Days
The titles for the 70th Berlin International Film Festival are being announced in anticipation of the event running February 20 - March 2, 2020. We will update the program as new films are revealed.
COMPETITION
Berlin Alexanderplatz (Burhan Qurbani): Francis has survived his escape from Africa. In Berlin he gets to know Hasenheide park, the city’s clubs and its streets. His pal Reinhold becomes an adversary. Mieze brings both happiness and tragedy.
DAU. Natasha (Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and Jekaterina Oertel): Natasha works in the canteen of a secret Soviet research institute. She drinks a lot, likes to talk about love and embarks on an affair. State security intervenes. A tale of violence that is as radical as it is provocative.
The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sangsoo): While her husband is on a business trip, Gamhee meets three of her friends on the outskirts of Seoul. They make friendly conversation, as always, but there are different currents flowing independently of each other, both above and below the surface.
Delete History (Benoît Delépine, Gustave Kervern): Three social media victims declare war on the tech giants. A witty, apt depiction of our contemporary world devoid of history and stories, where nobody is in charge and an all-powerful data cloud threatens to swallow up our identity.
The Intruder (Natalia Meta): After a traumatic experience, Inés develops a sleep disorder and is haunted by violent nightmares. Do the characters who populate her dreams want to take possession of her body?
Bad Tales (Damiano D'Innocenzo and Fabio D'Innocenzo): A few families living out on a limb in the suburbs of Rome. Tensions here can explode at any time; ultimately it’s the children who bring about the collapse.
First Cow (Kelly Reichardt): In the 19th century, not only fur trappers venture into the wilds of Oregon, but also a taciturn cook and a Chinese man who turns out to be able entrepreneurs.
Irradiated (Rithy Panh): "Irradiés" is a film about people who have survived the irradiation of war and is recommended to those who believe they are immune to it.
The Salt of Tears (Philippe Garrel): A young man’s first conquests and his respect for his father. In this reversed version of a sentimental education, Luc loses something with every decision he makes, the value of which only becomes apparent later.
Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Eliza Hittman): An intimate portrait of two teenage girls from rural Pennsylvania. Faced with an unintended pregnancy and lack of support, Autumn and her cousin Skylar set off across state lines to New York City.
Days (Tsai Ming-Liang): Kang lives alone in a big house, Non in a small apartment in town. They meet, and then part, their days flowing on as before.
The Roads Not Taken (Sally Potter): Twenty-four hours in the life of Leo, a mentally impaired New York resident. A day that for him is characterised by hallucinatory trips into various parallel lives. At his side is his daughter Molly, who worries about him and loves him.
My Little Sister (Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond): Lisa has bid goodbye to her ambitions as a playwright and the Berlin arts scene and now lives in Switzerland with her husband, who runs an international school. When her twin brother – star of the Schaubühne theatre’s ensemble – falls ill, she returns to Berlin.
There Is No Evil (Mohammad Rasoulof): The four stories that comprise "Sheytan vojud nadarad" are variations on the crucial themes of moral strength and the death penalty that ask to what extent individual freedom can be expressed under a despotic regime and its seemingly inescapable threats.
Siberia (Abel Ferrara): A broken man flees the world and finds himself in a cave. His escape becomes a radical confrontation with his dreams, his memories and demonic visions.
All the Dead Ones (Caetano Gotardo and Marco Dutra): 1899. Slavery recently has been abolished in Brazil. The fates of the women in two families become entangled when the Soares, former land and slave owners, request help from Ina, a woman of African descent they once dismissed due to religious differences.
Undine (Christian Petzold): Undine is a museum guide in Berlin, the “place by the swamp”. When her boyfriend leaves her, she vows to kill the faithless man but soon meets another.
Hidden Away (Giorgio Diritti): Toni is expelled from Switzerland to Italy against his will. For years he lives in poverty in the Po floodplains. But he never gives up his passion for drawing. The story of Antonio Ligabue, a revolutionary loner in modern art.
