Peter Liechti's documentary FATHER'S GARDEN - THE LOVE OF MY PARENTS (VATERS GARTEN - DIE LIEBE MEINER ELTERN) has been awarded at the Swiss documentary film festival Visions du Réel in Nyon and at the Crossing Europe film festival in Linz. In Nyon the film received the Special Jury Award – SSA/Suissimage for the most innovative swiss feature or middle-length film out of all sections; in Linz it won the Award for European Documentaries given by the Federation of Film Critics of Europe and the Mediterranean.

Closely knit yet poles apart: this is the ambivalent standpoint from which Peter Liechti turns his lens on his elderly parents and the story of their marriage. Alongside conversations that shift from slapstick to insanity and observations of daily life in his parents’ cramped, lower middle class apartment, a puppet theatre is also established as a second location. This forms the stage for scenes between mother and father to be reenacted by rabbit puppets; as a puppet, the son can also react in explosive fashion. Wild sound effects and music provide an additional level of commentary, generating disorder, disharmony, and distance. Drawing on specific biographies, this deeply personal film transcends the private to convey the tenor of life and sense of self of a generation from a bygone era: unsentimental yet full of empathy. (Birgit Kohler)

Ramon Zürcher's feature debut THE STRANGE LITTLE CAT (DAS MERKWÜRDIGE KÄTZCHEN) which premiered at the Forum this year, has been selected for the ACID programme and will be presented at the forthcoming Cannes Film Festival.

Every year, ACID presents 9 films in Cannes during the festival. Most of them do not have a distributor. The aim is to give visibility and public release to new talents. ACID's support does not stop after the presentation in Cannes. In partnership with 35 festivals, ACID presents the movies in France (Paris, La Rochelle, Lussas, Pau, Belfort etc) as well as abroad (Montreal, Bratislava, Tübingen, Linz, Prague, Lisbonne, Peasro…). This international opening is reinforced by a partnership with an independent international film sale company, Insomnia Word Sales.
ACID helps the director and its production to find a distributor in France and when one is found, ACID works on the release as referred before.

The Thai government announced a countrywide ban on Nontawat Numbenchapol's FAHTUM PANDINSOONG (BOUNDARY), saying its content is "a threat to national security and international relations.” The film, which premiered in this year's Forum program, begins with footage of the so-called “red shirt” political protests that paralyzed Bangkok in 2010 and resulted in an armed standoff and the deaths of nearly 100 people. Nontawat then zeros in on one of the soldiers involved in the dispute and follows him to his hometown along the Thailand-Cambodia border, an area that has long been the focus of an occasionally violent border dispute between the two countries.

arsenal distribution will be releasing Denis Côté's BESTIAIRE in selected cinemas this month. The film, which was shown in last year's Forum program, can be seen as part of the retrospective "No Comfort Zone: Denis Côté's cinema" in the Arsenal cinema on April 18 and will be screening in the fsk cinema from April 25 with the director and the cinematographer attending the premiere.

A drawing course, a safari park and a taxidermist’s workshop: three settings in which humans and animals meet. The focus of observation is on relationships of sight and perception, which often reflect unequal power structures at the same time. In the process, the film also seems to be considering the question of how animals can be filmed. It’s nothing like the technically high-powered animal films of today, whose almighty cameras transcend the boundaries of water, land and air and no longer know nature’s secrets. Sober visual observation without commentary, with an often static camera watching proceedings from a fixed position with a keen eye for form and movement: horns in front of a concrete wall, nervous zebras’ legs in the cramped stalls, the precision contained in the taxidermist’s skilful hand movements. Carefully considered shots which allow the viewer time to reflect on beauty and the unfamiliar, on this domesticated wilderness in the midst of civilisation. This all allows a form of choreography to emerge to the accompaniment of the surrounding noises, a cinematic bestiary in which man too takes his place among the stoic, impassive, impatient, wild and rebellious animals.

At the 15th edition of the Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival (BAFICI) LA PAZ, VIOLA, I USED TO BE DARKER and MATERIA OSCURA received numerous awards. Santiago Loza's LA PAZ won Best Film of the national competition and was given the award of the Asociación de Cronistas Cinematográficos Argentinos (ACCA). VIOLA by Matías Piñeiro received the FIPRESCI award as well as the proze for Best Actress which was given collectively to María Villar, Agustina Muñoz, Elisa Carricajo and Romina Paula. Matt Porterfield won Best Director for his film I USED TO BE DARKER, and in the Human Rights Competition MATERIA OSCURA by Massimo D’Anolfi and Martina Parenti was voted Best Film.

