Saturday, August 29, 2–10 PM

2-4 PM
Short film program in Collaboration with KONRAD WOLF Film University of Babelsberg

Haus.Frauen
Imbiss
Oyoyo
Femini – Rockband aus Berlin
Meine Großmutter ist Fallschirmspringerin

4:45 PM 
INTRODUCTION AND WELCOME FILM WITHOUT BORDERS

with Festival Director Yvonne Borrmann, and the curators of the Youth Film Program, Anna Faroqhi and Haim Peretz

5-10 PM


5 PM

20,000 Species of Bees

Sinfonie der Kleinstadt (Supporting film: 5–5:20 PM)

8 PM 

In Times of Fading Light

Kleine Denkmäler / Small Monuments (Supporting film: 8–8:18 PM)

2–4 PM
Short film program in collaboration with KONRAD WOLF Film University of Babelsberg

Haus.Frauen
Imbiss
Oyoyo
Femini – Rockband aus Berlin
Meine Großmutter ist Fallschirmspringerin

20,000 Species of Bees

SPAIN 2023

Length: 129 min
Directed by: Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren
Camera: Gina Ferrer Garcia
Version: OmU
Age rating: FSK released from 0

Basque director Estibalz Urresola Solaguren’s debut feature film, 20,000 Species of Bees, tells the deeply moving story of an eight-year-old boy who gradually comes to terms with the fact that he is a girl. The film first screened in 2023 as part of the Berlinale Competition where it captivated audiences. Told from the child’s perspective, this Spanish drama illustrates how difficult it can be to find a place in the world that feels right, and shows how a mother—who is still grappling with her own ambivalent parental baggage—deals with her child’s search for identity. The film saw nine-year-old actress Sofía Otero receive the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance.

GERMANY 2017
Length: 100 min. (1h 40 min.)
Directed by: Matti Geschonneck
Screenplay: Wolfgang Kohlhaase
Camera: Hannes Hubach
Cast: Bruno Ganz, Hildegard Schmahl, Silvester Groth, among others
Age rating: FSK released from 0

Matti Geschonneck and Wolfgang Kohlhaase present a masterful film adaptation of Eugen Ruge’s multi-award-winning novel of the same name, transforming the protagonists’ birthday festivities into an intense, domestic drama. In the fall of 1989, Wilhelm Powileit, a distinguished member of the party and a staunch Stalinist, celebrates his 90th birthday. Everyone comes to visit the house where he lives with his wife Charlotte: the SED district committee, awarding him yet another medal for his services; the pioneers, singing him a Soviet partisan song; and even his stepson Kurt, who spent many years in Siberian captivity and there met his Russian wife Irina. Sorely missed, however, is grandson Sascha, who defected from the Republic the day before. Despite the negative news, Wilhelm stoically clings on to the illusion of “actually existing socialism”.

Program in Collaboration with FILMUNIVERSITÄT BABELSBERG KONRAD WOLF
 

Haus.Frauen

16 min, documentary, short film, 1982
Director: Helke Misselwitz
Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF

Imbiss

5 min, documentary, short film, 1978/1979
Director: Thomas Heise
Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF

OYOYO (Short Version)

49 min, documentary, mid-length, 1980
Director: Chetna Vora
Academy of Film and Television of the GDR
Digitized and restored by the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, supported by the German Film Heritage Funding Program, financed by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM), the German federal states, and the German Federal Film Board (FFA).

Femini – Rockband aus Berlin

20 min, documentary, short film, 1982
Director: Petra Tschörtner
Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF

My Grandmother is a Skydiver

13 min, animated short film, 2025
Director: Polina Piddubna
Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF

In Collaboration with Film without boarders 

Sinfonie der Kleinstadt (Germany 2019, 20 min.)

Through a series of interconnected scenes, the film tells the story of refugees in Fürstenwalde and the surrounding area as they spend a day pursuing their dream job — a video essay on integration, solidarity, and the dignity of work.

Kleine Denkmäler / Small Monuments (Germany 2025, 18 min.)

Each year, confirmation classes at the Bad Saarow church take part in cleaning the Stolpersteine throughout the area. These small memorials commemorate Jewish people and their last place of residence before they were persecuted and stripped of their rights under National Socialism.