong time, while the politicians on both sides desperately endeavour to say the right things with the cameras running.

During the Congress, the author and journalist Stefan Heidenreich will explore historical, theoretical and practical issues regarding the financial crisis. He provides answers to the question whether the economic interrelationships will yield new possibilities and tasks for artistic production. His lecture commences on Thursday, 23 April at 5.00 p.m. in the Haus der Jugend.

Scanner, one of the most renowned audiovisual artists from Great Britain, is represented at the EMAF on Saturday, 25 April at 10 p.m. His live performance "Orbital Glider", developed in collaboration with the Eastern German artist Maix Mayer, relates to the relationship between architecture, spaces and sound. A complex and mysterious chronicle of space is the focus of their live performance. While the soundtrack spins together an imaginary story, the room offers the possibility of contemplation and reflection.

Besides two exhibitions and its own film programme, the Media Campus also offers exciting and informative specials. Johanna Reich from the Academy of Media Arts Cologne presents the project "Minus Eins" in her lecture. Professor Jean-Francois Guiton from the University of the Arts Bremen will lecture on the exhibition "Der Hund, der tritt die Treppe krumm" in the Turm Bürgergehorsam defence tower. The young artists experiment with sound, and combine their works with painted, drawn and filmed material. Some of their works were produced directly on site, and relate to the given space.

Photographs, video stills and videos by Ilka Lauchstädt (1958-2008) are shown in the exhibition "Home and Horizon II« at the Intervision Studio. Ilka Lauchstädt, founder member of the EMAF, delves into unimposing worlds in order to x-ray them through media, thus giving them a purpose. It is not her intention to determine unambiguities, but to link a paradox and simultaneously banal reality in narrative form, enlivening it visually in multi-layers. An introduction will be given by Vito Orazem from the Design Zentrum Nordrhein-Westfalen at the vernissage on Thursday, 23 April at 6.30 p.m.

"Nuclear Football" by Andree Korpys and Markus Löffler will be shown at the exhibition "Image Battles" in the Kunsthalle Dominikanerkirche. The point of origin is the state visit of the American President George W. Bush in Berlin in May 2002. However, the film does not centre on the Head of State: as accredited reporters, Korpys and Löffler focus on the case which the US President can use to order nuclear war at any time - the "Nuclear Football".