Pressemeldungen

About 700 Entries for the 19th Neisse Film Festival

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Großhennersdorf, 14 February 2022

The Neisse Film Festival is entering its 19th year and will run from 17 to 22 May 2022. Approximately 700 film entries have been submitted to the festival organizers at the Kunstbauerkino in Großhennersdorf, each vying for a place in one of three competitions and one of a total of eleven coveted Neisse Fish. Among the submitted productions are feature films telling of dystopic visions of the future, of social discrepancies as well as of passionate romances; documentaries that deal with the search for identity or the relationship between tradition and modern society; and short films dedicated in a variety of ways to people in extra-ordinary situations. Which films make it into the final festival program selection will be decided by early April.

"We are happy about the fact that in the second year of the Corona pandemic, more films than ever are seeking their way to the screens and the program of the Neisse Film Festival," so Ola Staszel of the fesival organisation duo. "The preparations for the festival are well underway. We are confident that we will be able to present our audience with a festival in May as usual," continued Staszel.


Europe in Real-Life in the Tri-Country Region on the Neisse RiverSince 2004, each May in the tri-country region between Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic, the Neisse Film Festival has presented current feature films, documentaries and short films. What began with the idea of showing films in three countries has developed into a cultural bridge for film fans and arthouse cinemas in the three neighboring countries and has also become an important meeting place for national and international filmmakers and representatives of the film industry. An aspect of this festival which sets it apart is its multi-genre and trinational character with film screenings taking place in about 20 locations along the Neisse. The trans-border program has three film competitions and various thematic film series which open perspectives into connections and relationships between the peoples of eastern Europe and into how they use film to handle and come to terms with past and present,. In addition, it also includes further events such as concerts, readings, exhibitions and parties.

This year's focus is entitled "Family Affairs" and will address the changes in family concepts and/or the comparison of such conceptions in eastern and western Europe from before 1989 up through today. With the corresponding program, the viewer can grapple more intensively with various percpectives on this topic, so very relevant on both an individual and a social level, and at the same time experience enthralling, touching period stories told as if highlighted under a magnifying glass. Vastly differing human experiences are taken up which, aside from their oft problem-oriented and tragic aspects, frequently form deeply comical constellations as well. In the focus film series nine feature films, documentaries and short films will be shown. Lutz Seiler will also read from his book "Stern 111" on May 18 in the Gerhart-Hauptmann Theater, and a photo exhibition entitled "Voll der Osten" ("Totally East(ernI") is planned in the Sparkasse Zittau.

The opening ceremony of the 19th Neisse Film Festival is planned for May 17 in the Gerhart-Hauptmann Theater in Zittau. Among the highlights of the program are a concert with the Ukrainian band DakhaBrakha on May 20 in the Kühlhaus club in Görlitz. The celebratory awards ceremony is planned for May 21 in the Ebersbach Film Theater. Alongside the best feature film, documentary and short films, and the audience favorites, the best acting, best screenplay and best set design. A Special Prize will also go to one film from the whole selection of the Festival program which is dedicated to understanding the neighboring relations between Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic.

The most current information can be found online unter www.neissefilmfestival.net.

 

The 19th Neisse Film Festival's patrons are Michael Kretschmer, minister president of the state of Saxony; Martin Půta, Hauptmann of the Region Liberec, and Rafał Gronicz, Mayor of Zgorzelec.

The 19th Neisse Film Festival is sponsored through and with funds from the: Sächsischen Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft, Kultur und Tourismus (Saxon Ministry for Science, Culture and Tourism), Kulturraum Oberlausitz-Niederschlesien, Landkreis Görlitz - Wokrjes Zhorjelc (district/county), Sparkasse Oberlausitz-Niederschlesien bank, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen, Deutsch-Tschechischer Zukunftsfonds, Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, Stiftung für deutsch-polnische Zusammenarbeit, Liberecký kraj, KubiMobil.
his festival is co-financed with tax money on the basis of the finances as decided by the budget adopted by the Saxon Landtag members.