Full program in the border triangle

This year's Neisse Film Festival opens in Zittau on May 17. The 19th edition of the festival will feature around 90 feature films, documentaries and short films in three competitions and various film series, film discussions with the filmmakers and accompanying events such as concerts, a reading, exhibitions and more over six festival days in 20 venues in the three-country region on the Neisse. With the education ticket, you can attend all film screenings for 20 euros. The personal ticket is available on presentation of valid proof at all festival box offices.

In the main competition for the best feature film, three productions each from Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic will be competing, telling stories of dystopian visions of the future, social grievances and emotional romances. In the competition for the best documentary film, a total of nine productions are in the running, dealing with topics such as the search for identity or the relationship between tradition and modern society. The short film competition at the Neiße Film Festival, for which the student council of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences is donating prize money of 1,000 euros, will once again cover a wide range of short feature films, documentaries and animations in 2022 that take a fantastic, realistic, humorous, serious, emotional or even critical look at the (not) everyday things in life.

The "Regionalia" series features current contributions from regional filmmakers dedicated to life in Lusatia and on the German-Czech border or Sorbian film. Under the title "Cinemascope", a film series shows how broad the thematic horizons of cinematography are in Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic and other European countries. At the Centrum Panorama in Varnsdorf, film classics such as "The Untouchables" (1987), "Aliens: The Return" (1986) and "Battle for Midway" (1976) can be seen in 35mm and 70mm format. There will also be a series of children's films and a retrospective of films by the honorary prize winner of this year's Neisse Film Festival, German actress Katharina Thalbach.

Under the title "Family Affairs ", the 19th Neisse Film Festival will focus on changes in family concepts and the comparison of related ideas in Eastern and Western Europe from the pre-reunification period to the present day. The corresponding program of nine feature films, documentaries and short films deals with different perceptions of this individually and socially relevant topic and at the same time tells exciting, touching contemporary history(ies) as if under a burning glass. From May 8, the Kulturcafé Alte Bäckerei in Großhennersdorf will be showing the exhibition "Familia" by photographer Oksana Yushko. Since April 1, the Sparkasse Zittau has been hosting an exhibition entitled "Voll der Osten. Life in the GDR", an exhibition with photographs by Harald Hauswald and texts by Stefan Wolle. Lutz Seiler will also be reading from his book "Stern 111" at the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Theater in Zittau on May 18. In it, the award-winning author tells an atmospherically dense family story from the immediate post-reunification period.

DakhaBrakha live at Kühlhaus Görlitz

One of the highlights of the supporting program is the concert with "DakhaBrakha" on Friday, 20 May from 8 pm at Kühlhaus Görlitz. The name of the band, which was founded in Kiev in 2004, comes from the old Ukrainian language and stands for "give & take". The quartet's music combines folk and beat, jazz and trance. Carried by drums and cellos, an "ethno chaos" is created that is celebrated worldwide. The band's trademark is their towering black lambswool hats. Their performances convey the power and sensuality of Eastern European folklore thanks to unconventional sounds, ritual tribal rhythms and frenzied vocals. DakhaBrakha's concert at the Neisse Film Festival has been on hold for two years; first due to the pandemic, now due to the war. The band has a clear statement on this: "The most effective weapon right now are the DakhaBrakha concerts".

The award ceremony will take place on May 21 at the Filmtheater Ebersbach. In addition to the best feature films, documentaries and short films and the audience favorites, prizes will also be awarded for the best acting performance, the best screenplay and the best production design. A special prize will also be awarded to a film dedicated to understanding the cultural and ethnic differences between different countries or the similarities between them.