The Aktion Mensch charity and its cooperating partners have been organising film festivals in the context of Aktion Mensch’s “Gesellschafter” initiative since 2007. The festivals provide the opportunity to look at the world from new and unusual perspectives and start a discussion. Each edition of the carefully curated festivals addresses a topic relevant to the notion of civil society. The selection of themes is cumulative, thus “ueber Macht” builds on the previous festivals “ueber arbeiten” and “ueber morgen”.
Around 30 national and more than 1.000 regional civil society associations and organisations are involved in the realisation and organise audience discussions and film talks for each screening in the 120 participating cities. In this way, the festival seeks to connect civil society initiatives and encourage people to do voluntary work.
About the „Gesellschafter“ initiative:
„What kind of society do we want to live in?“ - this was the question put out to everyone in Germany by the “Gesellschafter” initiative of Aktion Mensch in March 2006. By now, the internet platform “die gesellschafter.de” with around 2,2 m visitors and more than 200.000 posts has become an important forum for political debate in Germany. In collaboration with 90 partner organisations the initiative is also offering practical help: just under 7.000 applications for funding of civil society projects and voluntary work have been received so far. A free online volunteer database puts people interested in doing voluntary work directly in touch with charity organisations.