Ramon Zürcher's THE STRANGE LITTLE CAT (DAS MERKWÜRDIGE KÄTZCHEN) has received the New Talent Grand PIX at CPH:PIX in Copenhagen. With his film Zürcher was chosen as the most promising new talent in the competition, among ten other debutating directors. In the jurys motivational speech at the award ceremony they said: "We spend an hour and a half in a stranger's kitchen, a location we all know. It shows the mystery of the mundane, everyday life through the magnifying glass of cinema. A film so specific it becomes universal". Along with the honour, Ramon Zürcher gets a cash prize of 15.000 Euros, meant to help the director develop his new next project.

IN BLOOM by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß has won the main prize of this year's "goEast" film festival in Wiesbaden. CIRCLES by Sudan Golubović received the Award of the City of Wiesbaden for Best Director. Both films were part of this year's Forum program.

IN BLOOM tells a story set in Tbilissi, Georgia in 1992: The Soviet era is over and Georgia must fend for itself. Civil war is raging in the province of Abkhazia. For Natia and Eka, the barely fourteen-year-old protagonists of GRZELI NATELI DGEEBI, childhood is coming to an end. Eka is growing up without her father, rebelling against her concerned mother and her older sister. And Natia’s father, a choleric alcoholic, terrorises the entire family. The two friends cannot find peace outside of the family either – not in school, not on the street, and not in the bread lines. Chaos, insecurity, and fear of what the future might bring hold sway in everyday life. An admirer gives Natia a pistol with one single bullet. A little later, she’s abducted by another admirer. This first feature film by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß takes up the buried traditions of Georgian cinema, weaving together loud and soft, melancholy and missing love, eruptions of violence and a sense of the idyllic, precocious cold-bloodedness and childlike naïveté into a wonderfully rhythmic, exciting cinematic composition. A new generation of filmmakers has emerged in Georgia and is starting out by remembering its own history.

On March 22, Forum director Christoph Terhechte will present the New York premiere of Thomas Imbach's DAY IS DONE at UnionDocs. The film received its world premiere as part of the Forum 2011 as had Imbach's previous films LENZ and I WAS A SWISS BANKER. In 2007 the Arsenal presented a showcase of the Swiss filmmaker's work.

Combining over twenty years of 35mm film footage shot outside of his Zurich studio window with answering machine messages which mark the passing of time, Imbach builds the narrative of DAY IS DONE around personal autobiographical documents. The music of Bob Dylan, Syd Barrett, and John Frusciante help move this innovative hybrid doc.

As always, the Arsenal Cinema will be screening a selection of this year's Forum titles over the coming week:: Al-KHOROUG LEL-NAHAR (COMING FORTH BY DAY) by Hala Lotfy, LE COUSIN JULES (COUSIN JULES by Dominique Benicheti, A SINGLE SHOT by David M. Rosenthal, FATHER'S GARDEN - THE LOVE OF MY PARENTS by Peter Liechti, I USED TO BE DARKER by Matt Porterfield, COMPUTER CHESSby Andrew Bujalski and GRZELI NATELI DGEEBI (IN BLOOM) by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß. In addition, Shirley Clarke's PORTRAIT OF JASON can be seen again at the end of the month. The film has been restored by Milestone Films like the two other Shirley Clarke films "The Connection" and "Ornette: Made in America" shown in last year's Forum program, and will stay with arsenal distribution.

The independent juries of the Berlinale have awarded prizes to four Forum films: The Award of the Conféderation Internationale des Cinémas D'Art et Essai (C.I.C.A.E.) was given to the Georgian film GRZELI NATELI DGEEBI (IN BLOOM) by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß. KRUGOVI (CIRCLES) by Srdan Golubovic received the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, which also gave a special mention to SENZO NI NARU (ROOTS) by Kaoru Ikeya. The 22nd NETPAC Award (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) was given to the Palestinian film LAMMA SHOFTAK (WHEN I SAW YOU) by Annemarie Jacir, and the Tagesspiegel Readers' Jury awarded Peter Liechti's FATHER'S GARDEN - THE LOVE OF MY PARENTS.

HÉLIO OITICICA by Cesar Oiticia Filho receives both this year's Caligari- and FIPRESCI Prize. The Caligari Film Prize, presented by the German Association of Municipal and Cultural Cinemas in cooperation with the German magazine FILM-DIENST, includes a €4,000 endowment, half of which is given to the award recipient while the other half is used to fund the distribution of the winning film in Germany. In addition, the Trikoton company awards a blanket from their "Voice Knitting Collection" in which excerpts from Guiseppe Becce's score to the expressionist silent film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari are knitted into the design.

