2020, a year that has left no one cold indeed. For months we didn’t know whether our festival was going to take place at all. Shaken by events that seemed to turn everything upside down, not only in professional terms but with regard to our families and personal lives as well, we can finally announce the 17thProvinziale as planned –at a different venue and with some cuts in the formats we’ve been used to, but at least with films worth watching.
Eberswalde’s film festival has never been a place of proclamations. It’s meant to trace contradictions and rally strength for a nuanced outlook on the world, to encourage wisdom instead of exacting confessions time after time. That’s because life itself is controversial, and nobody has a monopoly on truth. This credo of ours is not intellectual sophistry. In a time increasingly shaped by adversarial camps, we try to give room for encounter and communication, together with our guests and audiences. We cannot anddon’t want to offer the safety of presupposed truths. We’re inviting everybody. There is no aptitude test before you can see our films.
Unfortunately, we can offer only half as many tickets as in the years before. That makes our free places even more valuable, so go ahead and secure one. We look forward to spending a week in your company.
Dr Kenneth Anders
Festival Director