CHEMI BEDNIERI OJAKHI (MY HAPPY FAMILY) from this year's Forum programme can be seen in selected cinemas across Germany from Thursday July 13. The second film by Nana & Simon after IN BLOOM (Forum 2013) tells the story of an emancipation, expertly directed and brilliantly acted: On her fifty second birthday, Manna announces that she wants to leave her husband and find a place of her own. As most of the family live with her, they show little understanding.

As every year, the so-called "Summer Berlinale" is showing a selection of titles from this year's festival at Freiluftkino Friedrichshain in July.

On this occasion the Forum is presenting CASTING by Nicolas Wackerbarth, which was a favourite with both audiences and film critics, on Saturday July 22.

For her first television film – a remake of Fassbinder’s “Die bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant” – director Vera wants the perfect cast. But the first day of shooting is fast approaching and the numerous casting sessions have yet to find a suitable actress to play the leading role. Although the producer and crew are getting ever more exasperated with Vera, Gerwin is happy about the extra work, as he earns his money as an audition reader, delivering the lines of dialogue to the starry candidates at the various castings. When the male lead suddenly has to back out, Gerwin thinks that this might just be his chance.

Director Nicolas Wackerbarth captures the complex essence of Fassbinder’s film and simultaneously creates a profound work of his own.

The Harun Farocki Institute presents another public screening at the Arsenal on July 11.

In the catalogue of the 14th International Forum of New Cinema in 1984, where NIPPON-KOKU FURUYASHIKI-MURA (Shinsuke Ogawa) was screened, a comprehensive production note is printed: "At 2 pm on August 31st, the camera captures the rice flowering in the field…. There is no sign that a rush of cold air masses is already on its way. One month later though, the camera shows that the not a single one of the rice flowers has turned into actual rice. […] As a result, Yoshio and the Ogawa production company formed a team and started experimenting with cold air". The films of Shinsuke Ogawa connect political commitment with a thirst for research and stamina, whether on the side of the Japanese student movement, when opposing the construction of the Narita International Airport or finally, as is the case here, in this precise, emphatic observation of rural life.

Daje is seventeen, and just as unruly and caught up in her own thoughts as others of her age the world over. We only realise her future hangs in the balance when we see her go to juvenile court with her mother: she’s been expelled from school for rebelliousness and has just one last chance to get back on track. Yet the true gravity of her situation only gradually becomes clear: such as when we see the many names of her friends written on her notebook followed by R.I.P. and a recent date, or when Daje talks to her boyfriend about whether she – or he – might also die so young.

FOR AHKEEM explores the cosmos of a young black woman in St. Louis, Missouri, not far from Ferguson, where Michael Brown was shot in August 2014. The film adheres to a strictly personal perspective to recount her upbringing in today’s United States and show the predetermined paths open to her – lined as they are with barricaded brick buildings. But it also reveals Daje’s talent at avoiding the pitfalls of being either a victim or a model student, while evolving into an impressive film protagonist – of a documentary that depicts her complicated life more in the style of a poignant feature than a social reportage. (Dorothee Wenner)