Foreword

For a film festival, especially one for which “non-film” reality is an important point of reference, what is happening around us is extremely important. We were hardly spared the reactivation of the archaic perception of the border in the center of Europe as a line on the map, guarded by armed soldiers during the coronavirus pandemic (which was especially painful in the festival center – Szczecin and its surroundings, on both banks of the Odra River, on the Polish and German sides of this line), and we have already been confronted with military violence in its equally archaic form. On the other hand, public debates held in various parts of Europe on various topics related to the social and cultural condition of our continent allow us to become more modern societies.

Thus, for film and its languages difficult to predict times have come to pass, but by all means creative. The increasingly democratic world of filmmaking is changing before our eyes, and the main slogan of our festival: “crossing borders” seems more and more accurate, acquiring new meanings.

All the more, it is worth immersing yourself in the Szczecin Film Festival offer, which will not only help us a bit to understand the world around us, allowing to reflect, but also will give us a moment of high-class entertainment. That is what I wish us all.