Forbidden island story opens Oldenburg festival

A three-kilometre island where humans are banned has opened the Oldenburg International Film Festival.

Strange Neighbors, a nature documentary about wildlife on a man-made island in the Elbe River near Hamburg, received its world premiere, meaning its first public screening, as the opening-night film of the festival, The Hollywood Reporter reported on 17 September 2026.

The film runs 1 hour 20 minutes. It is the feature directorial debut of Mi Steinbach, the start of a career in longer films after shorter work.

The camera stays with animals. There is no narration to explain the pictures. There are no interviews and no human protagonists. Steinbach does not appear on camera.

The island itself is three kilometres long and 0.5 kilometres wide. It was created during a widening of the river in the 1960s. Giant container ships pass close by. Large factories and refineries stand nearby. Humans are banned from setting foot on it.

That ban shapes the production story. Steinbach shot the film on and off over the course of three years. The shoot was handled solo, without a crew alongside the director. At periods during that time, Steinbach lived on the island in a hut perched on stilts.

The music score is by Robert Nacken. It plays over images recorded in the wild, with industry always close at hand.

For Oldenburg, the choice breaks precedent. For the first time in its history, the festival has opened with a documentary, according to Filmfest Oldenburg. The festival announced the selection on 28 August 2026. The 2026 gathering is its 33rd edition.

The festival programme lists the title as a GER 2026 film by Steinbach. The spelling varies slightly in listings, with some festival pages giving it as Strange Neighbours.

Steinbach was born in 1987. The route into film came via physics and experimental short film, the festival said. That background meant working with small tools and long observation rather than a large team.

What makes this stand out is the collision in one frame. Animals nest, hunt and rest. Ships slide past. Chimneys line the distance. For viewers, this means 80 minutes with no guide voice telling them what to think, just wildlife carrying the story while heavy traffic moves beside it.