The Best First Feature Award was set up by the Berlinale in 2006 in order to promote new filmmaking talent. Nine films from the Forum program have been nominated for this year’s prize: A BATALHA DE TABATÔ (THE BATTLE OF TABATÔ) by João Viana (Guinea-Bissau/Portugal), DAS MERKWÜRDIGE KÄTZCHEN (THE STRANGE LITTLE CAT) by Ramon Zürcher (Germany), GRZELI NATELI DGEEBI (IN BLOOM) by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß (Georgia/Germany), I AIONIA EPISTROFI TOU ANTONI PARASKEUA (THE ETERNAL RETURN OF ANTONIS PARASKEVAS) by Elina Psykou (Greece), LA PLAGA (THE PLAGUE) by Neus Ballús (Spain), MO SHENG (FORGETTING TO KNOW YOU) by Quan Ling (China), THE WEIGHT OF ELEPHANTS by Von Daniel Joseph Borgman (New Zealand/Denmark) and SIENIAWKA by Marcin Malaszczak (Germany/Poland).

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.

On January 8 the next public screening takes place. At the request of Angela Melitopoulos a selection of films from the Newsreel Collective from the Arsenal archive will be shown and discussed. Established in December 1967 as Newsreel, an activist filmmaker collective, this NY group grew to become a network with chapters across the US. Its different chapters produced and distributed short 16mm films covering the anti-war and women's movements, civil and human rights movements. In the mid-70s the New York Newsreel became Third World Newsreel (TWN).

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.

The countdown is on! In June 2013 the project "Living Archive – Archive Work as a Contemporary Artistic and Curatorial Practice" is ending with a grand closing event, with which we are also celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art (formerly Friends of the German Film Archive). Over the entire month, the participants of Living Archive will present the results of their two years of research and exchange in the Arsenal’s archive in the form of exhibitions, book presentations, DVD projects, film series and performances. Until then, there is still time to view hidden, unknown and forgotten films together within the framework of our public screening series.