Ulrich Gregor, the founder and former director of the Forum will be in conversation with French documentary filmmaker and producer Claude Lanzmann today who is being honoured with a Homage and awarded the Honorary Golden Bear for his lifetime achievement at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival. The German premiere of Lanzmann's nine-and-a-half hour documentary on the genocide of European Jews SHOAH, which mad cinematic history as an unparalleled masterpiece of commemorative culture was screened in the Berlinale Forum in 1986.

Born in Paris in 1925 to Jewish parents, Claude Lanzmann fought in the Résistance, studied philosophy in France and Germany, and held a lectureship at the then newly founded Freie Universität Berlin in 1948/49. He was an active supporter of the Algerian independence movement in the early 1960s.His exploration of the Shoah, antisemitism and political struggles for freedom infuse both his cinematic and journalistic work. His first cinematic work was made in 1972, the documentary POURQUOI ISRAEL (ISRAEL; WHY France 1973), in which he illustrates the necessity of Israel's founding from the Jewish perspective. In the film TSAHAL which screened in the 1995 Forum, he focuses on women and men who serve in the Israeli Army. SOBIBOR, 14 OCTOBRE 1943, 16 HEURES (France 2001), about the 1943 revolt in the Sobibor extermination camp in Poland, was also screened in the Forum, in 2002.

A key focus of this year’s Forum Expanded program is the oeuvre of Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica, who died in 1980. Oiticica is regarded as one of Brazil’s most famous artists and is primarily known for the interactive objects and participatory installations and environments he produced in the 1960s. Two installation of his BLOCK-EXPERIMENTS IN COSMOCOCA – PROGRAMA IN PROGRESS series can be seen in the Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart and in the Liquidrom – the latter only once tonight whereby the audience is invited quite literally take a dip in order to experience the image and sound sequences from the pool. In today’s panel discussion at Kunstgewerbemuseum Max Jorge Hinderer Cruz will present a selection of unedited Super 8 fragments of Oiticica, including footage of Neville D'Almeida and Andreas Valetin, in dialogue with art historian Sabeth Buchmann's discussion of Hélio Oitica's concept of Quasi-Cinema, including BLOCK-EXPERIMENTS IN COSMOCOCA - PROGRAMA IN PROGRESS.

A Talent Campus panel discussion on February 12 focuses on the current state of filmmaking in the so-called “crisis countries” in southern Europe. The panellists are directors Elina Psykou (THE ETERNAL RETURN OF ANTONIS PARASKEVAS), Salomé Lamas (TERRA DE NINGUÉM (NO MAN'S LAND) and Thanos Anastopoulos (I KÓRI (THE DAUGHTER)), all of whose films are showing in the Forum program.

As in previous years, the Berlinale is presenting selected films in cinemas across town. Forum films that can be seen are Nicolas Wackerbarth's HALBSCHATTEN (EVERYDAY OBJECTS on February 11 at Tilsiter Lichtspiele (6.30 pm) I USED TO BE DARKER and THE WEIGHT OF ELEPHANTS on February 13 at 6.30 and 9.30 pm at the fsk cinema. Benjamin Heisenberg will be hosting the screening and discussion at the Tilsiter Lichtspiele, Ulrich Köhler the ones at fsk.

A highlight of this year's Forum program is the special screening of CHEONGCHUN-EUI SIPJARO (CROSSROADS OF YOUTH), the oldest surviving Korean feature film and the only one by Ahn Jong-hwa to have been preserved on February 10. The end of the Japanese occupation, the division of the country and the devastating war between North and South did as much to destroy film historical heritage as carelessness in the post-war era. What has not been lost, however, are the memories of the art of mise-en-scène, the film narrators called "pyeonsa", the music and the costumes that all formed part of silent film performances in the 1930s. Taking these memories as his inspiration, director Kim Tae-yong ("Late Autumn", Forum 2010) has put together a modernised stage show complete with orchestra, narrators and singers to celebrate the rediscovery of this cinematic gem, which is now coming to Berlin.

To celebrate the international premiere of Matt Porterfield's I USED TO BE DARKER the lead actors Kim Taylor und Ned Oldham - who are well-known indie musicians both in the film and real life - will be playing at the Ackerstadtpalast on Saturday February 9.

Actress and director Isabella Rossellini will be awarded a Berlinale Camera on Saturday 9 at the Delphi theatre. Following the ceremony, the world premiere of MAMMAS will take place.