ENCOUNTERS
Funny Face (Tim Sutton, USA)
Gunda (Victor Kossakovsky, Norway / USA)
Isabella (Matías Piñeiro, Argentina)
The Shepherdess and the Seven Songs (Pushpendra Singh, India)
Los Conductos (Camilo Restrepo, France / Colombia / Brazil)
The Last City (Heinz Emigholz, Germany)
Malmkrog (Cristi Puiu, Romania / Serbia / Switzerland / Sweden / Bosnia / Macedonia)
The Metamorphosis of Birds (Catarina Vasconcelos, Portugal)
Naked Animals (Melanie Waelde, Germany)
Orphea (Alexander Kluge, Khavn, Germany)
Shirley (Josephine Decker, USA)
Servants (Ivan Ostrochovský, Slovakia / Romania / Czech Republic / Ireland)
The Trouble with Being Born (Sandra Wollner, Austria / Germany)
The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin) (C.W. Winter, Anders Edström, USA / Sweden / Japan / Hong Kong, China / United Kingdom)
Kill It and Leave This Town (Mariusz Wilczyński, Poland)
BERLINALE SPECIAL
The American Sector (Courtney Stephens, Pacho Velez, USA)
Charlatan (Agnieszka Holland, Czech Republic / Ireland / Poland / Slovakia)
Curveball (Johannes Naber)
DAU. Degeneration (Ilya Khrzhanovskiy, Ilya Permyakov)
Golda Maria (Patrick Sobelman, Hugo Sobelman, France)
High Ground (Stephen Maxwell Johnson, Australia)
Hillary (Nanette Burstein, USA)
Last and First Men (Jóhann Jóhannsson, Iceland)
Minamata (Andrew Levitas, United Kingdom)
My Salinger Year (Philippe Falardeau, Canada / Ireland)
Night Shift (Anne Fontaine, France)
Numbers (Oleg Sentsov in collaboration with Akhtem Seitablaiev, Ukraine / Poland / Czech Republic / France)
The Nutty Professor (Jerry Lewis, USA 1963)
Onward (Dan Scanlon)
Persian Lessons (Vadim Perelman, Russian Federation / Germany / Belarus)
Pinnochio (Matteo Garrone, Italy / France)
Time to Hunt (Yoon Sung-hyun, Republic of Korea)
Speer Goes to Hollywood (Vanessa Lapa)
Swimming Out Till The Sea Turns Blue (Jia Zhang-ke, People’s Republic of China)
PANORAMA
A l’abordage (Guillaume Brac France): One summer night in Paris, Félix meets Alma by chance and they get along beautifully. He decides to surprise her at the place where her family is holidaying in the south and enlists his best friend in an adventure that will not leave them quite the same.
Always Amber (Lia Hietala, Hannah Reinikainen, Sweden): Amber belongs to a queer generation which no longer wants society to dictate their identity. The teenagers proudly inhabit a spectrum of fluid identities and master their first loves and losses.
The Assistant (Kitty Green, USA): Jane has started her dream job as a junior assistant to a powerful entertainment mogul. Her day is much like any other assistant’s, but she is soon confronted with an abusive daily routine, only to discover the true depth of the system into which she has entered.
Notes from the Underworld (Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel, Austria): A love letter to Vienna’s underworld of the 1960s that is also a social portrait of post-war Austria. Viennese folk singer Kurt Girk and his friend Alois Schmutzer discuss their lives in Vienna’s criminal milieu – for which they served long prison terms.
Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross, USA): A final binge in a closing bar on the edge of Las Vegas. With clear-sighted observation, the film allows us to share the familiarity between the regulars, creating the impression that we are sitting amongst them.
Shine Your Eyes (Matias Mariani, Brazil / France): Musician Amadi has not heard from his older brother Ikenna in a long time. He travels from Nigeria to the Brazilian metropolis of São Paulo but cannot find him. Cidade Pássaro is an enigmatic exploration operating on several levels.
Days of Cannibalism (Teboho Edkins, France / South Africa / Netherlands): Documentary meets genre cinema in this Western from today’s Lesotho, where modern pioneers of capitalism clash with local traditions, and aspiring Chinese merchants compete for supremacy with traditional Basotho cattle breeders.
