Film: WOOLLY – CREATE YOUR OWN HAPPINESS (Festival Preview) + Discussion Panel
WOOLLY – KNIT YOUR OWN HAPPINESS (Festival Preview) Surprise, there is a sheep in the garden! For most people, this is probably a rather unexpected sight, but for Rakel and her family, it is a completely natural part of everyday life. When her parents retire, Rakel and her wife Ida take over the family's small sheep farm in [...]
Film: INGEBORG BACHMANN – JOURNEY INTO THE DESERT + Film Discussion
INGEBORG BACHMANN – SOMEONE WHO ONCE WAS ME In this film, actress Sandra Hüller approaches Ingeborg Bachmann's life on an imaginary day in Rome and gives her words a haunting presence. With an artistic web of improvised scenes, archival treasures, interviews, and Bachmann's own texts, the film traverses the author's central phases of life – [...]
Reading: Şeyda Kurt reads from her book „Zeit der Monster“
TIME OF THE MONSTERS – Reading with Şeyda Kurt The place is a neighborhood. The time is the apocalypse – or at least that is what more and more people believe, spurred on by a prophecy racing through the web. Through the wild, broken neighborhood where, despite everything, people stick together, young Sanya wanders with a gun in her backpack, until one […]
Film: A NOBODY VERSUS PUTIN + Discussion panel
A NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN Pavel Talankin lives in Karabasch, according to UNESCO the „most toxic place on earth.“ He works as a teacher and video chronicler at the local school – he is loved by his students for his open, trustworthy, and humorous manner. With the beginning of Russia's war of aggression, however, everything changes. The school becomes a stage for state […]
Film: SUNNY DANCER (as part of the FoG School Cinema, public screening) + discussion panel
School Cinema – The Youth Jury Winners 2026 Selected by class 9c of the Juri Gagarin Secondary School Fürstenwalde (Youth Jury 2026) 17-year-old Ivy has survived cancer and finally wants to lead a normal life. To achieve this, her parents send her to a summer camp for teenagers with cancer. Ivy initially rejects the camp, but unexpectedly finds friendship and […]
Film: DJ AHMET (as part of the FoG School Cinema, public screening + discussion panel)
School cinema – The winners of the 2026 Youth Jury Selected by class 9c of the Juri Gagarin Secondary School in Fürstenwalde (Youth Jury 2026) Ahmet falls in love with a girl who is promised to another. In doing so, he comes into conflict with the rules of his Islamic-influenced village environment. Because music means freedom to him, he wants to become a DJ. This allows him to [...]
Film: SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL + Film Discussion (Opening Part 2)
SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL When asked during the selection process of a casting show, 16-year-old Lea does not consider her life to be anything very special. Her and her family's supposedly unspectacular living conditions are characterized by conflicts and financial insecurity. After separating from her father, Lea's mother is pregnant by another man, her grandparents [...]
Reading: Simon Strauß reads from his book „In der Nähe – Vom Politischen Wert einer Ostdeutschen Sehnsucht“ + pre-film (Opening Part 1)
NEARBY – Reading with Simon Strauss Nearby – On the Political Value of an East German Longing is an essayistic non-fiction book in which Simon Strauss uses the Brandenburg small town of Prenzlau as an example to reflect on social cohesion, democracy, and the importance of local community. Far removed from media-fueled self-righteousness, Strauss finds a more direct form of [...]
East German longing
Ostdeutsche Sehnsucht Wie ist es heute, in einer immer einsamer werdenden Welt, mit anderen Menschen in unmittelbarer Nähe zu leben? Am Beispiel der Kleinstadt Prenzlau erkundet Simon Strauß, ob in Zeiten medial befeuerter Selbstgerechtigkeit noch Gemeinschaft möglich ist, wie sie gelingen kann, wann sie scheitert und welche politische Bedeutung es hat, in der Nähe zu […]
The youth jury has decided!
Die Jugendjury hat entschieden! Zwischen dem 29. Juni und 3. Juli tagte zusammen mit dem Filmemacher-Duo Anna Faroqhi und Haim Peretz die diesjährige Jugendjury im Filmtheater Union Fürstenwalde. Die 29 Schüler:innen der 9c der Jury-Gagarin-Oberschule sahen an fünf Tagen fünf Spiel- und Dokumentarfilme aus fünf verschiedenen Ländern, die sich auf unterschiedlichste Weise mit dem Festivalthema #WIRKLICH auseinandersetzen. Die jungen Juror:innen wählten zwei […]