Isabella Rossellini is one of the most renowned actresses of international cinema. She has played roles in films by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, Norman Mailer, Robert Zemeckis, Joel Schumacher, John Schlesinger, Peter Greenaway and many others. Above alle she achieved international fame for her performances in David Lynch’s films "Blue Velvet" (1986) and "Wild at Heart" (1990). Over the past years she has also made a name for herself as a producer and director. Isabella Rossellini was president of the Berlinale’s International Jury in 2011. She has also been a regular guest of the Festival. In 2007 she was narrator of Guy Maddin’s BRAND UPON THE BRAIN!, which screened in the Forum. In 2008 she presented her Green Porno series of short films in the Forum Expanded programme.

Once again, several events in this year’s Forum and Forum Expanded program are linked to the Living Archive project. On the first day of the festival two events will be taking place: a panel discussion "To Begin with the Archive" with project participants and the Forum Expanded curatorial team and the presentation of a restored version of a film from the 1988 Forum program, KYA HUA IS SHAHAR KO? (WHAT HAPPENDED TO THIS CITY?, Deepa Dhanraj, India 1986) by project participant Nicole Wolf. Two further panel discussions with Living Archive participants will be taking place on February 10 and 11.

The 8th edition of Forum Expanded opens on February 6 with the "Waves vs. Particles" group exhibition at Silent Green Kulturquartier (former Crematorium Wedding). The opening starts at 6 pm; the exhibition will then be open daily from 11 am to 7 pm. Another exhibition with works by Marie-Hélène Cousineau in the Marshall McLuhan Salon of Canada's embassy will be opened on February 7 between 5 and 7 pm and will then be open daily from 2 to 8 pm. In the Filmhaus installations by Basma Alsharif and Lucien Castaing-Taylor/Véréna Paravel can be seen from February 8, and an exhibition with works by Hélio Oiticica runs from February 6.

The 2013 program is now available online. Detailed information and screening dates of all Forum and Forum Expanded films and events can be found via the program menu point.

This year’s group exhibition is taking place in a new, unusual location: the silent green kulturquartier, the former Wedding crematorium. A calm space to focus perception and a place for projections of all kinds. Further exhibitions and installations will be taking place at the Marshall McLuhan Salon of the Embassy of Canada, the Arsenal Black Box, the Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart and the Liqiudrom.

Alongside films and exhibitions, there is also the opportunity to get talking about new forms of cinematic knowledge production and means of perception on a daily basis at HAU Hebbel am Ufer, the Kunstgewerbemuseum and Arsenal. At a time characterised by instability, the area between art and cinema has come into its own whilst still remaining nameless. In recognition of this fact, the 8th Forum Expanded is also presenting works whose compelling nature is all the more surprising due to the fact that they deny simple categorisations. The final panel discussion in collaboration with Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg is dedicated to the question of how such open forms can be supported and funded.

Once again the program will be rounded off by a series of film historical rediscoveries, including the oldest surviving Korean silent film CHEONGCHUN-EUI SIPJARO, which will be screened at Delphi complete with a film narrator, singer and orchestra, and a series of films by Japanese director Keisuke Kinoshita.

Social upheaval, times of transition and periods of change are at the heart of numerous films in the 2013 Forum programme. Attempts to find new certainties and realignments do not only characterise their subject matter but also play a key role in determining their formal approaches. European cinema is a particularly strong presence in this year’s programme, from both east and west.

This week, two films from last year’s Forum program, FOR ELLEN and HIVER NOMADE, go on general release. FOR ELLEN, the third film by So Yong Kim following IN BETWEEN DAYS and TREELESS MOUNTAIN, tells the story of an irresponsible rock musician attempting to reconnect with his young daughter after a long absence. Manuel von Stürler’s debut HIVER NOMADE, which recently received the European Documentary Film Prize, accompanies the difficult everyday life of two Swiss shepherds during the winter months.

arsenal distribution will be releasing Rainer Kirberg's THE SLEEPING GIRL (DAS SCHLAFENDE MÄDCHEN) on January 17. The film received its world premiere as part of the Forum Expanded program in 2011. It opens theatrically in selected cinemas on January 17 and will be screening daily at Kino Arsenal from January 17-23 with the director and further members of the film team attending the opening night.

Forum Expanded is presenting film programmes, exhibitions and discussions as part of the Berlinale for the eighth time already. As a flexible platform for artistic work, Forum Expanded sees its role in breaking new ground and tapping into new spaces each year. Over the last few years, the still nameless area between cinema and art has gained a degree of autonomy while retaining a sense of openness in the process. The programme draws its power and creativity by bridging the gap between the nervous energy of the typical festival premiere moment and the concentrated discussions held between artists and audiences at the Berlinale.