Digger (Georgis Grigorakis, Greece / France): When Jonny visits his reclusive father Nikitas in his cabin in the woods after 20 years, the hermit ignores him. But to prevent the muddy ground from being pulled out from under their feet for profit, father and son must dig deep into it.
Eeb Allay Ooo! (Prateek Vats, India): Monkey repellers such as Anjani have an exceedingly tricky job in downtown New Delhi. With the sensitivity of a documentary and an Indian sense of humour, the film depicts the harsh life of a migrant and subtly mirrors today’s social realities.
Exile (Visar Morina, Germany / Belgium / Kosovo): The signs that the pharmacologist Xhafer, who is originally from Kosovo, is being bullied at work are increasing – or is it just his imagination? Exile portrays an individual caught between integration and loss of identity.
No Hard Feelings (Faraz Shariat, Germany): German-Iranian Parvis’s life revolves around pop culture, Grindr dates and raves. Through refugee siblings Banafshe and Amon, Parvis rediscovers his roots. A sensitive film about first love and life as a migrant in Germany.
Hope (Maria Sødahl, Norway / Sweden): When Anja is diagnosed with a brain tumour, everyday life in her patchwork family implodes and her cooling relationship with her partner Tomas is faced with a new kind of reality.
I Dream of Singapore (Lei Yuan Bin, Singapore): An insightful documentary about migrant workers in Southeast Asia. After an accident in Singapore, Bangladeshi Feroz gets help from a human rights organisation. This hypermodern city-state is chewing up and spitting out poor migrants to power its boom.
Running on Empty (Lisa Weber, Austria): Lisa Weber’s portrait of Claudia, who had a son when she was 15 and who now lives with him, her mother and her brother in Vienna, is an affectionate and gentle film about the passing of time, and about what goes on when nothing seems to be happening.
Wildland (Jeanette Nordahl, Denmark): After her mother’s death, Ida moves in with her aunt and cousins. Theirs is a loving family, but it soon transpires that the clan is engaged in criminal activities. A female-driven exploration of family conflict fueled by affection and cut-throat ethics.
The Foundation Pit (Andrey Gryazev, Russian Federation): A found footage film compiled from countless YouTube videos in which the people of Russia make a direct appeal to president Putin. A kaleidoscope of the mood in the country – from submissive pleas to pure rage about injustice and rampant corruption.
One in a Thousand (Clarisa Navas, Argentina / Germany): Set in a community of project houses, Iris, a young woman with a tough past, meets Renata and feels immediately attracted to her. A tender coming-of-age film about friendship and first love in a hostile environment.
Mare (Andrea Štaka, Switzerland / Croatia): Routinely, but with dedication, Mare runs her small family’s modest household, even though a new washing machine is not the only thing that is missing. When a chance encounter rekindles her libido, she does not hold back for long.
Minyan (Eric Steel, USA): New York in the 1980s. David, 17, who is beginning to live out his homosexuality in the East Village gay scene, gradually questions the strict rules of his Jewish community.
Mogul Mowgli (Bassam Tariq, United Kingdom): Zed, a young British rapper, is about to start his first world tour, when a crippling illness strikes him down, and he is forced to move back in with his family. He tries to find himself between an international music career and Pakistani family traditions.
Nardjes A. (Karim Aïnouz, Algeria / France / Germany / Brazil / Qatar): Accompanying activist Nardjes with his camera, Karim Aïnouz documents the youth culture, which is confidently taking to the streets for a democratic future in Algeria, whose independence their parents and grandparents have already fought.
One of These Days (Bastian Günther, Germany / USA): In the Texan “Hands on a Hardbody” competition, contestants stand around a new pickup truck for days, touching it with one hand. Whoever holds out the longest wins the truck. A psychological portrait of poverty, wealth and despair.
Father (Srdan Golubović, Serbia / France / Germany / Croatia / Slovenia / Bosnia and Herzegovina): Nikola’s children are taken away from him after social services decide that he is too poor to provide them with a decent living environment. He sets off on foot to lodge a complaint in Belgrade. A moving tale about inequality.
