Berlinale Forum & Forum Expanded galloping between different eras

2020 is a year of many changes. The Berlinale Forum has a new section head in the form of Cristina Nord and a new selection procedure, with many new faces among the advisors and in the selection committee. At the same time, it’s a year in which tradition is of particularly great importance: this independent section of the Berlinale, organized by Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art, is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

This intermeshing of old and new, the existing and the pioneering, equally forms a leitmotif running through the selection. Many of the 35 films in this year’s Forum programme – 28 of which are world premieres – are characterized by how they look for ways to mediate between past and present. 

When it comes to Forum Expanded, Berlinale is exploring the role of cinema and art.  Thirty-nine installations and films are dedicated to such themes as migration, racism, sexism, state violence, capitalism, colonialism, extractivism, the climate crisis, fears of the future, the loss of history and more. But above all, they also refer to themselves as being part of the wider structure from which they emerged.

Full list of selected films, in continuation:

 

Berlinale Forum

Anne at 13,000 ft

Canada / USA

by Kazik Radwanski

European premiere

 

Anunciaron tormenta (A Storm Was Coming)

Spain

by Javier Fernández Vázquez

World premiere

 

Chico ventana también quisiera tener un submarino (Window Boy Would Also Like to Have A Submarine)

Uruguay / Argentina / Brazil / Netherlands / Philippines

by Alex Piperno

World premiere

 

Entre perro y lobo

Cuba / Spain

by Irene Gutiérrez

World premiere

 

Eyimofe (This Is My Desire)

Nigeria / USA

by Arie Esiri, Chuko Esiri

World premiere

 

FREM

Czech Republic / Slovakia

by Viera Čákanyová

International premiere

 

Generations

USA

by Lynne Siefert

World premiere

 

Gli appunti di Anna Azzori / Uno specchio che viaggia nel tempo (The Notes of Anna Azzori / A Mirror that Travels through Time)

Austria / Germany / France

by Constanze Ruhm

World premiere

 

Gorod usnul (In Deep Sleep)

Russian Federation

by Maria Ignatenko

World premiere

 

Grève ou crève (Strike or Die)

France

by Jonathan Rescigno

World premiere

 

Ieşirea trenurilor din gară (The Exit of the Trains)

Romania

by Radu Jude, Adrian Cioflâncă

World premiere

 

Kama fissamaa' kathalika ala al-ard (As Above So Below)

Lebanon

by Sarah Francis

World premiere

 

Kunst kommt aus dem Schnabel wie er gewachsen ist (Art Comes from the Beak the Way It Has Grown)

Germany

by Sabine Herpich

World premiere

 

La casa dell’amore (The House of Love)

Italy

by Luca Ferri

World premiere

 

Lúa vermella (Red Moon Tide)

Spain

by Lois Patiño

World premiere

 

Luz nos trópicos (Light in the Tropics)

Brazil

by Paula Gaitán

World premiere

 

Maggie’s Farm

USA

by James Benning

World premiere

 

Medium

Argentina

by Edgardo Cozarinsky

World premiere

 

Namo (The Alien)

Iran

by Nader Saeivar

World premiere

 

Oeconomia

Germany

by Carmen Losmann

World premiere

 

Ouvertures

United Kingdom / France

by The Living and the Dead Ensemble

World premiere

 

Petit Samedi

Belgium

by Paloma Sermon-Daï

World premiere

 

Ping jing (The Calming)

China

by SONG Fang

World premiere

 

Responsabilidad empresarial (Corporate Accountability)

Argentina'

by Jonathan Perel

World premiere

 

Seishin 0 (Zero)

Japan / USA

by Kazuhiro Soda

European premiere

 

EL TANGO DEL VIUDO y su espejo deformante (THE TANGO OF THE WIDOWER And Its Distorting Mirror)

Chile

by Raúl Ruiz, Valeria Sarmiento

World premiere

 

Tipografic majuscul (Uppercase Print)

Romania

by Radu Jude

International premiere

 

Traverser (After the Crossing)

France / Burkina Faso / Belgium

by Joël Richmond Mathieu Akafou

World premiere

 

The Twentieth Century

Canada

by Matthew Rankin

European premiere

 

The Two Sights

Canada / United Kingdom

by Joshua Bonnetta

World premiere

 

Victoria

Belgium

by Sofie Benoot, Liesbeth De Ceulaer, Isabelle Tollenaere

World premiere

 

The Viewing Booth

Israel / USA

by Ra’anan Alexandrowicz

International premiere

 

Vil, má (Divinely Evil)

Brazil

by Gustavo Vinagre

World premiere

 

Was bleibt I Šta ostaje I What remains I Re-visited

Germany / Austria / Bosnia and Herzegovina

by Clarissa Thieme

World premiere

 

Zeus Machine. L’invincibile (Zeus Machine. The Invincible)

Italy

by Nadia Ranocchi, David Zamagni

International premiere

 

Forum Expanded

Abstracted / Family

Japan

by Koki Tanaka

International premiere

 

Akiya

Finland / Japan / USA

by Jonna Kina

World premiere

 

Al-Houbut (The Landing)

Lebanon / United Arab Emirates

by Akram Zaatari

International premiere

 

Al-Maw’oud (The Promised)

Egypt

by Ahmed Elghoneimy

World premiere

 

Apiyemiyekî?

