The border between life and death is by no means absolute, not in modernity either. The numerous characters in a state of apparent death populating the history of literature and science since 1800, for example, are telling. Today, in times of high-tech intensive care, the phenomenon of coma seems to take on the function of challenging the border between life and death.

Slightly more than a year after we re-launched the Magical History Tour, we again address the first theme: color in film - a good opportunity to catch up on what one missed, to discover new films, and again deal with the development of color film, one of the most significant aesthetic innovations in cinematography. Color in film is an important component of the organization of images and the filmic dramaturgy, and also a basic element of filmic perception. With eight full-length and sixteen short films - examples of viraged and hand-colored films, and shot on the most various material from Technicolor to Eastmancolor - we give a brief overview of the wide range of treating and utilizing color in cinema, between being ascribed to a narration and retaining autonomy.

The weekly program curated by Tobias Hering invites various artists and filmmakers to present their work and discuss it in the context of selected films from the repertory of political cinema. What does it mean today to "make film political"? What are the themes of this kind of work, how are aesthetical issues reflected, and what does a political understanding of one's own work entail for production processes and fields of distribution? The series seeks to trigger intensive debates with the audience.

The ONE WORLD BERLIN Film Festival for Human Rights and Media will take place for the seventh time this year. Fourteen programs will be shown at Arsenal from Nov. 25 through Dec. 1 - documentaries and one feature film. Directors, experts on human rights, and other guests will accompany the program with discussions and talks.

2010 is the year of the first Soccer World Cup on the African continent, but also the year in which stock is being taken in Africa fifty years after the end of colonial rule. Stocktaking turns out to be mixed when looking at the state of affairs in African states today. And the continent's prospects for the future give rise to hope as well as disillusionment. From Nov. 18 – 21, 2010, the third edition of "AFRIKAMERA – Current African Cinema" presents a selection of recent African feature and documentary films on the theme of "African Leaders, African Future, African Movies." Films will be screened that deal with the past and future political and social development of Africa, also shedding light on the roles of political leaders in Africa’s liberation and democratization process.

The screening of Ingmar Bergman's ZAUBERFLÖTE (Trollflöjten, The Magic Flute, Sweden 1974, Oct. 3,17 & 24) follows the theme of this month's Magical History Tour: The focus of the series, and of many of the films by the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, is the face as a filmic event, often shown in close-up. In his very personal version of Mozart's opera, Bergman congenially transcends the borders of classical opera adaptations and lets the camera become almost a co-actor in the events. Time and again it closes in on the protagonists of the opera and the supposed spectators of the performance, especially a young girl whose facial expressions comment on the plot and the mood of the opera from the start and throughout the film. Age 12 and older.

On the occasion of the children's exhibition "In the Jungle", the Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen features a film series dedicated to this theme. This time, David Landolf, director of the cinemateque Lichtspiel in Bern, presents an exciting and multifaceted short film program consisting of short documentaries, advertising, animated, and music films from the 1920s to the present day. The filmic adventures lead through lush thickets and strange sounds, across the hot Amazon to places were exciting dances are performed. The audience encounters colorful and wild animals, an unusual Tarzan, and the friendly vet Doctor Dolittle, who is able to talk with animals.
Free admission for jungle explorers. The card can be purchased in the exhibition "In the Jungle". 7 years and older. (Gerlinde Waz) (Oct. 31)