Pari (Siamak Etemadi, Greece / France / Netherlands / Bulgaria): Iranian mother Pari’s search for her missing son in Athens will force her on a journey to the dark corners of the city, as well as into the hidden depths of her own self.
Little Girl (Sébastien Lifshitz, France): The touching portrait of eight-year-old Sasha, who questions her gender and in doing so, evokes the sometimes disturbing reactions of a society that is still invested in a biological boy-girl way of thinking.
Amazon Mirror (Fernando Segtowick, Brazil): A black and white film about the people who live near one of the world’s largest hydroelectric plants in Amazonia. In the shadow of this environmentally destructive project, they eke out involuntarily meagre lives, without electricity or infrastructure.
Schlingensief – A Voice That Shook the Silence (Bettina Böhler, Germany): Using unpublished and newly digitalised archive footage and film material, Bettina Böhler has brilliantly assembled this film about the life and work of the exceptional artist Christoph Schlingensief, who died in 2010. A cinematic tour de force.
Black Milk (Uisenma Borchu, Germany / Mongolia): In Uisenma Borchu’s second semi-biographical film, a young woman is searching for her roots and discovers an idiosyncratic, radical sensuality that not only transgresses Mongolian conventions but also those of the supposedly more liberal West.
Sow the Wind (Danilo Caputo, Italy / France / Greece): After years of absence, Nica returns to her native village. Her grandmother’s olive trees are threatened by a bug infestation. Against her father’s will, she fights to preserve the trees and maintain family traditions.
If It Were Love (Patric Chiha, France): The creation and performance of Gisèle Vienne’s dance piece “Crowd” is superbly transposed to the screen in this sensual documentary. An exhilarating neon-lit fresco of a young party crowd set to the pulsating beat of loud electronic music.
Suk Suk (Ray Yeung, Hong Kong, China): A chance encounter brings Pak and Hoi together in Hong Kong. Both are grandfathers and both have lived married lives, providing for their families. A passionate and delicate film about love later in life.
Surge (Aneil Karia, United Kingdom): Joseph leads an unexciting life between his flat and a soulless job at the airport. An impulsive act of rebellion propels him on an unbridled and reckless trip through central London in which he experiences what it feels like to be alive.
A Common Crime (Francisco Márquez, Argentina / Brazil / Switzerland): Cecilia is too afraid one night to let her housekeeper’s son into the house. The next day his dead body is found. Francisco Márquez has created a ghostly shimmering narrative that describes the injustices of Argentinean society.
Dry Wind (Daniel Nolasco, Brazil): Between work, swimming and anonymous sex, Sandro lives a rather monotonous life in the hot and arid expanse of Goiás in Brazil. When Maicon, a Tom-of-Finland comic strip lookalike, appears in his small town, his life takes a turn.
Welcome to Chechnya (David France, USA): The first documentary about the activists who join forces to save other people’s and their own lives in the face of the systematic persecution of the LGBTQI* community carried out by the Chechen authorities. A tour de force charged with resilience and courage.
BERLINALE CLASSICS
The Swindle (Federico Fellini, Italy /France 1955)
Cruel Tale of Bushido (Tadashi Imai, Japan 1963)
Distant Journey (Alfréd Radok, Czechoslovakia 1949)
A Fish Called Wanda (Charles Crichton, United Kingdom / USA 1988)
The Last Stage (Wanda Jakubowska, Poland 1948)
Waxworks (Paul Leni, Germany 1924)
GENERATION 14PLUS
Alice Júnior (Gil Baroni, Brazil): Alice Júnior is trans, confident and ready to confront life. In the new school in the Brazilian province, she is first bullied and then admired. In her struggle for acceptance, her YouTube community is omnipresent, in the comments and emojis on her page, but also all throughout the visual level of the film.
Babydyke (Tone Ottilie, Denmark): Tagged as Babydyke by her older sister and her clique, a teenager delves into the party life of the queer scene. Frede doesn’t like labels, she wants to love and be loved. A film as rough and as tender as the world which it depicts.