Manuel von Stürler's HIVER NOMADE (WINTER NOMADS) has won the European Documentary Award. The film had received its world premiere in this year's Forum program. The other nominees were "London: The Modern Babylon" by Julien Temple and "Le Thé ou l' Electricité" by Jérôme Le Maire. The European Film awards are voted for by the 2700 members of the European Film Academy.

arsenal distribution will be releasing another film from this year's Forum program: TEPENIN ARDI (BEYOND THE HILL) by Emin Alper. Following the release on November 15, the winner of this year’s Caligari Film Prize is touring selected cinemas with its director in attendance from November 16 - 19.

arsenal distribution will be releasing Calle Overweg's BEZIEHUNGSWEISEN (NEGOTIATING LOVE), which had its world premiere in this year's Berlinale Forum, from October 11. A film that portrays the efforts needed to preserve love and relationships as a work in progress. A set-up whereby therapy sessions are held in the sober atmosphere of a studio. The problems being negotiated are standard ones. The clients are played by actors, the therapists work in the field in real life and are not playing a role. These sessions are supplemented by scenes staged with minimal decor from the everyday lives of the various couples in line with the epic theatre tradition as well as workshop discussions in which the therapists relate their practices to the film team. Documentary elements and improvised acting are combined in distinctive fashion, creating a variation on the documentary which works with abstraction and fiction and is unconcerned with authenticity. Resembling nothing so much as a public experiment, this artificial set-up yields touching moments full of emotion.

In REVISION (Forum 2012), director Philip Scheffner takes an in-depth look at a 20-year-old case: the death of two Romanian citizens in a field near the German-Polish border. Swiftly dismissed as a hunting accident back then, numerous contradictions and gaps emerge when a documentary "revision" commences, as expressed in the interviews with witnesses, experts and, last, but not least, the families of those killed. Following the screening on October 11 at Arsenal, Philip Scheffner, Eduard George Caldararu (Amaro Foro) and Helmut Dietrich (Forschungsgesellschaft Flucht & Migration) together with moderator Grit Lemke (curator and author) will discuss the film and its social and political background.

We will be releasing another film from last year's Forum program from September 20: Tom Fassaert's DE ENGEL VAN DOEL (AN ANGEL IN DOEL).

The little village of Doel stands in the way of the expanding port of Antwerp. The demolition permit has been granted – the past must make way for the future. Emilienne, a sprightly old lady, sees things differently. She doesn’t want to move – she’s far too happy in her house with its wild garden. But the expansion work is progressing and Doel already seems almost like a ghost town. Only the oldest inhabitants, including Emilienne’s friend Colette and the elderly village rector, remain, holding out tenaciously in the face of their shared fate. When the rector dies and Colette appears to give up, Emilienne is left behind all alone. DE ENGEL VAN DOEL tells not only of the victims of the belief in progress, but also shows through Emilienne an active and wily representative of the protest culture that has flared up in recent times. The battle to save the last houses in Doel seems hopeless and absurd, as volatile as it is contemporary. The black-and-white format enhances the hostile atmosphere and the camera provides some powerful snapshots: a gigantic freighter silently nosing its way past Doel in the fog, or when the flowery wallpaper of a derelict house provides the backdrop for an improvised band rehearsal while Emilienne, the last angel of Doel, doggedly goes on feeding her chickens.

Philip Scheffner's "Revision", which premiered in this year's Forum program can be seen in selected German cinemas from September 13. The director and his team will be present at the opening at Berlin's Hackesche Höfe cinema as well as selected screenings in other towns.

In 1992, two men were shot in a field near the German-Polish border. The circumstances which led to the death of Grigore Velcu and Eudache Calderar have not been clarified even today. According to official reports, they were victims of a hunting accident, a tragic mix-up over wild boar. The hunters were never convicted, as the protracted trial failed to pursue many of the most decisive questions and eventually ended in an acquittal. Nearly 20 years later, Philip Scheffner carries out the painstaking investigation that never took place back then. He seeks out the dead men’s relatives in Romania and records the statements they were unable to give until now. As with the other witnesses and different experts he returns to question, he gives them the opportunity to listen to their own statements and reassess them as necessary – unlike standard practice, which elevates statements to fact the very moment they are made. In this way, Scheffner performs a cinematic revision of the case and the medium simultaneously. His diligent handling of material and reports creates a web of landscapes, recollections, case files and German political sentiment all of an increasingly oppressive complexity.

From August 8 to 15, Berlin based cinemas fsk and Eiszeit will be showing a program with 16 current documentaries, including five films from this and last year's Forum program: DIE LAGE by Thomas Heise; JAURÈS by Vincent Dieutre, as part of a focus on films on migration to Europe, Denis Côté's BESTIAIRE and WINTER NOMADS by Manuel von Stürler, two of several animal documentaries, as well as DE ENGEL VAN DOEL by Tom Fassaert which was shown in the Forum 2011.

