This month, our film history series will examine the many and varied links between cinema and theater. From the very start, the relationship between cinema and theater vacillated between delimitation – and thus the reinforcement of an own aesthetic – and inspiration and approximation. Early cinema stood in (also economic) competition with the traditional medium of theater. Although theater was the first aesthetic point of reference for cinema, it soon detached itself from it so as to come upon a unique cinematic form and visual language. Even if cinema has long emancipated itself from theater, it repeatedly makes reference to it – be it by taking up theatrical motifs, in regard to the working method, or by falling back on tried and tested forms.

Since the 1970s, William Raban, one of the most famous filmmakers and artists of experimental cinema, has created an eclectic oeuvre that can be placed in the space of Expanded Cinema, structural film and experimental documentary. In 1976, his installation works were displayed by the International Forum of New Cinema; in 1979 he was once again represented in that section as a member of the London Filmmakers' Coop, with experimental works about the structural exploration of spatial patterns of perception.

His films unfurl a realm of experience that always challenges the viewer's perception and mental skills. By orbiting around recurring themes and motifs – life in London's East End and looming architectural changes in the urban landscape – Raban, whether with a a narration that is strictly structural, poetic or purely documentary-like, becomes a seismograph of political changes in the face of neo-capitalism. William Raban will be our guest on two evenings and will present works from the past three decades.

As in previous years, the Paris Goethe Institute is showing a selection of Forum titles. From April 13-15, Birgit Kohler will present five films from this year's programme: DEADWEIGHT by Axel Koenzen, DIE GETRÄUMTEN (THE DREAMED ONES) by Ruth Beckermann, RIO CORGO by Maya Cosa and Sergio da Costa, INERTIA by Idan Haguel and LANDSTÜCK (PIECE OF LAND) by Volker Koepp.

The selection is part of the programme "The Berlinale in Paris", which also presents a range of Panorama titles on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the the Teddy Award.