'Alaboratory for the mainstream cinema of the future', the Forum's line-up ranges from Aduaka's directing debut Elvis Pelvis, a painfully-interlocked father-and-son story revolving around the idols Elvis Presley and Jimi Hendrix, and Speth's mature second film Madonnas (Madonnen), in which Silver Bear-winner Sandra Hüller (Requiem) delivers an acting tour-de-force as mother and daughter, to Wiseman's three-and-a-half-hour State Legislature examining democracy in practice in the state of Idaho and Angela Schanelec's surprising variation on Chekhov's The Sea Gull, Afternoon (Nachmittag), transposed to the present day between Potsdam and Berlin.
According to the Forum's organisers, this year's programme 'shows a world cinematography of sharp contrasts and astonishing parallels' and has a particular emphasis on German language films: apart from the above-mentioned German films, the section will also include Thomas Imbach's underwater fairytale I Was a Swiss Banker, Ulrike Ottinger's portrait of the Viennese institution, Prater, Heinz Emigholz's Schindler's Houses (Schindlers Häuser), a cinematic inventory of the work of architect Rudolph Schindler in the Los Angeles area, and Stefan Schwietert's Heimatklänge portraying three artists who develop traditional Swiss music in unconventional ways.
The Forum's final lineup is as follows:
[WP=World premiere, IP=International premiere]
It's Gonna Get Worse (...a bude hur) by Petr Nikolaev, Czech Republic (IP)
A Walk into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory by Esther B Robinson, USA (WP)
a.k.a. Nikki S Lee by Nikki S Lee, US/Republic of Korea (IP)
Ad Lib Night (Aju teukbyeolhan sonnim) by Lee Yoon-ki, Republic of Korea (IP)
Armin by Ognjen Svilicic, Croatia/Germany/Bosnia and Herzegovina (WP)
Campaign (Senkyo) by Kazuhiro Soda, US/Japan (WP)
Drowned by Oblivion (Le cercle des noyes) by Pierre-Yves Vandeweerd, Belgium/France (IP)
Chrigu by Jan Gassmann, Christian Ziorjen, Switzerland (IP)
In The Cities (Dans les villes) by Catherine Martin, Canada (IP)
Dol by Hiner Saleem, Iraqi Kurdistan Region/France/Germany (IP)
Elvis Pelvis by Kevin Aduaka, Great Britain/France (WP)
The Spirit Of Places (L'esprit des lieux) by Catherine Martin, Canada (IP)
Foreigner (Extranjera) by Ines de Oliveira Cezar, Argentina/Greece/Poland (WP)
Eye in the Sky (Gen zong) by Yau Nai Hoi, Hong Kong, China (WP)
Faro, la reine des eaux by Salif Traore, Mali/France/Canada/Germany (WP)
The Halfmoon Files by Philip Scheffner, Germany (WP)
Heimatklange by Stefan Schwietert, Switzerland/Germany (WP)
I Was a Swiss Banker by Thomas Imbach, Switzerland (WP)
Faces of a Fig Tree (Ichijiku no kao) by Momoi Kaori, Japan (IP)
Hounds (Jagdhunde) by Ann-Kristin Reyels, Germany (WP)
Cain's Descendant (Kain no matsuei) by Oku Shutaro, Japan
The Trap (Klopka) by Srdan Golubovic, Serbia/Germany/Hungary (WP)
It Happened Just Before (Kurz davor ist es passiert) by Anja Salomonowitz, Austria (IP)
Madonnas (Madonnen) by Maria Speth, Germany/Switzerland/Belgium (WP)
Mona Lisa (Meng Na Li Sha) by Li Ying, People's Republic of China/Japan (WP)
Afternoon (Nachmittag) by Angela Schanelec, Germany (WP)
A Parting Shot (Pas douce) by Jeanne Waltz, France/Switzerland (WP)
Potosi, the Journey (Potosi, le temps du voyage) by Ron Havilio, Israel/France (WP)
Prater by Ulrike Ottinger, Austria/Germany (WP)
Riza by Tayfun Pirselimoglu, Turkey (WP)
Schindler's Houses (Schindlers Hauser) by Heinz Emigholz, Austria (WP)
Shotgun Stories by Jeff Nichols, USA (WP)
Stone Time Touch by Garine Torossian, Canada (WP)
Substitute by Fred Poulet, Vikash Dhorasoo, France (IP)
The Sugar Curtain (El telon de azúcar) by Camila Guzman Urzua, Cuba/Spain/France
All Blossoms Again (Tout refleurit) by Aurelien Gerbault, France (IP)
Tuli by Auraeus Solito, Philippines
Village People Radio Show (Apa khabar orang kampung) by Amir Muhammad, Malaysia (WP)
Wolfsbergen by Nanouk Leopold, Netherlands/Belgium (WP)
Special screenings:
Brand Upon the Brain! by Guy Maddin, Canada
Don by Farhan Akhtar, India
Killer of Sheep by Charles Burnett, USA 1977
State Legislature by Frederick Wiseman, USA (WP)
In addition, the Forum will present writer-director Ognen Svilicic's second feature Armin, which was produced by Zagreb-based Maxima Film with Germany's Busse & Halberschmidt Filmproduktion and Sarajevo-based Refresh Production. MDC International will handle sales for the story of a shy Bosnian boy who wants to become an international movie star, which stars Germany's Jens Muenchow and Marie Baeumer (also appearing in Stefan Ruzowitzky's film The Counterfeiters) opposite Armin Omerovic as 'Armin' and Emir Hadzihafizbegovic as his father.
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