Originalityand innovative strength are the keywords at this year's edition of the Berlinale's Forum programme which will focus on directorialdebuts by young filmmakers.

Amongthe strikingly original debuts are Fujiwara Toshi'snarrative experiment We Can't Go HomeAgain, Khalo Matabane'sgenre-bending documentary Conversationson a Sunday Afternoon and Laura Poitras' on-the spot political film My Country, My Country about the recentIraqi parliamentary elections.

Theline-up of 40 films from 29 countries includes 21 world premieres and 15 debutsand a strong presence this year by filmmakers from Malaysia, Iran and the Republic of Korea as well as from Germany.

Apartfrom focusing on the new generation of filmmakers, the Forum will also featurenew films by several Forum "regulars" such as Chantal Akerman, Alan Berliner, Sono Sion, and Lucan Pintilie and present a special screenings of thepenultimate film in The Children from Golzow 45-year long-term documentary project, And If They Haven't Passed Away..., bythe German husband and wife team Barbara and WinfriedJunge.

Thecomplete line-up for the 36th Forum programme is

World Premieres

37 Uses for a Dead Sheep by Ben Hopkins, GreatBritain /Turkey
AmRand der Städte by Aysun Bademsoy, Germany
Another Morning (Sobhi Digar) by Nasser Refaie, Iran
Atos dos Homens (Acts of Men) by Kiko Goifman, Brazil Germany
Barakat! by Djamila Sahraoui, Algeria / France

Aus der Ferne by Thomas Arslan, Germany

Combat by Patrick Carpentier,Belgium

De Particulier à Particulier (Hotel Harabati) by Brice Cauvin, France

Happy People by AleksandrShapiro, Ukraine
Là-bas by Chantal Akerman, France /Belgium / Israel
L'Appel des arènes (Wrestling Grounds) by CheikhNdiaye, Senegal /Morocco/
France
La Prisionera(The Prisoner) by Fermin Villanueva, Alejo Moguillansky, Argentina
Lucyby Henner Winckler, Germany
Men at Work (Kargaranmashghool-e karand) by Mani Haghighi, Iran
Montag kommen die Fenster by Ulrich Köhler, Germany
My Country, My Country by Laura Poitras, USA

The Last Communist (Lelaki komunis terakhir) by Amir Muhammad, Malaysia
We Can't Go Home Again (Bokura wamo kaerenai) by Fujiwara Toshi, Japan

European Premieres

Before Born (Jie guo) by Zhang Ming, China
BigRiver by Funahashi Atsushi, Japan/USA
Closeto Home (Karov la bayit)by Dalia Hager und Vidi Bilu, Israel
Conversations on a Sunday Afternoonby Khalo Matabane, SouthAfrica
DearPyongyang by Yang Yong-hi, Japan
John & Jane by Ashim Ahluwalia, India
Kinetta by Yorgos Lanthimos, Greece
Memory for Claire, Max, Ida and Companyby Allan King, Canada
Monday Morning Glory (Lampumerah mati) by Woo MingJin, Malaysia
OneWay Boogie Woogie / 27 Years Later by James Benning, USA
Strange Circus by SonoSion, Japan
The Peter Pan Formula (Peterpan-eui gongsik) by Cho Chang-ho, Republic of
Korea

International Premieres

Au-delàde la haine (Beyond Hatred) by Olivier Meyrou, France
Babooska by Tizza Covi und Rainer Frimmel, Austria / Italy
Congo River by Thierry Michel,Belgium
Doskona'e popo'udnie (The Perfect Afternoon) by Przemys'aw Wojcieszek,Poland
Host & Guest (Bangmunja)by Shin Dong-il, Republic of Korea
InBetween Days by So Yong Kim, USA /Canada
Inatteso (Unexpected)by Domenico Distilo, Italy
Lenz by Thomas Imbach,Switzerland / /Germany
Schuss! byNicolas Rey, Frankreich/France

Wide Awake by Alan Berliner, USA

Special screenings:
News from Home / News from House byAmos Gitai, Israel / France /Belgium (World Premiere)
Parineetaby Pradeep Sarkar, Indien/India
Place de la Republiqueby Louis Malle, France 1972-74
Tertium non datur byLucian Pintilie, Romania (World Premiere) / Visul lui Liviu (Liviu's Dream) by Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania
Und wenn sie nicht gestorbensind... Die Kinder by Golzow.Das Ende der unendlichen
Geschichte by Barbara und Winfried Junge, Germany (World Premiere)