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.

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.

As part of our monthly series Filmmakers' Choice, Eva Heldmann will be presenting films from the 1960s and 70s that have influenced her work on February 18. "ANGELIKA URBAN, VERKÄUFERIN, VERLOBT (Helma Sanders-Brahms, BRD 1969) portrays a saleswoman who works at the Kaufhof department store. The sound is asynchronous. The alienation and exploitation to which Angelika is helplessly delivered are thus highlighted. JOHNNY, ODER DAS ROHE FLEISCH (Eva Heldmann, BRD 1984) is a tragic love story between a piece of raw flesh and a naked woman. In GESCHICHTEN VOM KÜBELKIND (Stories of the Dumpster Kid, Stöckl/Reitz, BRD 1975) society forces the Dumpster Kid to learn something. But, grown up from the start, she learns more without being asked. These chosen films are aesthetic experiments from the 1960s and 70s that challenge capitalism and gender norms." (Eva Heldmann)

There is a widespread belief that there are no Bauhaus films. And yet film played an important role in the Bauhaus project. The didactic concept shaped by Walter Gropius was aimed at teaching a "science of seeing". Even if László Moholy-Nagy's ambition to establish a "test laboratory for the art of cinema" was never realized, teachers and students produced a number of filmic works. These ranged from reformist architectural films to abstract films to socially critical reports. Thomas Tode presents the recently published edition of the journal Maske und Kothurn, which he edited, on the topic of "Bauhaus & Film" and in which works that straddle various media are also discussed, such as the use of film clips in theater, light projections, and cinema architecture. He will also be showing films by Gropius, Moholy-Nagy, Ella Bergmann-Michel, Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack, Kurt Schwerdtfeger, Werner Graeff, Heinrich Brocksieper, and Kurt Kranz. (31.1.)