The FILM WITHOUT BORDERS Festival
The FILM OHNE GRENZEN festival takes place every September amidst the tranquillity of nature. Since 2013, we have been showing documentaries, feature films and short films that explore the possibilities and opportunities of human coexistence at the idyllically situated Eibenhof in Bad Saarow, Brandenburg. We are very happy that our film festival on the shores of Lake Scharmützelsee is now a permanent fixture on the Brandenburg festival circuit.
If you like, you can simply watch films at FILM WITHOUT BORDERS. But we also invite you to talk to us. With actors, directors and producers. Because we want you to take away something that goes beyond the cinema experience. By limiting the festival to one location, we create intensive discussions - and the peace and quiet to process what you have seen. The exchange as part of the festival is also emphasized by our film talks. The traditional panel discussion on Sunday, moderated by Andrea Thilo, is also dedicated to the festival theme with prominent guests.
We place particular emphasis on our FOG youth program. We invite Brandenburg schoolchildren to engage with challenging films and organize workshops that offer integration opportunities for young people from different cultural backgrounds.
Filmmakers use their opportunities to tell the stories of individual fates. As viewers, we overcome physical and mental boundaries and turn the stories of others into our own stories. FILM WITHOUT BORDERS is dedicated to international, often award-winning films that reflect on our common humanity in very different ways. Because our festival films deal with topics that we consider important: Humanity, solidarity, humanity.
The great screenwriter, filmmaker and long-time friend of the festival, Wolfgang Kohlhaase, who died in 2022, said of our festival: „A place that is not lacking in beauty and a program that is not lacking in meaning.“ We couldn't wish for a better compliment - and we will continue to work to live up to it in the future.
We look forward to your visit to Bad Saarow!
Susanne Suermondt, Tanya Berndsen and Yvonne Borrmann
Festival management
