How FILMZ e.V. keeps film culture running with ONLYOFFICE

Behind every great film festival is a small army of dedicated people, countless spreadsheets, and a whole lot of careful planning. For FILMZ e.V., a volunteer-run film culture organization in Mainz, Germany, ONLYOFFICE has become a quiet but essential part of making it all happen. We sat down with the team to learn how they bring cinema to thousands of people each year, and how the right collaboration tools help them do it.

Celebrating film culture for everyone

FILMZ e.V. exists to celebrate film culture and share it with as many people as possible. Founded in 2001 and run entirely by volunteers, the organization brings a rich program of events to Mainz throughout the year. Its members and helpers give their time and energy month after month to deliver something special for film lovers across the region.

The heart of it all is FILMZ – Festival des deutschen Kinos, the oldest feature film festival in Rhineland-Palatinate. Since 2001, it has presented current German and German-language productions to audiences in Mainz, earning a firm place in the wider cultural landscape. What makes the festival truly stand out is its democratic spirit: the audience itself decides which films win across the eight competitions. The program is rounded out with diverse film series and a varied supporting program.

The festival is far from the only thing FILMZ organizes. The team also runs the open-air cinema at the Landesmuseum and the “Muschelkino” on the campus of Johannes Gutenberg University, along with many other events. Since 2009, the city of Mainz has been the official host of the festival, with FILMZ e.V. handling the organization and execution. The organization is also a member of the AG Filmfestival and the Bundesverband kommunaler Filmarbeit e.V.

The results speak for themselves. In 2025 alone, FILMZ reached more than 10,000 people through its various projects, a remarkable achievement for an entirely volunteer-driven team.

A long-standing partnership

Interestingly, the decision to use ONLYOFFICE Docs was made years before the current team came on board, by people who are no longer with the organization. That history says a lot. As the team puts it, ONLYOFFICE is now one of the longest-serving components at FILMZ, and that staying power is a strong sign of just how well the partnership works.

For a volunteer organization where people come and go over the years, having a reliable, familiar tool that simply keeps working is invaluable. ONLYOFFICE has earned its place by quietly doing exactly that.

Spreadsheets at the heart of festival planning

When it comes to film culture work, planning and organization are everything. This is where ONLYOFFICE truly shines for the FILMZ team. The spreadsheets, in particular, help them keep a clear overview of moving parts and successfully bring the festival, the open-air cinema, and everything else to life.

But the work goes well beyond numbers. The team uses ONLYOFFICE to plan their film selection, write the texts for their program booklets, and strengthen the organization’s structures year after year. From the smallest meeting notes to the full festival schedule, ONLYOFFICE has become an integral part of how this volunteer team organizes itself.

Seamless collaboration with HumHub

A big part of what makes ONLYOFFICE work for FILMZ is its cloud-based nature, which the team relies on through their HumHub platform. This integration allows everyone to collaborate on documents together in real time, something the team says they simply would not want to live without.

Because the FILMZ team is constantly on the move, easy access matters enormously. They frequently need to reach HumHub on the go, which is exactly why mobile access is so important to how they work.

Looking ahead with the Enterprise license

With the team growing rapidly in recent years, FILMZ is looking to the Enterprise license to keep their smooth collaboration going strong. Above all, they hope it will let them edit ONLYOFFICE files comfortably on mobile devices, making it even easier to stay productive while away from their desks.

This forward-looking approach reflects how the team thinks about their tools: not just as something that works today, but as something that can grow alongside them.

Results that make a difference

For FILMZ, the value of ONLYOFFICE is hard to overstate. The current team doesn’t even remember working “before ONLYOFFICE.” It keeps their work flexible and collaborative, and it forms the foundation that supports everything happening on screen.

Would they recommend ONLYOFFICE to others? Absolutely. In fact, several team members already use it not only for their film culture work, but in their personal lives too.

As Jo Bernhard, Leitung Digitales & Website at FILMZ, sums it up:

For our work at FILMZ – from the smallest meeting notes to creating the festival schedule – ONLYOFFICE has become indispensable. Our film culture work is seen by our audience mainly on the screen in the cinema, but without the many gears turning in the background, for which ONLYOFFICE provides an important foundation, our work would be unthinkable. We look forward to the possibilities the Enterprise license will open up for us, and to our continued collaboration!

A story worth telling

FILMZ e.V. shows what passionate people can achieve when they have the right tools to support them. While the audience sees the films on the big screen, ONLYOFFICE helps power the countless behind-the-scenes details that make every screening possible. We’re proud to be part of their story, and we can’t wait to see what they create next.

Festival images: ©FILMZ e.V.