Previous experience and specific career aspirations are not essential. We are looking for students who are passionate about filmmaking and keen to develop their own artistic voice. The course offers you the chance to explore all areas of the department and discover which appeals to you most. Whilst studying Motion Pictures, you will have plenty of opportunities to gain experience and identify your areas of interest.

• Portfolio review on 9 June and 10 June 2026
• Interview on 25 June and 26 June 2026

The following documents must be submitted with the application.

• A University Entrance Certificate valid in the state of Hesse, Germany. If you expect to receive your University Entrance Certificate after the deadline of 1 June, you may submit your last two secondary school reports instead and send the actual document at a later date. Applications without a University Entrance Certificate are also possible if we recognise exceptional artistic talent. This means you will need to achieve a higher minimum score in the entrance examination. Further information can be found in our statutes.
• Proof of English language proficiency: The last two English grades on your secondary school reports must be above average. Alternatively, you may submit either a B2 certificate or an equivalent qualification such as TOEFL or IELTS.
• A digital artistic portfolio containing a maximum of three examples of your work (as non-expiring links in the application form). One of these examples must be a short film addressing this year’s theme,“On the edge/An der Kante”. The other two samples may be chosen at your discretion. These could be another short film, a screenplay, a storyboard or a series of photographs.
• A CV detailing your artistic, cinematic and narrative interests, a description of your experience, your skills, your social engagement and a short personal statement explaining why you wish to study Motion Pictures.

For applicants holding an international university entrance qualification, the application process is different. The deadline is 15 April. You will find further information below.

The online application portal is open from 1 April to 1 June.

Please visit https://my.h-da.de to register as an applicant and upload your documents.

Once you have registered, you will receive an application number. Please ensure you use this number for all communication with us outside the application portal.

As soon as you have completed these steps, you may proceed with the application process (Bewerbungsantrag).

During the process, you will be prompted to upload the required documents.

Note: If you are unable to provide proof of English language proficiency by¹ June, you may submit it at a later date, provided this is before enrolment. Instead, please upload a PDF containing a short, informal declaration stating that you will do so.

• Download the Application Portfolio Form from the summary
• Please enter your work samples as permanent links in the form. One of the work samples must be a short film addressing this year’s theme; for details of the theme, please go to summary.
• Once you have entered all the required information, you can proceed to upload your Application Portfolio Form, including the links to your work.
• Please ensure that you provide a brief description of your work samples in the designated section of the form and sign the declaration of originality.

Upload the form at https://my.h-da.de

• Portfolio review on 9 June and 10 June 2026
• Interview on 25 June and 26 June 2026

The University of Applied Sciences Darmstadt is a member university of the Uni-Assist Association. For a service fee, Uni-Assist checks which applicants are eligible to study in Germany in accordance with the guidelines of the Central Office for Foreign Education (Zentralstelle für ausländisches Bildungswesen, ZaB). Therefore, in order to formally apply for the Motion Pictures Programme, you must register on the Uni-Assist online portal: https://www.uni-assist.de/en/

Uni-Assist will ask you to provide the following documents:

• School leaving certificate
• Depending on your country of origin, a certificate proving that you have passed the university entrance examination
• If you have previously studied in your home country, please submit documentation confirming the number of years of study.
• English language certificate (B2; IELTS; TOEFL, etc.)
• Copy of your passport

• a digital artistic portfolio containing a maximum of three work samples (as permanent links in the application form). One of the work samples must be a short film addressing this year’s theme,“On the edge/An der Kante”. The other two work samples may be chosen at your discretion. These could be another short film, a screenplay, a storyboard or a series of photographs.
• a CV setting out your artistic, cinematic and narrative interests, a description of your experience, your skills, your social engagement and a short personal statement explaining why you wish to study Motion Pictures.

Once you have entered all the required information, you can proceed to upload your Application Portfolio Form, including the links to your work.

• Download the Application Portfolio Form from the summary
• Enter your work samples as permanent links in the form; one of the work samples must be a short film addressing this year’s theme – see summary.
• Please ensure that you provide a brief description of your work samples in the designated section of the form and sign the declaration of originality.

Upload the form to https://cloud.h-da.de/s/y4akRWd4X82ayHW (Password: Portfolio_WiSe2026)

Once you have submitted all the necessary documents, the admissions committee will assess your portfolio as the first stage of the artistic entrance examination. Following this assessment, applicants will receive an email notifying them of the results.

If you pass the portfolio assessment, you will be invited to an interview.

Two weeks after the portfolio assessment, we will conduct interviews with the applicants. You will be informed of the exact date and time once the results of the portfolio assessment are available. These interviews will take place online.

There will be no practical tasks this year, but please be prepared in case we set you a task during the interview.

If you have already completed a comparable programme, you may be eligible to join at a higher semester. The procedure is similar, but please note that the examination board will assess each application individually once you have successfully completed the artistic entrance examination. In addition to the documents already mentioned, applicants will need to provide further evidence of all previous university grades, including those for which they failed. Please note that the examination board may also request additional documentation.

If you have any questions about registering or uploading your files, please contact the Student Service Centre.

If you have any questions about the artistic entrance exam, please contact Prof. Herbert Schwering: herbert.schwering@h-da.de

If you need general advice about applying to study Motion Pictures, please contact: mopi-studieren@h-da.de

No, you will learn everything during your studies. However, it is important to be motivated to work independently, as well as to be reliable and open to working collaboratively as part of a team. You should have an analytical mind and be able to develop and communicate your ideas and concepts, translating them creatively into moving images and sound. Furthermore, a general understanding of mathematics and physics is an advantage.

You should upload your portfolio as non-expiring links via the form available for download above. It should demonstrate your audiovisual talent. Show your ability to translate your concepts and ideas into the language of film. The portfolio may include short films as well as screenplays, storyboards or series of photographs. In general, there are no restrictions on genres or formats.

We’re setting you an exercise to assess your ability to think visually. You’ll need to complete the exercise at home. This could be a short film, a written task or a series of photos, for example.

No, upon request, the entrance examination procedure will be conducted online, including the interview. Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate other time zones. Please note that the interview will take place according to Central European Time (CET).

Please do not treat the interview as an exam. We want to get to know you personally and talk to you about your work and what motivates you.

You will be notified by email. Please check your inbox and your spam folder regularly.

If you have any further questions regarding applications from candidates with an international university entrance qualification, please contact our International Office.

https://international.h-da.de/