KAREN LLORA EN UN BUS (KAREN CRIES ON THE BUS by Gabriel Rojas Vera can be seen in cinemas from July 26. arsenal distribution is releasing the film which received its world premiere in the 2011 Forum program. With great sympathy for his characters the film tells a little story that touches on big questions: After ten years of marriage Karen leaves her husband. Basically, so she tells him later, they were never right for each other. She wants to make a fresh start, find out who she is – or could be. But beyond the emotional issues this step raises first and foremost practical questions: Karen has no job, no friends, and hardly any money. She gets by somehow and meets Patricia, a hairdresser, at the cheap flophouse where she has landed. With her younger and at first glance stronger friend by her side, Karen takes her first steps towards independence and meets Eduardo, a writer. A woman on a journey of self-discovery. What is the driving desire behind her actions? At which point has one found oneself? How easy is it to mix up what other people expect with what you actually want? How much loneliness can we bear? When do we stop making compromises for the sake of a conventional notion of security and stability? In describing the small steps that Karen makes, Gabriel Rojas Vera focuses on the character’s inner life rather than the external drama. The film will be screening in Berlin's fsk cinema from July 26 onwards.

EVERYBODY IN OUR FAMILY (TOATĂ LUMEA DIN FAMILIA NOASTRĂ) by Radu Jude has received the Award for Best Film at Sarajevo Film Film Festival, which is endowed with 16.000 Euros. Emin Alper's BEYOND THE HILL (TEPENIN ARDI) was given the Special Jury Award worth 10.000 Euros. Both films premiered in this year's Forum program.

Tiago Mata Machada's OS RESIDENTES, which was shown in the 2011 Forum, can be seen in cinemas from July 12: The residents of a soon to be demolished building have set up a temporary autonomous zone to declare war on a world where utopia and poetry have gone astray. They are a kind of Situationist urban guerilla, spending their days creating havoc at both a material and immaterial level. They recite, declare, dis- cuss, perform and console. A woman is kidnapped, close combat is mimed, pubic hair formed into a mustache. Many of their joyfully nonsensical actions go round in circles, a sign already of their ironic self-reflection: When it comes down to it, they are merely an aesthetic imitation of the slogans, gestures and postures of ʼ60s and ʼ70s political and artistic practice. Ultimately, the residents announce the end of their own avant-garde movement and abandon their building to demolition. With the same pleasure in creating deliberate confusion, this imaginative and wonderfully photographed film experiments with form and content. Riddled with discursive and filmic references, it is fully aware of its own limitations whilst still stridently putting forward the thesis that in each repetition there remains something of the havoc-creating power of the original gesture.

The Arsenal cinema will be showing the film from July 12–18.

Heinz Emigholz's PARABETON - PIER LUIGI NERVI AND ROMAN CONCRETE, which premiered in this year's Forum program, can be seen in Arsenal cinema in July. In addition, we will be presenting a retrospective of other architecture films by Heinz Emigholz within the next few weeks: SENSE OF ARCHITECTURE (24.6.), MAILLARTS BRÜCKEN, ZWEI PROJEKTE VON FRIEDRICH KIESLER UND SULLIVANS BANKEN (29.6.), EINE SERIE VON GEDANKEN (1.7.), SCHINDLERS HÄUSER (8.7.), LOOS ORNAMENTAL (11.7.), GOFF IN DER WÜSTE (15.7.), D'ANNUNZIOS HÖHLE UND MISCELLANEA III (18.7.).

We are very happy that the majority of works from this year's Forum Expanded can now be booked via our catalogue: KING LOST HIS TOOTH and T.S.T.L (Libanon 2012) by Gheit Al-Amine, AS THEY SAY (Hicham Ayouch, Morocco, United Arab Emirates 2011) FALGOOSH / BLAMES AND FLAMES (Mohammadreza Farzad, Iran 2011), THE CONDITION OF THE WORKING CLASS IN ENGLAND – LITTLE IRLAND. 1842/ 2011 (Rainer Ganahl, Austria, Great Britain, USA 2011), BYE BYE (Paul Geday, Egypt, The Netherlands 2012), MY FATHER IS STILL A COMMUNIST, INTIMATE SECRETS TO BE PUBLISHED (Ahmed Ghossein, Libanon 2011), O.G.B.I.P. [ Our Global Behaviour Is Psychopathic II ] (Virlani Hallberg & Jennifer Rainsford, Sweden 2011), RIVERRED (Eva Heldmann, Germany 2011), TROLLSLÄNDOR MED FAGLAR OCH ORM / DRAGONFLIES WITH BIRDS AND SNAKES (Wolfgang Lehmann, Sweden, Germany 2011), LA ROUGE ET LA NOIRE (Isabelle Prim, France 2011), PERIL OF THE ANTILLES (Fern Silva, USA, Haiti 2011), FATHER, MOTHER, WHAT SHOULD I FILM TODAY? (Isabell Spengler, Germany 2011) as well as installative works like BAROMETER (I) (Heike Baranowsky, Germany 2011), A TALE OF TWO ISLANDS (Paola Calvo & Steffen Köhn, Germany 2011), A WORLD OF OUR OWN (Eline McGeorge, Norway, Great Britain 2011), SEEKING THE MONKEY KING (Ken Jacobs, USA 2011) and VENUS MISSION (Anne Quirynen, Belgium, Germany 2012).