Black Sheep Boy (James Molle, France): In a world which resembles a computer game from bygone times, an unloved boy embarks upon a search for answers to the essential questions: How does one become happy in life? Is there a “real me”, or do we just play some character?
Clebs (Halima Ouardiri, Canada / Morocco): For the 750 dogs that live in a Moroccan shelter, the daily routine consists of eating, resting, a bit of fighting and eating again. Could they possibly expect more from life? A pointed, cinematic commentary on mass confinement.
Comrades (Kanas Liu, Hong Kong, China): Young people are protesting on the streets of Hong Kong in order to bring about change. Air soaked with tear gas, the dark uniforms and loud commands of the police officers in the colourful umbrella sea of the protesters. In the midst of the action, the film documents a brand new protest movement.
The Earth Is Blue as an Orange (Iryna Tsilyk, Ukraine / Lithuania): The budding filmmaker Myroslava and her family are at home in the middle of the Ukrainian war zone. In the formerly lively environment, emptiness has spread, once familiar things now seem threatening. By re-enacting scenes and telling each other what has happened, the family members process the persistent state of emergency together.
The Flame (Nick Waterman, Australia): Fire, wind and smoke have been the fundamental elements for Aboriginal people for thousands of years. Their knowledge of the original power of fire is passed on from one generation to the next. A creative development of oral storytelling in audio-visual form.
Goodbye Golovin (Mathieu Grimard, Canada): For Ian, his father's death is an emancipation. He is determined to leave behind the echo of those emotionally charged words, the desolate high-rise estate and his old home and start over again.
Grevillea (Jordan Giusti, Australia): Black ink on white skin. An incarcerated youth of Jewish faith decides to get a tattoo with the leaf of the Australian silver oak, against the conventions of his religion. A visual-sensual snapshot of a possibly irreversible decision.
Hot Mother (Lucy Knox, New Zealand): A horror trip based on a true incident: The feel-good atmosphere of the wellness resort cannot calm the tense mood between mother and daughter. They relentlessly criticise each other. Ultimately, in the hot sauna, there is no escape for either of them.
Goddess of the Fireflies (Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, Canada): Following the separation of her parents, 16-year-old Catherine loses her footing. She plunges into life, lets herself be carried away by drugs and music, and finds a new family in a clique of her peers as well as the opportunity for her first sexual encounter. Pure teen spirit, impressively embodied by the high-energy, Canadian actress Kelly Depeault.
The Great Malaise (Catherine Lepage, Canada): The hedgehog between balloons, the feline predator on the hamster wheel, the fish in the lifebuoy: A young woman portrays herself in the best possible light in her self-description. Ingenious and humorous, the film illustrates honest images for the praised ideals of life in the 21st century. The burnout is pre-programmed.
Jumbo (Zoé Wittock, France / Belgium / Luxembourg): The shy Jeanne (Noémi Merlant) still lives with her mother. At night, she works in an amusement park. Suddenly, the new attraction Jumbo - a huge idiosyncratic carousel - appears and begins to put the young woman under its spell. A wild and unusual love story unfolds.
Kokon (Leonie Krippendorff, Germany): In the shimmering midsummer days, there are many first times for young Nora from Kreuzberg: menstruating, smoking marijuana, discovering sexual desires. And then there's Romy as well. The two young women, impressively played by Lena Urzendowsky and Jella Haase, gently approach each other.
My Name is Baghdad (Caru Alves de Souza, Brazil): A film from the skater world of São Paulo, where it is women who call the shots. Bagdá is surrounded by self-confident role models in her family. However, outside on the streets, in the venues and clubs, the old machismo continues to dominate. Bagdá and her fellow comrades-in-arms confront it defiantly.
Something to Remember (Niki Lindroth von Bahr, Sweden): An animated puppet film as a melancholy ballad: In deserted conference rooms, bed stores, experimental laboratories, medical offices, petrol stations and scientific centres, animals strike up the swan song to a world that may never be what it once was.
