What makes the motion picture special? What possibilities do cinematic stylistic devices offer that other media do not? These questions are the focus of the Berlinale Forum. The Forum is curated by Arsenal - Institute for Film and Video Art and organizes independent programs as part of the Berlinale.
Dreams of the City
Drama
1984
2h.3min
16+
A poignant tale of lost innocence, young Dib navigates the tumultuous landscape of 1950s Damascus following his father's death.
Parabeton: Pier Luigi Nervi and Roman Concrete
Documentary, Icons & Media Art
2012
1h.39min
16+
PARABETON shows in chronological sequence 17 buildings by the Italian engineer and architect Pier Luigi Nervi (1891-1979) in Italy and France.
E.K.G. Expositus (the public and the artistic media)
Biography, Icons & Media Art
2004
1h.41min
16+
A hospital in Berlin-Neukölln at midnight. A patient is being admitted. TV journalists are on the scene. The beginning of a story that tells itself.
The Notes of Anna Azzori / A Mirror that Travels through Time
Documentary, Icons & Media Art
2020
1h.12min
16+
Can a documentary depict reality? Should it even try? Constanze Ruhm examines how reality and the construction of reality are different.
For Nothing
Drama
2014
1h.35min
16+
A political and sociological look at the transformation and gentrification of Berlin through teenage eyes.
Afternoon
Drama
2007
1h.35min
16+
On 3 summer afternoons, a family meets up a beautiful house in an upscale Berlin neighborhood. They come together but ultimately drift further apart.
From Far Away
Documentary
2006
1h.30min
16+
A personal travelogue by Berlin-based director Thomas Arslan about a journey through Turkey.
A Fine Day
Drama
2001
1h.14min
16+
Deniz, 21 works as a dubbing artist and has just ended her relationship with Jan. In one short day, she goes through a separation and a new beginning.
The Waldheim Waltz
Documentary
2018
1h.34min
16+
This documentary tells the incredibly shocking story of how a Nazi officer became a top politician and UN Secretary General.
Yugoslavia – How Ideology Moved Our Collective Body
Documentary, Independent
2013
1h.2min
16+
The film looks at how ideology performed itself in public space through mass performances in socialist Yugoslavia.
Dear John
Documentary, Queer
2015
42min
16+
A single decision can change the rest of your life - a film about what could have been.
Lenz
Drama, Independent
2006
1h.36min
16+
An unconventional portrait of a man whose life motto reminds us of the poets of romanticism: The genius writes its own rules.
I Was a Swiss Banker
Romance
2007
1h.15min
16+
A banker smuggling black money catapults himself out of his old life with a dip in the cold lake water.
Duerer’s Heirs
Documentary, Independent
1996
58min
16+
A portrait of a ‘German socialist art’ in the GDR up to the building of the wall in 1961.
Age of the Gods
Documentary, Independent
1993
1h.32min
16+
How does a highly talented artist end up in the vicinity of a totalitarian regime? What responsibility does art bear in political systems?
And There We Are, In The Middle
Documentary, Independent
2014
1h.25min
16+
A trenchant image of the complications self-discovery and personality formation can be for adolescents.
The Dreamed Ones
Documentary, Independent
2016
1h.29min
16+
The film is about love and hate, about right and wrong words. At its centre are Ingeborg Bachmann and Paul Celan, who met in post-war Vienna.
East of War
Documentary, Classics
1996
1h.52min
16+
The testimonies of former Wehrmacht soldiers collected by Ruth Beckermann are still horrifying today.
Electricity
Documentary, Independent
2015
1h.19min
16+
Berlin-based independent filmmaker Eva Heldmann interviews five people who cannot pay their electricity bills.
It Happened Just Before
Crime, Documentary
2006
1h.12min
16+
This documentary tells the harrowing story of the global phenomenon of human trafficking.
My Life Part 2 - Mein Leben Teil 2
Biography, Independent
2003
1h.30min
16+
Angelika Levi explores her German Christian-Jewish family heritage through the archives of photographs, audio tapes and films collected by her mother.
It Should Have Been Nice After That
Documentary, Classics
2000
1h.13min
16+
Karin Jurschick examins the reasons for her late mother's suicide.
In The Future They Ate From The Finest Porcelain
Icons & Media Art
2015
29min
16+
In a temporal twist, this movie tells the story of an intervention into the future perception of a territory’s political history.
Sto Spiti - At Home
Drama, Independent
2014
1h.43min
16+
In elegant CinemaScope images, this film tells the story of the housekeeper Nadja in times of economic crisis as a tender melodrama.
Echoes of Home
Independent, Music, Dance, Theater
2007
1h.21min
16+
Against the breathtaking backdrop of the Swiss mountains, 3 extraordinary vocal artists develop traditional yodelling into their own musical language.
to raze
Shorts
2014
6min
16+
A place and its inhabitants have to give way to the open-cast mine.
Towards Jerusalem
Documentary, Classics
1990
1h.25min
16+
Beckermann's subjects offer a dramatic range of candid opinions about Arab-Jewish relations, immigration, the intifada, religion, and the economy.
Face It! (Cast Your Self™)
Icons & Media Art
2007
4min
16+
A short film by Berlin-based film icon Michael Brynntrup full of photographs collected from personal profiles in gay chat rooms on the internet.