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.

Suzanna Liová's feature debut DOM (THE HOUSE) has received the main prize at the 25th Festival of Czech Film in Pilsen. The Film, which had its world premiere in last year's Forum program, tells the story of a generational conflict in the Czech province. Stone by stone, Imrich is building a small house for his daughter Eva almost entirely on his own. But for Eva, who is about to graduate from school, the prospect of moving into the house is about as appealing as being imprisoned in a jail she herself has helped to build. She has very different plans for her future. Her grumpy, stingy, controlling father has already broken with Eva’s sister, Jana, after she got herself involved with a scoundrel with whom she now has three children. So the father is twice as vigilant with Eva, but she still manages to indulge in a few little freedoms: skipping school for a couple of days, doing little jobs to save up cash for the trip she longs to make to London, and an affair with an older man who turns out to be her English teacher. A generational conflict in a milieu where even the minor characters are described in such detail that one suspects the film has been modeled on directors like Mike Leigh or Ken Loach. But the speechlessness and deeply entrenched feelings of the parent generation here also reflect the profound impact of radical social change and the struggle to come to terms with that change. This makes Zuzana Liová’s feature a notable example of young, intelligent cinema from Eastern Europe. (Anna Hoffmann)

Manuel von Stürler's HIVER NOMADE (WINTER NOMADS), has received the 'Great Price for the best Suisse feature film of all sections' at Visions du Réel in Nyon. WINTER NOMADS had its world premiere in this year's Forum program. The award is endowed with 15.000 CHF.

REVISION by Philip Scheffner has received the 'Remembrance and Future' Award at goEast Film Festival in Wiesbaden. The film, which was shown in this year's Forum program, reconstructs the circumstances which led to the death of Grigore Velcu and Eudache Calderar in a field near the German-Polish border in 1992, which have not been clarified until today. According to official reports, they were victims of a hunting accident, a tragic mix-up over wild boar. The hunters were never convicted, as the protracted trial failed to pursue many of the most decisive questions and eventually ended in an acquittal. Nearly 20 years later, Philip Scheffner carries out the painstaking investigation that never took place back then. He seeks out the dead men’s relatives in Romania and records the statements they were unable to give until now. As with the other witnesses and different experts he returns to question, he gives them the opportunity to listen to their own statements and reassess them as necessary – unlike standard practice, which elevates statements to fact the very moment they are made. In this way, Scheffner performs a cinematic revision of the case and the medium simultaneously. His diligent handling of material and reports creates a web of landscapes, recollections, case files and German political sentiment all of an increasingly oppressive complexity.

TEPENIN ARDI (BEYOND THE HILL) by Emin Alper has received several awards at the Istanbul International Film Festival: in addition to the "Golden Tulip" for best Turkish film, the film was given the award for best screenplay as well as the FIPRESCI award in the national competition.

BEYOND THE HILL had its world premiere at this year's Forum where it had received the Caligari award and a special mention of the First Feature Award Jury.

arsenal distribution will be releasing KABUL DREAM FACTORY, which was shown in the 2011 Forum, on 19 April. Sebastian Heidinger's second feature length documentary portrays a protagonist who is surprising in many ways: Saba Sahar has been a policewoman for 18 years in Kabul. As a representative of the state executive, but also a filmmaker, the central theme of her work is the everyday violence against Afghan women. She stands up for her cause with impressive matter-of-factness, even though in doing so she openly contradicts Afghan family law. Sahar’s great strength is her unshakeable passion for her shattered country: in a place where women’s rights are trampled underfoot she uses film as a weapon for hitting back. Traumfabrik Kabul takes an unusual look at a setting that is a reliable guarantee for sad news. In its encounters with Sahar, but also in entertaining clips from her work this documentary gives encouragement with its refreshingly different approach. One of her films shows a superheroine rescuing a woman from the clutches of her male adversary using martial arts techniques. Saba Sahar is no superheroine in real life – but she is a heroine who gives hope.