Ordinary Justice (Chiara Bellosi, Italy / Switzerland): While a trial involving murder, manslaughter and armed robbery is being conducted inside the courtroom, the two daughters of the accused are sentenced to wait outside in the hallway. It is the casual, although meaningful moments which are captured that make this portrayal of a very ordinary day at the court truly impressive.
Our Lady of the Nile (Atiq Rahimi, France): n the microcosm of an elite Catholic school in Rwanda, the contrasts and hostilities between Hutu and Tutsi that are already deeply rooted in society are mirrored by a group of teenage girls. A literary film adaptation, inspired by the real events that forewarn the genocide of the Rwandan Civil War in 1994.
Panthers (Èrika Sánchez, Spain): They are scarred, overweight, pregnant, shaved, or tattooed. In the locker room, Joana studies the physical conditions of other women and later of herself in the mirror. Can your own body be modulated? Your gender? Your femininity? “Break Free” is written on her shirt - time for emancipation.
Paradise Drifters (Mees Peijnenburg, Netherlands): n the edge of Europe's affluent society, in the middle of the concrete jungle, the paths of Yousef, Chloe and Lorenzo intersect. Three homeless young people who combine their silent longing for security with their loud cry for independence.
Pompei (Anna Falguères, John Shank, Belgium / France / Canada): Swaggering with the coolness of James Dean, the members of a youthful gang exist in a world virtually without adults. Following their own rules, they search in the middle of nowhere for the artefacts of a lost civilization, until the appearance of a young woman changes everything. A powerful story of liberation reminiscent of “Lord of the Flies”.
Progresso Renaissance (Marta Anatra, Italy / France): Portovesme in the south of Sardinia, a place with many faces: Once an industrial flagship, today an abandoned place of work. A breath of summer idyll has withstood the test of time. In neo-realistic 16mm images and archive material, and with an accentuated soundtrack, the film follows three boys who appear as if emerging from a memory.
Sisters in the End of the World (Luciana Mazeto, Vinícius Lopes, Brazil): The mother is dying, the father has never cared. The two sisters Ana and Ju, however, remain strong and in solidarity with each other - even if the world around them collapses and asteroids fall from the sky. An experimental road movie in pulsating images, containing ingenious dialogues and songs that reverberate.
Voices in the Wind (Nobuhiro Suwa, Japan): Years after her family was killed in the 2011 tsunami, the quiet Haru, played by the young Japanese star Serena Motola, travels across Japan in search of traces. A calm road movie that collects miniature portraits as painted by encounters, thus becoming the portrait of a society that is still deeply marked by trauma.
White Riot (Rubika Shah, United Kingdom): What kind of democratic resistance can young people offer in times of burgeoning racism? The filmmaker, who herself was faced with racism as a young woman, pursues the forces of the "Rock against Racism" movement in London in the mid-1970s. A movement embodied by the music of The Clash, Steel Pulse and X-Ray Spex.
White Winged Horse (Mahyar Mandegar, Iran): A man returns to his Iranian hometown, which was destroyed in the war 20 years ago. He is searching for his childhood sweetheart who had promised him eternal love – if he were to return as a white-winged horse. Past and present overlap in the poetic memory and imagination of the boy he once was.
Who Can Predict What Will Move You (Livia Huang, USA): What quickly and dynamically begins while playing basketball together evolves into a gently shy dance of two young men through the night. A poetic, yet wonderfully tender exploration of the various forms of affection and intimacy.
Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness (Massoud Bakhshi, France / Germany / Switzerland / Luxembourg / Lebanon / Iran): In the artificial entertainment world of the Iranian TV show “Joy of Forgiveness”, the wronged daughter and a public of millions judge the fate of a young woman who is sentenced to death. Maryam is said to have murdered her much older husband, a man with whom she had lived in a temporary marriage. A tense drama about the power of forgiveness and the women who are doomed to remain prisoners.
GENERATION KPLUS
Blue Eyes and Colorful My Dress (Polina Gumiela, Germany): Full of self-confidence, three-year-old Zhana explores her neighbourhood in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. A fresh look at the world, at places and people who fascinate, who make one laugh, who challenge or are challenged by the little explorer. A documentary as an endless chain of little miracles.
