FIKTIVA treats the city itself as the venue — and treats film as just one of several languages worth speaking at once.
FIKTIVA is a media-art festival in Düsseldorf in which film, video art, performances/theatre plays and fine arts meet. The "parcours" (round tour) aims to dissolve the urban routine in the Old Town district of Düsseldorf and to overcome the boundaries between reality and fiction: visitors and passersby become aware of the work of various international artists.
The festival's original idea is based on this parcours. The artistic offer on the streets of the old district, free admission, and the inclusion of all social classes without age restriction is a new experience for many. We aim to promote socially friendly encounters between artists and visitors.
"FIKTIVA" is a neologism that combines in itself many aspects that describe the festival in its model character. Every kind of art dissociates itself in a certain way from reality in favour of fiction — and that dissociation is the festival's subject as much as its method.
Where most festivals pick a lane, FIKTIVA deliberately doesn't. The programme mixes:
Selection decisions are made by members of the Filmmuseum Düsseldorf, the Düsseldorf Cultural Affairs Office, the Institut Français, and TFF TheaterFilmFest gUG. The festival has also held EFFE Label recognition from Culture Action Europe (Europe for Festivals / Festivals for Europe), a mark given to festivals judged to combine artistic quality with strong community engagement — and a platform that helps share the work shown here beyond European borders.
The festival's core audience skews young — primarily ages 16 to 25 and 25 to 50 — and is built around accessibility: free admission, no age restriction, and support for visitors with disabilities. A typical festival day draws between 500 and 2,000 people through the Old Town route.