HABITER / CONSTRUIRE (LIVING / BUILDING) by Clémence Ancelin and AUTREMENT, LA MOLUSSIE (DIFFERENTLY, MOLUSSIA) by Nicolas Rey have been awarded at the International Documentary Film Festival Cinéma du Réel. HABITER / CONSTRUIRE from this year's Forum program received the 'Intangible Heritage Award'; AUTREMENT, LA MOLUSSIE, which was shown as part of Forum Expanded, was awarded the 'Cinéma du Réel Grand Prix'.

A selection of films from this and last year's Forum program will be presented in Paris and Brussels by Birgit Kohler in April. The program running at the Goethe Institute in Paris from April 12-19 will be opening with NEGOTIATING LOVE (BEZIEHUNGSWEISEN) (Germany 2012) followed by a discussion with Birgit Kohler and director Calle Overweg. In the following days Volker Sattel's UNDER CONTROL (UNTER KONTROLLE) (Germany 2011, followed by a discussion with Birgit Kohler and the director), DAY IS DONE by Thomas Imbach (Switzerland 2011), KAZOKU NO KUNI (OUR HOMELAND) by Yang Yonghi (Japan 2012), David Zellner's KID-THING (USA 2012), LA DEMORA (THE DELAY by Rodrigo Plá (Uruguay/Mexico/France 2012) and PAZIRAIE SADEH (MODEST RECEPTION) by Mani Haghighi (Iran 2012) can be seen. In addition, a small program showcasing the work of Heinz Emigholz will be presented with the artist and filmmaker being present at all events.

The Goethe Institute in Brussels will be showing four films from this year's Forum program between April 17 and 25: NEGOTIATING LOVE and KID-THING (presented by Birgit Kohler), MODEST RECEPTION and JAURÈS by Vincent Dieutre (France 2012).

"Dreileben" by Dominik Graf, Christian Petzold and Christoph Hochhäusler has received a special Grimme Award. The project which had its world premiere in last year's Forum program began with an email correpondence on the subjects of film aesthetics, the Berlin School, Germany and the film genre (published in film magazine "Revolver"). Two years later the three directors decided to continue this theoretical discussion with a joint film project: three individual stories revolving around the same "fait divers": the escape of a convicted criminal from police custody. Graf’s DON'T FOLLOW ME AROUND tells the story of a police psychologist who meets old acquaintances while investigating a case. In Petzold’s BEATS BEING DEAD a young man doing alternative national service experiences a love story without a future. And in Christoph Hochhäusler’s ONE MINUTE OF DARKNESS an indefatigable policeman hunting the escaped prisoner begins to doubt false certainties. Three films, three styles, three exciting approaches, variations, analyses. German television stations made this all possible. As Dominik Graf wrote: "… this work vis-à-vis mainstream TV, at its edges, in contradiction to and yet, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, in commentary on that mainstream – I find and have always found this to be extremely creative."

So Yong Kim’s TREELESS MOUNTAIN is starting in selected cinemas on March 1. The film, which was shown in the 2009 Forum and has played successfully at many international festivals since, is being distributed by arsenal distribution. So Yong Kim's second feature length film (her third, FOR ELLEN, was shown in this year's Forum program) tells of Jin, a bright-eyed six-year-old, who lives with her mother and little sister, Bin, in Seoul, South Korea. When their mother decides to go look for their estranged father, Jin and Bin are forced to stay with their alcoholic Aunt for the summer. The girls are given a piggy bank with a promise from their mother that she will return when it is full. After their mother fails to return, Jin and her sister are forced to move to their grandparents. It is through this journey that Jin comes to learn the importance of family bonds.

As every year, the Arsenal Cinema will be screening a selection of this year's Forum titles over the coming week: BESTIAIRE by Denis Côté, SOLDIER / CITIZEN by Silvina Landsmann, WINTER NOMADS by Manuel von Stürler, NEGOTIATING LOVE by Calle Overweg, OUR HOMELAND by Yang Yonghi and GOLDEN SLUMBERS by Davy Chou. In addition, there will be another chance to see the three films by director Kawashima Yuzo, whose work is largely unknown outside Japan, in the form of THE SUN IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE SHOGUNATE, SUZAKI PARADISE: RED LIGHT and BETWEEN YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW. Shirley Clarke's THE CONNECTION and ORNETTE: MADE IN AMERICA can also be seen once again. The newly restored prints have also been added to our distribution range.