Five years ago, the Berlin film festival “PrevYou” was founded because there was still some money left over. The entire budget was not used up when shooting a short film. “We had the choice,” says organizer and founding member Felix Strümpel, “to use the remaining budget to celebrate a big premiere just for us, or to invite other young filmmakers to show their films as well.” Strümpel and his team decided on the latter, and “PrevYou” was born.
This year the short film festival is entering its fifth year and is celebrating its anniversary with a program that is bigger than ever. Strümpel, who was just 16 years old when the festival was founded, grew up in Berlin and gained access to the film business through his own acting experience. He has now directed several short films.
Last year, “PrevYou” took place in Prenzlauer Berg, but this year the filmmakers are heading a little further north. A total of 34 short films will be shown in seven different blocks from June 14 to 16 in the “Peter Edel” cultural center on Berliner Allee in Weißensee. A network of young people democratically selected the films from over 300 submitted.
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In addition to short films, guests can expect a wide range of free workshops that deal with various areas of film. The “Sexism in Film” program is about gender equality in the industry, while the “Greenproducing” panel is about sustainable film productions. The short films themselves deal with various genres and also address current and political topics.
It is particularly important to the organizers that the festival is accessible to everyone. “We want to connect all young people who are interested in film and introduce others to short films,” says Strümpel. Financial means should not be an exclusion criterion. That is why tickets for the individual program blocks, in which several short films are shown one after the other, cost just five euros.
The festival has continued to grow over the past five years. Isn’t there a danger that its own success will overtake the original idea? “No,” says 21-year-old Strümpel. The festival is organized by everyone on a voluntary basis and in their free time, so “PrevYou” will also have reached its “maximum size” at some point. It is not possible to do much more than it is currently doing. The “great” thing about the project, according to Strümpel, is that nobody makes any money from it.