Brazil / France / Netherlands / Portugal

by Ana Vaz

International premiere

 

Born of the * * *

On Zarathustra'’s Going Under from Cairo to Oran

Palestine / USA

by Ayreen Anastas, Rene Gabri

World premiere

 

Citizens of the Cosmos

USA / Japan / Ukraine

by Anton Vidokle

European premiere

 

Doublewide

USA

by Jenny Perlin

World premiere

 

Equinox

USA

by Margaret Honda

World premiere

 

Expedition Content

USA

by Ernst Karel, Veronika Kusumaryati

World premiere

 

Her Name Was Europa

Germany

by Anja Dornieden, Juan David González Monroy

World premiere

 

Jiíbie

Colombia / France

by Laura Huertas Millán

European premiere

 

Jogos Dirigidos (Directed Games)

Brazil

by Jonathas de Andrade

International premiere

 

letter to a friend

Palestine / USA

by Emily Jacir

International premiere

 

Matata

Democratic Republic of the Congo / USA / Netherlands

by Petna Ndaliko Katondolo

International premiere

 

Moazzam ma yalla haqeqy (Most of What Follows Is True)

Egypt

by Maged Nader

World premiere

 

On vous parle de Paris: Maspero, les mots ont un sens

France 1970

by Chris Marker

(Outros) Fundamentos ((Other) Foundations)

Brazil

by Aline Motta

European premiere

 

The Phantom Menace

United Kingdom

by Graeme Arnfield

World premiere

 

Recovery

USA

by Kevin Jerome Everson

World premiere

 

Purple Sea

Germany

by Amel Alzakout, Khaled Abdulwahed

World premiere

 

Tatsuniya II

Nigeria

by Rahima Gambo

International premiere

 

Untitled Sequence of Gaps

Germany

by Vika Kirchenbauer

World premiere

 

Vaga Carne (Dazed Flesh)

Brazil

by Grace Passô, Ricardo Alves Jr.

European premiere

 

Télé Réalité

Belgium / Germany / Democratic Republic of the Congo

by Lucile Desamory, Gustave Fundi, Glodie Mubikay

World premiere

 

The Whole Shebang

USA

by Ken Jacobs

European premiere

 

Group exhibition Betonhalle, silent green

Opening on Feb 19, 2020 at 7pm

A I O U

USA

by Anton Vidokle, Adam Khalil, Bayley Sweitzer

World premiere

 

Half Blue

USA / Lebanon

by Joe Namy

European premiere

 

Imaginary Explosions, episode 2, Chaitén

USA / Chile / Germany

by Caitlin Berrigan

International premiere

 

INFINITY minus Infinity

United Kingdom / United Arab Emirates / Belgium

by The Otolith Group

International premiere

 

Memory Also Die

Nigeria

by Didi Cheeka

World premiere

 

Porosity Valley 2: Tricksters’ Plot

Republic of Korea

by Ayoung Kim

International premiere

 

Quantum Creole

Germany / France / Portugal / Spain

by Filipa César

International premiere

Secrets of a Digital Garden: 50 Villages - 50 Flowers

Palestine

by RIWAQ

European premiere

 

Shipwreck at the Threshold of Europe, Lesvos, Aegean Sea: 28 October 2015

United Kingdom

by Forensic Architecture

World premiere

 

The Sun

Canada

by Kika Thorne

European premiere

 

Vu de l'extérieur

Belgium / Democratic Republic of the Congo / Luxembourg

by Lucile Desamory in collaboration with Glodie Mubikay and Gustave Fundi

International premiere

 

SAVVY Contemporary

Opening on Feb 19, 2020 at 7pm

 

Letter from a Guarani Woman in Search of the Land Without Evil

Brazil

by Patricia Ferreira Pará Yxapy

World premiere

 

Marshall Mc Luhan Salon, Canadian Embassy

Opening on Feb 20, 2020 at 5.30pm

 

NDN Survival Trilogy

Canada

by Thirza Cuthand

World premiere