Following Entuziazm’s proposal we will be screening SHIWJOT TAKOJ PAREN (Wassilij Schukschin, UdSSR 1964) on April 17th at 7 pm. The film was screened, in addition to three further films by Schukschin, at the International Forum of New Cinema in 1978. In 1964 the film was honored with a Golden Lion at the Mostra in Venice.

TEPENIN ARDI (BEYOND THE HILL) by Emin Alper has received several awards at the Istanbul International Film Festival: in addition to the "Golden Tulip" for best Turkish film, the film was given the award for best screenplay as well as the FIPRESCI award in the national competition.

BEYOND THE HILL had its world premiere at this year's Forum where it had received the Caligari award and a special mention of the First Feature Award Jury.

A series of public screenings will be run in conjunction with the Living Archive project we launched in June 2011. Once a month, the project’s participants select films that are rarely screened, offering new ground for discussion and the chance to asses the film copies on the screen. The screenings give an insight into the project’s diversity as well as that of the Arsenal film archive itself. The films for the public screenings are usually selected on short notice and will then be announced on our website. Entry is free.

arsenal distribution will be releasing KABUL DREAM FACTORY, which was shown in the 2011 Forum, on 19 April. Sebastian Heidinger's second feature length documentary portrays a protagonist who is surprising in many ways: Saba Sahar has been a policewoman for 18 years in Kabul. As a representative of the state executive, but also a filmmaker, the central theme of her work is the everyday violence against Afghan women. She stands up for her cause with impressive matter-of-factness, even though in doing so she openly contradicts Afghan family law. Sahar’s great strength is her unshakeable passion for her shattered country: in a place where women’s rights are trampled underfoot she uses film as a weapon for hitting back. Traumfabrik Kabul takes an unusual look at a setting that is a reliable guarantee for sad news. In its encounters with Sahar, but also in entertaining clips from her work this documentary gives encouragement with its refreshingly different approach. One of her films shows a superheroine rescuing a woman from the clutches of her male adversary using martial arts techniques. Saba Sahar is no superheroine in real life – but she is a heroine who gives hope.

HABITER / CONSTRUIRE (LIVING / BUILDING) by Clémence Ancelin and AUTREMENT, LA MOLUSSIE (DIFFERENTLY, MOLUSSIA) by Nicolas Rey have been awarded at the International Documentary Film Festival Cinéma du Réel. HABITER / CONSTRUIRE from this year's Forum program received the 'Intangible Heritage Award'; AUTREMENT, LA MOLUSSIE, which was shown as part of Forum Expanded, was awarded the 'Cinéma du Réel Grand Prix'.