In this month's Filmmakers' Choice session on May 21, Bärbel Freund presents films by Karl Heil, Reinhard Kahn and Michel Leiner. Karl Heil's MMH (1981) introduces us to several young people in search of happiness in the West Berlin of the time, their existences in this summery, urban space becoming tangible in the process. The adventurous, defiant and dreamily playful way in which Karl Heil discovered the medium of film for himself is shared by Reinhard Kahn and Michel Leiner, both from Frankfurt. PLATZWUNDER (1983/84) by Kahn / Leiner draws on Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg. In RÜCKE VOR AUF: FRÜHLINGSMORGEN (1988/89) and ETWAS AUS GLAS (1989/95), both by Reinhard Kahn, Hamburg and its surroundings also enchant us. The characters radiate with a fine soulful aura from the deepest twilight: a restless sense of yearning, departure and blessed uselessness (Peter Nau).

Greece has become a talking point – with innovations of cinematic nature. A young generation of filmmakers has been counteracting economic misery with immense artistic capital in the form of new aesthetic approaches. Its inventive, unconventional and often disturbing images have provided new impulses for international auteur cinema and caused a stir at major festivals. This month we will be presenting a selection of 13 current Greek features and documentaries from 2009 to 2012, most of which can be seen in Berlin for the first time. We are particularly glad to be able to welcome the two most prominent representatives of new Greek cinema thanks to the support of the Greek Cultural Foundation Berlin: we are expecting filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos for both the opening of the series on May 4 with a preview of ALPEIS (before the regular cinema release via Rapid Eye Movies in mid June) as well as for the screening of DOGTOOTH on May 5, while on May 10, Athina Rachel Tsangari will be presenting and discussing her multi-award winning ATTENBERG to coincide with its general release. We also look forward to an exciting project set up by the Goethe Institute Athens which we were able to include in our program: on May 9, LabA (Laboratory Athens) and LaborBerlin present 19 "hand made" Super8 and 16mm short films from 2011 about the Greek capital with many of the filmmakers in attendance.

It was no modest demand being made by a group of 26 signatories when they read out a manifesto at the VIII West German Short Film Festival in Oberhausen in February 1962, calling for nothing less than a radical break with the West German film industry in a statement that culminated with "the old cinema is dead. We believe in the new cinema." In the early 60s, the state of German film was not just artistically desolate, but also economically finished. It was practically impossible for young, critical filmmakers to find their place in the German film industry: as the classic method of getting into film by working as an assistant to an experienced director was stymied by the big age difference between the younger and older generations, this meant they were effectively forced to teach themselves. Peter Schamoni stated that, "back then, there was no way for us to reach the film industry. We had no way of realizing scripts or ideas within existing German film production, so we began to make short films that we ourselves produced." The 26 signatories – directors, cameramen, producers and one actor, not a single one of them a women - were a loosely connected group, which had formed from the DOC 59 association founded by Haro Senft and Ferdinand Khittl in Munich in 1959. Apart from a few exceptions, such as Alexander Kluge and Edgar Reitz, who have both found their place in German film history, most of the signatories are completely forgotten today. As part of the "Provoking Reality – 50 Years of the Oberhausen Manifesto" project, nearly 40 short films by the signatories have been restored and preserved for posterity in collaboration with the Federal Film Archive and the Deutsche Kinemathek. We are showing seven full-length films made between 1961 and 1967, which give an impression of the first feature films made by the Oberhausen group. In a series of six thematic short film programs curated by Ralph Eue, the films made by the Oberhausen group are also placed alongside those made by their companions and contemporaries.

We are accompanying a seminar given by Ulrike Vedder and Alexandra Tacke at the Humboldt University on Working Environments in Literature and Film with a film series that will continue in June and July. The focus of the series are films which observe the upheavals in the world of work, looking at the 20s and 30s on the one hand and the last few years on the other.

It was a highlight in the history of Forum Expanded when two of the most influential greats of experimental music, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (Throbbing Gristle, Psychic-TV, Thee Majesty) and Tony Conrad, came together on the stage of HAU in 2011. The two of them had met for the first time while shooting Marie Losierʼs THE BALLAD OF GENESIS AND LADY JAYE, which premiered in the Forum of the Berlinale the same year, and discovered a lot of common ground in the way they approach music, sound, art, and life, as well as a shared love for the violin. For the legendary concert they were joined by percussionist Morrison Edley.

For those who were there and those who missed it, a live recording is now available. Utilizing recycled colored vinyl, each slab is completely unique and comes housed in a recycled craft paper jacket emblazoned with a removable embroidered patch attached to the front cover. Also included is an 8” x 8” black and white booklet featuring photos from the concert as well 2 postcard sized replicas of the original concert poster. Each package was lovingly stamped and assembled by hand.

We are delighted to present Stefan Landorf‘s multi-layered debut AUFNAHME (EMERGENCY ROOM) on our VOD channel at realeyz.tv. The director – a former doctor himself – turns his attention to a Berlin hospital. Medical terms such as ward visits, doctor’s rounds, anamnesis, clinical patterns can also be applied to the film’s structure, which makes the institution appear like an organism being given a check up and prodded in various ways.

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It features designs by Berlin artist and filmmaker Heinz Emigholz, whose annotated versions can be found in full in the monthly programs for December 2009 and May 2010. Why not start a collection? The T-shirts are on sale at the box office and will soon be available in our online store. By the way, our logo was also penned by Heinz Emigholz.