MAMMALIA opens this year’s Berlinale Forum and Forum Expanded early summer festival on June 1st, and Sebastian Mihăilescu’s debut is not the only film in the program to leave audiences in the dark about where it’s heading. The two independent sections of the Berlinale have a soft spot for films that do away with easily graspable forms of meaning production and embrace the utopian potential of nonsense. Anyone who enjoys not knowing what lies ahead will also find pleasure in the Forum films URIWA SANGGWANEOPSI (Regardless of Us), POZNÁMKY Z EREMOCÉNU (Notes from Eromecene) and EL ROSTRO DE LA MEDUSA (The Face of the Jellyfish) in addition to MAMMALIA.
Last, but not least, a big change at the Forum is another grounds for celebration: Cristina Nord, the current head of the Forum, will become director of the Goethe-Institut Kenya from July 1st and Barbara Wurm will be succeeding her from August 1st. We’ll be celebrating the passing of the baton on June 3rd and you’re very much invited to join us! (Cristina Nord)