On 5 May 2024, the prizes of the 70th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen were awarded at the Festival Cinema Lichtburg. The Ecumenical Jury in the International Competition awarded its prize to the German-Chinese film "O ma" (Before Then) by Xie Mengzhu and a Commendation to "Hitbasrut" (Decryption) by Maya Zack from Israel, the Ecumenical Jury in the Children's and Youth Film Competition honoured the Japanese-American production "The Old Young Crow" by Liam LoPinto and awarded a Commendation to "Lulina e la lua" (Lulina and the Moon) by Marcus Vinicios Vasconcelos and Alois Di Leo from Brazil. The Grand Prix of the City of Oberhausen as well as the Prize of the Jury of International Film Critics (Fipresci) went to Chinese director Wang Zhiyi for his film "Chūn Èr shí sān" (Spring 23), while the main prize of the International Jury went to "The Many Interrupted Dreams of Mr Hemmady" by Amit Dutta from India.
The anniversary edition of the festival was overshadowed by the controversies surrounding the war in Gaza. Shortly after the Hamas atrocities on 7 October, festival director Lars Henrik Gass posted a call for support for a solidarity demonstration in Berlin for Israel and against anti-Semitism. Pro-Palestinian groups then attempted to organise a boycott of the festival, with the result that a number of filmmakers and distributors withdrew their films from the programme, some of which had already been booked. Sober and differentiated explanations from the festival director had little or no success. Parts of the festival had to be reorganised at short notice. The conflict was also observed by the public beyond social media.
As a further reaction to the polarisation of the debate, a conference entitled "Longing for freedom from contradiction" was held at the start of the festival, which called for differentiation beyond the hardened fronts and was concluded with a discussion with Lars Henrik Gass, the sociologist Alexandra Schauer and the film critic and filmmaker Rüdiger Suchsland as part of the official opening ceremony on the evening of 1 May. A seminar held during the festival on the question "Are festivals still a universalist project?" also dealt with the festival boycott, among other things. Gass received political and symbolic encouragement shortly before the start of the festival with the announcement that he would be awarded the Ernst Cramer Medal 2024 by the German-Israeli Society in honour of his commitment to German-Israeli relations. The award ceremony will take place on 8 June in Bremen.