Motion sequences that merge into filmic choreography—arrangements of people in space, orchestration of objects, even constructions of facial expressions and gestures—appear in the most diverse forms and in almost all genres. Beyond precisely coordinated and meticulously timed arrangements of figures, objects, and single movements, exact correlation of tracking shots, storylines and sequences can consolidate into complex cinematic choreographies. Though far from always dancing, they all almost always do have a dancerly element: choreography in film adds rhythm, renders abstract, stylizes, creates pictorial space and webs of relationships, reflects stasis and movement, and results in an often physical cinema. A cinema of compact mise-en-scènes, which, this month, we’ll be exploring in 16 programs.

As part of our School Cinema series on cinematic recollections of the Holocaust, in January we are offering two programs for school classes in the Arsenal:

Debbie Goodstein's films VOICES FROM THE ATTIC (USA 1988) and ECHOES FROM THE ATTIC (USA 2015, 23. & 24.1.) circle around an attic in the Polish village of Urzejowice in which a couple named Grocholski hid 16 members of the director's family from the Nazis. In two trips 25 years apart, Goodstein traveled to Poland to learn more about the history of her family and their rescuers.

WAS BLEIBT (WHAT REMAINS) (Gesa Knolle, Birthe Templin, Germany 2008, 25. & 26.1.) takes as its subject a family’s coming to terms with the Holocaust. Through the montage, a dialogue occurs between the relatives of a German-Jewish camp survivor and those of a camp overseer.

Please register in advance at distribution@arsenal-berlin.de by January 13.

As usual, the Forum programme is accompanied by a series of Special Screenings which unearth cinematic gems and engage with film history. We are especially happy to present a programme entitled "Autour de Bouanani – Another Moroccan Cinema" focussing on Moroccan director Ahmed Bouanani (1938-2011) and his impact.

Although he himself was only able to complete one feature, he paved the way for the first generation of artistically ambitious filmmakers in his country, whether as a pioneer in working with archive material, as a trailblazer for an independent film aesthetic, or as a literary figure and the author of a history of Moroccan cinema yet to be published to this day.

Philip Scheffner's HAVARIE can be seen in selected cinemas across Germany from January 26.

The film had its world premiere at last year's Forum programme and was subsequently screened and awarded at many international film festivals.

The fsk cinema in Berlin is showing the film followed by q&a session with Philip Scheffner on January 27.

The 47th Berlinale Forum is showing 43 films in its main programme, 29 of which as world premieres and 10 as international premieres. This year’s Special Screenings will be announced in a further press release.

This year’s programme shines a light on the sheer wealth of forms employed by the documentary, including films from Southeast Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. The spectrum could hardly be broader here, encompassing institutional portraits, long-term observational projects, and works that employ participatory, narrative, essayistic, ethnographic, political and experimental approaches. These are joined by various hybrid forms that cannot be clearly categorised as either fiction or non-fiction. One recurring motif is that of landscape, which is seldom relegated to the status of backdrop, but rather frequently takes on a leading role.