31 May 2021

12th Berliner Hörspielfestival, open-air and live-streamed

International competition and accompanying programme with live audio plays, workshop talks, installation and audio walk
12 – 15 August 2021
Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg

The Berliner Hörspielfestival (Berlin Audio Play Festival, est. 2008), the festival of independent audio pieces, is taking place at the Akademie der Künste for the second time. Last year’s event was one of the first to be streamed live in response to the pandemic, and this year the festival will take place open-air around the Akademie’s building at Hanseatenweg from 12 to 15 August. For the first time, the festival will be aired live by Deutschlandfunk Kultur via its digital radio channel (DAB+) “Dokumente und Debatten” and will also be streamed live on Vimeo, YouTube and Facebook.
With over 250 submissions (compared to last year’s 170), the 2021 festival has already set a new record. International participation ranges from Canada and Iran to Scotland and North Macedonia.
These are joined by the audio plays for the “MicroFlitzer” competition for which a piece of 60 seconds maximum length, which meets certain conditions, has to be submitted within 14 days. The conditions will be announced with the call for entries on 18 July.

Over the course of four days, some fifty radio plays ranging from 60 seconds to 60 minutes will compete in five German-language and one international competition for the audience and jury prizes. Video artist Josef Maria Schäfers will create a visual for each piece. After the performances there will be talks with the playwrights, hosted by Golo Föllmer, Heidi Heidelberg, Frank Kaspar, Robert Schoen and Britta Steffenhagen.
All the audio plays at the festival are produced independently of public service broadcasters and audio publishers. Liberated from economic constraints and format specifications, they offer a diverse mix of narrative, documentary and sound art forms.

The competitions will be supplemented by a varied accompanying programme of live audio plays by Armin Chodzinski, Christian Berner & Frank Schültge, Carsten Schneider and the Liquid Penguin Ensemble. The programme also includes workshop talks involving Hermann Bohlen, Ulrich Gerhardt (both members of the Akademie der Künste), Charlotte Drews-Bernstein and Felix Kubin as well as the installation Der Absprung (2018) by Paul Plamper (also a member of the Akademie) and the interactive audio walk AliceD: Time-Tea by Bruno Pilz.
In addition to the listening stations and a live recording studio, there will also be child care facilities offering good listening conditions.

The Berlin Audio Play Festival is being held in cooperation with the Akademie der Künste and is being funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe.

Media partner: Deutschlandfunk Kultur


Event details
12th Berlin Audio Play Festival
12 – 15 August 2021
Open-air event at the Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg 10, 10557 Berlin
For live streaming and further information: www.berliner-hoerspielfestival.de
Broadcast on Deutschlandfunk Kultur’s digital radio channel “Dokumente und Debatten”

Press contact:
Anke Beims, Tel. 0178 5481682, Anke.Beims@berliner-hoerspielfestival.de