The Programme Advisory Board of the Provinziale is an unusually large collective. Over several months, its 16 members reviewed 550 submissions from 55 countries, discussed them, selected or dismissed them, and thus put together the programme for the upcoming festival: 34 films made it into the competition, including eight feature documentaries, five short documentaries, nine animated films and twelve short feature films.

The competition films come from 18 countries, including the US, UK, Cuba, Greece, Syria, Austria, Germany, China, France, Denmark, Chile, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Portugal, Croatia and Iran.

In short comments, the competition teams explain their selection this year and hope the audience will weigh it carefully. After all, in Eberswalde the audience is the jury, except for the special award Der Stachel. In each of the four competitions, viewers are asked to vote twice: once spontaneously, following their first impulse, and once with a second, more critical eye. Although the Provinziale has a unifying theme in the relationship between people and their environment, the films are diverse and tell of the many facets of human life in city and country, in woods and fields, in war and peace.

Our special programme, which always looks for connections to the region, features the documentary Eine Orgel für Prenzlau (An Organ for Prenzlau) by Riccardo Wittig. It tells of a remarkable project in our neighbourhood that is as worth seeing as it is worth hearing: a large organ by the British firm Hill & Son is being dismantled in Kilbarchan, Scotland, to find a new home in St. Mary's Church in Prenzlau and to open up new perspectives there. A bold project that may inspire others, too!

The Youth Film Afternoon has been part of the Provinziale programme since last year. As the young people in our film project Filmknack have been exceptionally productive over the past few months, we are now limiting ourselves to their own productions. Together with parents and teachers, we look forward to fresh films in which young people discover the medium as a means of expression.

With the Netzwerkstatt (networking workshop), the festival becomes a meeting place for filmmakers in our region. If you make films or work with film productions in Eberswalde, Barnim, the Uckermark or Märkisch-Oderland and have not yet been invited by the festival team, you are welcome to register using the contact details below.

As is tradition, we are again joining forces this year with the series Guten Morgen Eberswalde for a screening of Short films – Not just for children on 17 October at 10:30 am.

This year's daily festival music around the competition programme comes from the Hot Club of Berlin. Within this collective, line-ups range from duo, trio, quartet and quintet to a full orchestra (the Django Reinhardt Orchestra). The closing night features live music by The Soulmate Project and electro swing by DJ Wolfgang Lohr.

On opening day, Kulturfeste Brandenburg invites you to a cultural walk through Eberswalde led by sculptor Gudrun Sailer. She will show important sites of Eberswalde's cultural development, present the major Paul Wunderlich retrospective in the district administration building of the same name on the market square, and finally lead her guests directly to Haus Schwärzetal for the opening night of the Provinziale. Register by 26 September by email to tourismus@kulturfeste.de.

A film festival shows films, that is what it is for, and the Provinziale is no different. Nevertheless, it is notable that in Eberswalde people have been working with great dedication for more than two decades on a distinctive form of culture. From ticket sales to film discussions, from opening night to award ceremony, from youth film work to local and regional connections, the festival wants to contribute to the well-being of its urban and regional community. The Provinziale is not only about films but about encounter and communication, and an invitation to all guests to face difficult questions and discuss them, but also to laugh together and, of course, to dance.

We thank our supporters for their continuous backing: Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the district of Barnim, the Brandenburg State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Energy, Climate Action and European Affairs, the city of Eberswalde, Sparkasse Barnim, the housing company WHG Eberswalde, the EWE Foundation, Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, Kreiswerke Barnim, bakery Björn Wiese and, last but not least, our host, Haus Schwärzetal.