What happened at the 8th HARD:LINE Film Festival

It's kind of strange when you sit down to type these lines, as you do every year. The same procedure every year and nothing has really changed. The laptop blows and the black letters fly onto the digital page. And yet, in consciousness, everything is different. Because Corona did not pass us by without a trace - just like it did everyone else. In February we started with the preparations for the 8th HARD:LINE Film Festival. Everything was still quiet and far away, but somehow we knew that something was coming up. Soon after, we were in shock and had to make decisions without any certainties. What can we afford, what can't we? How long will cinemas stay closed? What happens if we prepare everything, invest thousands of euros and then in the end can't take place? Questions upon questions.

Step one was therefore to pick up the phone and call all our partners: "Are you still on board"? Our main sponsor, the old Penninger distillery in the person of Stefan Penninger, and our premium sponsor Christian Volkmer from Projekt 29 tapped us on the shoulder and gave us their "go". In the middle of the crisis. Nonchalantly, honestly and without batting an eyelid. Would it be possible to carry out HARD:LINE 2020 after all? The funding agencies have also signalled their support. On one condition: we have to take place, no matter what. This raised the central question: How the hell are we supposed to guarantee that it will take place 100% of the time? Online - Yes, others have done that before us. But we couldn't imagine acting completely as a streaming platform. So we thought about it, explored it and thought about it. That's how the first - and certainly only - HARD:LINE Film Festival in hybrid form came about. Half in the cinema, half on the net. The films were to be smaller, because it quickly became clear that streaming could be a problem for rights holders.

With the most secure online festival platform in the world behind us and a seemingly not so bad reputation that we have built up, the programme just ended up being fat. This year's festival is special in many ways, but basically the same as before. We have the task of presenting extreme cinema in all its facets. We are fulfilling this task again this year. Holy shit! And how we do it. The films that we are allowed to show you are planks that first have to be drilled. 12 feature films, a secret cinema screening, 16 short films, a DJ night and a concert. These are the bare figures. 24 of the 29 films shown from all over the world will celebrate at least their German premiere in Regensburg. A quota we have never had before - and in a year in which we voluntarily renounced premiere status. Because it should be good films, so that we can have a nice film festival despite this asshole of a virus. Oh yes! We will certainly have that in both senses of the word. Whether it's at the cinema or at home. That's the middle finger this virus needs. Because we're doing our thing together with you all - and without a virus. Because we didn't invite Corona to our party! But you are invited!