On September 5, the 9th International FILM WITHOUT BORDERS Festival came to a successful close!
Brandenburg’s Minister for Science, Research and Culture Dr. Manja Schüle, described the film festival in her opening speech as “A cleverly curated festival with films of socio-political relevance and a challenging youth program – there is no other like it in Brandenburg.
WITHOUT BORDERS FILM Festival also shows that culture in Brandenburg stands for optimism, for courage, for solidarity and longing, she said.
In bright late summer weather, the numerous visitors experienced intense films at the picturesque Scharmützelsee. In addition to the Kulturscheune at Gut Eibenhof and the Open AirKino, the Cinema Bad Saarow was also involved as a venue for the first time. The screenings were almost completely sold out, more than 2000 tickets in total. The youth program was also very popular with students from Brandenburg.
The traditional Sunday talk on this year’s theme of the festival “LONGING” with the guests Christian Schwochow (director), Prof. Dr. Alexandra M. Freund (longing researcher) and Carolin Behr (co-founder of the party Volt) attracted many visitors to the Kulturscheune of Gut Eibenhof.
Among the numerous prominent guests were Margarethe von Trotta (Guest of Honor 2019), Minister of Culture Dr. Manja Schüle, Minister Axel Vogel (Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Climate Protection, Brandenburg), actors Tom Schilling and Ronald Zehrfeld (who is also patron of the festival), actresses Haley Louise Jones and Lorna Ishema, the artistic director of the Berliner Ensemble Oliver Reese, Panni Szurdi, representative of #SZFE, screenwriters Wolfgang Kohlhaase, Thomas Wendrich and Jan Schomburg, Rand Beiruty, “Haus am See” 2021 grantee, actor Cecil von Renner, directors Frauke Sandig, Annekatrin Hendel, documentary and nature filmmaker Jan Haft and many others.
Thanks to the Corona testing station set up by the Johanniter, testing was possible on site.
The team of WITHOUT BORDERS would like to thank all contributors, supporters, sponsors and the audience – and looks forward to seeing you again in 2022!!!
Photo: Boris Trenkel/FILM WITHOUT FRONTIERS 2021
