Diversity: A more diverse film festival

Just as in many other institutions, we have structures, knowledge and traditions that are passed onto the next generation of students year after year. We always strive to create a space for international exchange and networking among people with different expertise and backgrounds. In order to meet the aspirations of diversity, we need to start with ourselves as a team by renegotiating structures, questioning old knowledge, and finding new ways for inclusion, allyship, and representation.

At this point, the diversity manager comes to the table as a symbol for people who otherwise have no access to our spaces, or for whom access is systematically impeded. In order to break down old structures and further open up the Sehsüchte Film Festival both as an institution and as a space for encounters, we want to further expand our opportunities for inclusion in collaboration with experts in the fields of equality, representation, accessibility and barrier-free access in the film and arts industry.

In awareness-raising events and conversations with the diversity manager, internalized thought patterns are negotiated and privileges are reflected upon in order to be able to jointly develop strategies for a more diverse film festival. The focus is that we do not only look at art as a work of art, but also see production conditions, participating filmmakers or the history of its creation as part of this work of art. We are grateful to have the chance to host such an event and are looking forward to use our platform to give visibility to filmmakers from different realities of life.

Blog entry about diversity (15.04.2022)