Berlinale - Forum

A look behind the scenes: This documentary reveals the hidden efforts and globalized processes behind clean hotel linen.

In part 1 of Thomas Arslan's Trojan trilogy, the eponymous protagonist Trojan wants to do one last big thing and retire.

A visually stunning journey through love, loss and legacy, as directed by the acclaimed Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese.

A poignant tale of lost innocence, young Dib navigates the tumultuous landscape of 1950s Damascus following his father's death.

Dreamlike, Israeli indie film about a woman whose nightmare turns into a hopeful sense of autonomy.

Intensely charged in political terms, HOTLINE is not merely revealing but downright shocking in what it conveys about Israel’s policies on outsiders.

Todd Solondz's key film of the 90s and Sundance winner manages the balancing act between coming-of-age and social criticism with sublime radicalism.

João Carlos Castanha. 52 years old. Actor. Gay. Son. Crossdresser. Capable of doing anything for those he loves. Or hates.

This erotic comedy is both a critique of the Japanese family image and a sexually playful homage to Japanese director Ozu Yasujirô.

This style-setting iconic film by Japan's pink film movement offers an experimental mix of genres about gender roles, violence, and obsession.

A mesmerizing poetic narrative about a group of teenagers navigating the confusing world of sexuality, desire, conformity and capitalism.

The merciless fighting between militias in the region around Mount Lebanon ended in reprisals against civilians.

Elza lives in a small town on the Caspian Sea. While her husband catches fish illegally, she dreams of breaking out of her small world.

This harrowing documentary exposes the inhumane working conditions of foreign domestic workers in Lebanon that resemble modern-day slavery.

Jean-Gabriel Périot asks students on the outskirts of Paris to reenact iconic films from the '68 era and share their thoughts.

Ronah is a sex worker and behavioral psychology student. As a surrogate partner, she sleeps with patients who have trouble allowing intimacy.

PARABETON shows in chronological sequence 17 buildings by the Italian engineer and architect Pier Luigi Nervi (1891-1979) in Italy and France.

Madeline is teenager who loves to act on stage. She fights with her mother and suffers from a illness which makes her believe she's a cat.

A new house in a new town could mean the beginning of a phase of domestic bliss for a small family. But the young mother collapses under the burden.

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.

Can a documentary depict reality? Should it even try? Constanze Ruhm examines how reality and the construction of reality are different.

"MADONNAS paints the astonishingly differentiated picture of a young woman who neglects her children." (taz)

A bitter satire on the university business and its evaluation madness and third-party funding stupidity.

In search of her daughter, Agnes meets a bon vivant in the juggernaut that is Berlin.

A political and sociological look at the transformation and gentrification of Berlin through teenage eyes.

On 3 summer afternoons, a family meets up a beautiful house in an upscale Berlin neighborhood. They come together but ultimately drift further apart.

A personal travelogue by Berlin-based director Thomas Arslan about a journey through Turkey.

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.

Life is governed by strict laws. If you don't want to fall out of favor with your backers as a dealer, you can't be seen with plainclothes cops.

A curator of contemporary art, is in trouble with her sponsors because of remarks she made in a radio interview. Public funding is put on hold.

The European self-image, the colonial gaze and the concept of 'noble savages': for decades, René Gardi (1909-2000) shaped our colonial image of Africa

A visually and sonically striking ensemble piece set in a hotel on the city outskirts as Paris is mired in political chaos...

This documentary tells the incredibly shocking story of how a Nazi officer became a top politician and UN Secretary General.

In the early 1970s, actress Delphine Seyrig and video artist Carole Roussopoulos became icons of feminist video activism in France.

The film looks at how ideology performed itself in public space through mass performances in socialist Yugoslavia.

Motorcycle taxi driver Abel is the sole provider for his family. When his boda boda is stolen, he has to descend into the underworld of Kampala.

A scandal forces literary critic Anders to change careers.

A single decision can change the rest of your life - a film about what could have been.

An unconventional portrait of a man whose life motto reminds us of the poets of romanticism: The genius writes its own rules.

A banker smuggling black money catapults himself out of his old life with a dip in the cold lake water.

A portrait of a ‘German socialist art’ in the GDR up to the building of the wall in 1961.

At the beginning of the last century, Arno Breker was one of the great hopes of young German sculpture, esteemed by the painter Max Liebermann.

Four Iranian mullahs, pillars of the regime, and an Iranian filmmaker living in exile, critical of the regime, discuss God and the world.

A trenchant image of the complications self-discovery and personality formation can be for adolescents.

At the request of his mother Gitte, Marko (Lars Eidinger), travels from Berlin to his parents (Corinna Harfouch, Ernst Stötzner) in the countryside.

Two shepherds and 800 sheep take on an extraordinary adventure full of challenges, in intimate contact with nature and the elements.

17-year-old Mateo dreams of Los Angeles. He wants to work there and support his family in their small Zapotec village in southern Mexico. The only way ...

Within Brooklyn's ultra-orthodox Jewish community, a widower battles for custody of his son. Shot entirely in Yiddish, the film explores the nature of ...

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.

The testimonies of former Wehrmacht soldiers collected by Ruth Beckermann are still horrifying today.

Berlin-based independent filmmaker Eva Heldmann interviews five people who cannot pay their electricity bills.

Musical drama about a woman who dresses like a man and falls in love with a young girl. Soundtrack with Arnold Schoenberg's music.

This documentary tells the harrowing story of the global phenomenon of human trafficking.

Angelika Levi explores her German Christian-Jewish family heritage through the archives of photographs, audio tapes and films collected by her mother.

Karin Jurschick examins the reasons for her late mother's suicide.

In a temporal twist, this movie tells the story of an intervention into the future perception of a territory’s political history.

A man, striving for autonomy, in fear of being absorbed by his lover. This black and white movie deals with cultural and historical appropriation.

In elegant CinemaScope images, this film tells the story of the housekeeper Nadja in times of economic crisis as a tender melodrama.

Against the breathtaking backdrop of the Swiss mountains, 3 extraordinary vocal artists develop traditional yodelling into their own musical language.

In this quiet comedy in the style of Wes Anderson, a 15-year-old Welshman navigates the shoals of first love like a sailor through reefs.

16 years after their failed escape from the GDR, three people meet again. Are they still friends?

Acclaimed Austrian documentary director Ruth Beckermann portrays a dying culture of Viennese urban history.

Beckermann's subjects offer a dramatic range of candid opinions about Arab-Jewish relations, immigration, the intifada, religion, and the economy.

A short film by Berlin-based film icon Michael Brynntrup full of photographs collected from personal profiles in gay chat rooms on the internet.

Two "strange birds“ form a tender relationship, even though they have quite different personalities.