On May 20th the Neisse Film Festival is starting on it's 22nd season. Over the course of six days the festivall will be showing over 100 feature, documentary and short films internationally in 19 cinemas and screening sites in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic, with three competitions and various thematic film series. In addition there are events such as workshops, an exhibition, concerts, a reading -- or an open-air cinema in the garden at the festival headquarters in Grosshennersdorf. The complete programme is now available for your discovery online.

The 22nd Neisse Film Festival will be opened on 20 May in Zittau's Gerhart-Hauptann-Theatre with the documentary film "Śląsk" (Silesia) by Viola Stephan premiering its digital version. The film, shot in 1994, is a moving portrait about a region in transition and its search for identity: historically significant and just as current today.

Trinational Competitions for Feature Films, Documentaries and Short Films

In the main competition of the festival, for best full-length feature film, three current productions are entered, one each from Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. The nine films offer multilayered perspectives: two young women in "Nulpen" by Sorina Gajewski wander aimlessly through Berlin, a widower restructures her life in "Rok vdovy" (Year of the Widow) by Veronika Lišková, and in "Pod szarym niebem" (Under the Grey Sky) by Mara Tamkovich a journalist is arrested in Belarus. In "To nie mój film" (It's Not My Film) by Maria Zbąska a married couple seeks clarity on a winter hike, in „Wróbel“ (Sparrow) by Tomasz Gąssowski a postman escapes his routine and with "Ungeduld des Herzens" (Impatience of the Heart) Lauro Cress films a novel by Stefan Zweig. What three women witness on a farm in "Milch ins Feuer" (Smell of Burnt Milk) by Justine Bauer and a rural slaughtering-day fest in "Mord" (Our Lovely Pig Slaughter) by Adam Martinec both portray rural traditions anew. And in "Od marca do mája" (March to May) by Martin Pavol Repka, the harmonious life of a family gets jumbled when the aging parents find themselves expecting another child.

There are also nine films competing for the honour of best documentary, each touching upon moving topics: war, migration and extremism, social inequality, violence and family. In the midst of crises, the focus also always turns to personal experience in this year's competition entries. A street becomes a mirror, a family becomes a place of refuge or an area of conflict, past systems and new extremism cast long shadows, memory turns into resistance. All the films show what remains: longing, responsibility, courage - and humanness.

The short-film competition in 2025 once again brings films which captivate with their variety and originality. A total of 30 entries, short and entertaining, represent various genres -- fiction, documentary, animation or experimental.

Topical Film Series portray the Three-Country-Corner, Current Films from the Neighbouring Countries, Film Classics in 70mm format and DEFA Animated Films

Alongside the film competitions, the line-up "Regionalia" includes entries dedicated to life in Lusatia or on the border, or to Sorbian film. In this series for example we can see Maren-Kea Freese's prominently-cast tragicomedy "Wilma will mehr" with Fritzi Haberlandt and Thomas Gerber , in which a woman leaves her Lusatian home in the late 1990's, finding new perspectives in Vienna. Three country-based series reflect current filmmaking in Poland, in Germany and in the Czech Republic.

In addition to these, the Centrum Panorama in Varnsdorf, Czech Republic, will once again be showing film classics and cinematic milestones in oppulent 70mm-technology or in the special 35-mm format. Here we can also see Adrian Brody in his oscar-winning performance in "The Brutalist". The Dresden DEFA studio for animated films is celebrating it's 70-year anniversary in 2025. To mark this milestone, the German Institute of Animated Film (DIAF), is presenting a programme with classic DEFA cartoon films within the framework of the Neisse Film Festival. Entitled "Krawall auf dem Land" ("A Ruckus in the Countryside"), these give us a glimpse into the diversity and creativity of the Dresden cartoon filmmaking.

Focus Series “Crossing Borders”

Under the title "Crossing Borders," the Neisse Film Festival Focus series is taking a ook at the burning issue and diverse narrative of borders. The conflict-laden subject of how to handle borders is a profound theme in the films of this series. In this, we look over the German borders primarily towards east-european film creations. The series will be accompanied by a reading by the travel author Andreas Altmann, who will be presenting his newest book "Sehnsucht Leben" (The Longing of Life) in Zittau, and by an exhibition entitled "Frauen im geteilten Deutschland" (Women in Divided Germany).

The closing awards ceremony of the 22nd Neisse Film Festival will take place on 24 May in the Miejski Dom Kultury in the Polish city of Zgorzelec. In addition to the best feature, documentary and short films, and the audience favorites, awards will also be given for best screenplay and best production design. The Special Award of the festival will be granted to a film which addresses undertanding of cultural and ethnic differences in various countries or the similarities which exist between them. And - for the first time - a Youth Jury will select their favorites as well.

The complete programme and current news on the Neisse Film Festival is available online.

Living Europe in the Three-Country Region Along the Neisse River

Since 2004, each May the Neisse Film Festival has been presenting current feature films, documentaries and short films from Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic as well as eastern Europe in the three-country corner at the Neisse River. Beginning with the idea of showing films in the neighbouring countries, the festival has developed into being a cultural bridge for film fans and is now a meeting point for national and international filmmakers and the film business. The Neisse Film Festival is unique with its trinational character, its films being screened across the borderlines in cinemas and other locations throughout the three-country corner.

The patrons of the 22st Neisse Film Festival are Michael Kretschmer, Minister President of the State of Saxony (D); Martin Půta, Captain of the Region of Liberec (CZ); and Rafał Gronicz, Mayor of Zgorzelec (PL).

The 22nd Neisse Film Festival is being supported by and with funding from: the Saxon Ministry for Science, Culture and Tourism; the Kulturraum Oberlausitz-Niedersilesian, the Couty of Görlitz - Wokrjes Zhorjelc. Sparkasse Oberlausitz-Niederschlesien, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony, and the German-Czech Funds for the Future, Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeiten der SED Diktatur. The financial support is paid in part via tax monies on the basis of the budget which was passed by the representatives to the annual parliament.

Photo material for the competition films and the thematic series may be downloaded here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/2urt21kint4rsa7plyn1o/AGZ_GP18HD89vM_A9WzI49Q?rlkey=cypdizhp4nncegdhown93bi4b&st=eoiu5hyd&dl=0 

Photo material for the festival supporting programme is available here via Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/5d9mttxqcgpl2pv54ftcd/AMdHMRIpn0UX1ZTlpYTi0ho?rlkey=8w9lba83dj0osfmezcmhfwugj&st=1tj7a5m0&dl=0  

Photo material for the Neisse Film Festival is available here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2pbeipwp67fimhy/AAClFhYy59dRjODXjnIoz2OEa?dl=0