Broken Bird (Rachel Gordon, USA): Birdie, growing up as the daughter of a Black American and a white woman, is Jewish, has unruly hair and must deal with the different identity offers that surround her. Highlighting the challenges of lived intersectionality, empowering and original.
Chronicle of Space (Akshay Indikar, India): The move from the city to the country, the disappearance of the father. Nobody explained to Dhigu why this is so. Throughout the summer, the observant boy takes note of his surroundings. Together with Dhigu, the film explores his new place of life in the Indian province, with images of vastness and abundance that become deeply etched into the memory.
Cuties (Maïmouna Doucouré, France): Looking good is the most important thing for the girls at Amy's new school. But only those who have the really cool moves can belong to the "Cuties". Torn between the traditional image of women within her Senegalese community and the new look of her dance crew, Amy is seeking to develop her own self-concept.
Death of Nintendo (Raya Martin, Philippines / USA): Only something truly earthshaking can keep four 13-year-olds away from their computer games: the eruption of a volcano, the first feelings of falling in love, the dreaded initiation into manhood. Filipino director Raya Martin (Independencia, 2009 WCF and La Última Película, 2014 Forum Expanded) plunges into a dazzling world of the pop culture of the 1990s.
Elders (Tony Briggs, Australia): Nature teaches us vital lessons. In Wojobaluk Country, two elders introduce their grandson to the characteristics of the country of their ancestors. With keen senses, great attention to detail and the necessary respect for the environment, the boy becomes acquainted with the terrain.
En route (Marit Weerheijm, Netherlands): For Inay and her brother, the world is inexhaustibly rich in small, wonderful things, but poverty is the current fate of their family. For them, life is a balancing act along the fine line between steadfastness and tragedy. The film tells of the precariat beyond conventional presumptions.
Un diable dans la poche (Antoine Bonnet, Mathilde Loubes, France): As children play hide and seek, they witness a crime. Only Auguste, the youngest amongst them, no longer wants to carry the burden of keeping the grave secret. A poetically crafted miniature about guilt, betrayal and loyalty.
A Fool God (Hiwot Admasu Getaneh, France): Can God ever be wrong? Are older people always right? And is it fair to forever condemn a person who has once done wrong and subsequently repented? Smart and self-confident, the young Mesi questions the rituals and stories of her Ethiopian family.
Frogs (Ana Flavia Cavalcanti, Julia Zakia, Brazil): It’s dripping through the ceiling, the space for sleeping is scarce. Under poor living conditions, a young mother handles everyday life with her two daughters in the Brazilian suburb as best she can. When they unexpectedly acquire a load of frog legs, this gives rise to a celebration that will not soon be forgotten.
H is for Happiness (John Sheedy, Australia): With a smile on her freckled face, and accompanied by her seemingly unshakable optimism, Candice Phee faces the big problems of life: from A to Z. A fast-paced coming-of-age comedy based on Barry Jonsberg's hit novel “My Life as an Alphabet”.
Harvest (Sun Lijun, People’s Republic of China): An animation illustrated by the renowned Chinese water-colour artist Sun Lijun, in which a small grasshopper hunts for the season’s most sought-after fruits. His dramatic escape from a large predator leads him unexpectedly to the object of desire: the pomegranate.
Hello Ahma (Siyou Tan, USA): Now, Grandma is just a framed photo on the wall. Eight-year-old Michelle observes how her parents cope with her death, how they pause, remember, carry on with life. The girl has her own thoughts about this. Is it possible that grandmother was born again?
The Kites (Seyed Payam Hosseini, Iran): On the slope of a river valley along the Iraqi-Iranian border of Kurdistan, a girl’s kite flies away. She calls three boys for help. However, the children are not only separated by the river valley, but also by the explosive legacies of past wars.
Leaf (Aliona Baranova, Czech Republic): A beautiful red leaf of a tree is the ticket of the girl who wants to board the big steamer. The scent of this leaf reminds the sailor of his homeland and finally leads him back there.
