diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 1a69fd95f..b87e2df58 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-FROM openjdk:14-buster AS build
+FROM openjdk:17-buster AS build
 
 RUN apt-get update && \
   apt-get install -y maven
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ RUN cd /cineast-src && \
   ./gradlew getExternalFiles && \
   ./gradlew shadowJar
 
-FROM openjdk:14-slim-buster
+FROM openjdk:17-slim-buster
 
 RUN mkdir -p /opt/cineast
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a266af348..51f590fb3 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Cineast is a multi-feature content-based multimedia retrieval engine. It is capa
 Cineast is written in Java and uses [CottontailDB](https://github.com/vitrivr/cottontaildb) as a storage backend.
 
 ## Building Cineast
-Cineast can be built using [Gradle](https://gradle.org/). Building and running it is as easy as
+Cineast can be built using [Gradle](https://gradle.org/). It needs Java 17+. Building and running it is as easy as
 ```
 $> git clone https://github.com/vitrivr/cineast.git
 $> cd cineast
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ As a result, the OAS is stored at `docs/openapi.json`
 ## Prerequisites
 ### System dependencies
 * git
-* JDK 11 or higher
+* JDK 17 or higher
 
 ### 3D rendering
 For 3D rendering (required in order to support 3D models) you either need a video card or Mesa 3D. The JOGL library supports both. Rendering on Headless devices has been successfully tested with Xvfb. The following steps are required to enable