The Little Bird and the Bees (Lena von Döhren, Switzerland): After the little bird has fluttered across the Generation canvas in fall and winter episodes, a new adventure follows. It is springtime, and the little bird makes the acquaintance of the bees, but the voracious fox is already in pursuit.
Los lobos (Samuel Kishi Leopo, Mexico): heir land of dreams is "Disneyland". Together with their mother, the brothers Max and Leo have just crossed the border from Mexico into the United States, and it’s not easy for them to gain a foothold in their new home country. The director draws upon his own childhood experiences and tells an emigration story of current explosiveness.
Mishou (Milen Vitanov, Germany / Bulgaria): Far and wide only snow, ice and a pleasant silence. Until a helicopter drops a load of noisy tourists. A humorous animation about animalistic interaction and the human ignorance of nature. Milen Vitanov, co-founder of the Berlin Talking Animals collective, has a film in Generation for the second time.
Miss (Amira Géhanne Khalfallah, Algeria / France): There is a wrecked car in the Algerian desert. The girl gets in and drives. Apart from sand, there is nothing to see for miles. Searching for a change of scenery, she visits the elderly in her village and the nearby oasis. However, whether shepherd, merchant or blacksmith, nobody can see what she sees.
Money Honey (Isaac Knights-Washbourn, New Zealand): Hank is in a bad mood. Red wants to cheer up her buddy. Perhaps, with a bit of luck and business acumen, they might acquire enough money for an Elvis sandwich with peanut butter, banana and bacon?
Monty and the Street Party (Anders Morgenthaler and Mikael Wulff, Denmark): Monty, a cheerful optimist, wants to organise a big neighbourhood party to reconcile his parents shortly before their divorce. Nuns with beards on stilts and enthusiastic parkour nudists, those are part of everyday life in his little town. A breath-taking firework of bizarre and pointed punch lines on the occasion of a hopeless situation.
Mum, Mum, Mum (Sol Berruezo Pichon-Riviére, Argentina): A veil of sadness lies over the oppressively hot summer days. Cleo dives into daydreams with her cousins, the girls share secret signs and rituals. Flowing gently, in impressionistic images, the empty space that the death of Cleo’s sister has left in the family is poetically encircled.
The Name of the Son (Martina Matzkin, Argentina): Long hair would look good on him, but so would a moustache. This summer by the sea, the trans boy Lucho knows that there is a lot in him that is difficult to share with others. A sensitive approach to the diversity of gender in body and soul.
Perro (Lin Sternal, Germany): Perro and his grandmother fear for their homeland in southern Nicaragua, an area which is threatened by the planned construction of the 300-km-long "El Gran Canal". The documentary accompanies the silent and nature-loving boy amidst the inevitable farewell to his old life in the jungle and his new beginnings in the city.
The Silence of the River (Francesca Canepa, Peru): The waters are deep, and the thicket of the jungle is shadowy in the dreamy and mysterious landscape of the Amazon. The fisher boy Juan decides to share with his father the terrifying dream that haunts him. Maybe then he can save his father’s soul.
Sune – Best Man (Jon Holmberg, Sweden): Sune meets himself as a figure from the future, someone who wants to give him the lead on an important decision. But it is in Sune’s family that no one can really make a decision. Aimlessness and inventiveness characterise grandpa, the parents and the children. After Sune vs. Sune, a turbulent family trip with heart, humour and action.
Sweet Thing (Alexandre Rockwell, USA): A dysfunctional family is portrayed in all shades of black-and-white: For the siblings Billie and Nico, living together with their father means enduring an emotional roller coaster ride instead of enjoying a peaceful coexistence. The adults are constantly getting out of control and overstepping their bounds. In an act of liberation, the children set off on their own adventure.
toni_with_an_i (Marco Alessi, United Kingdom): Music lover Toni lives out in the virtual world what she can’t show at school. Online likes torpedo malice in real life, and vice versa. In Marco Alessi’s (Special mention Generation 14plus 2019 with Four Quartets) toni_with_an_i, a gaudy and colourful portrait of a teenager, the Internet is the answer.
Under the Skin (Emma Branderhorst, Netherlands): The blue depths of the swimming pool is her home. Keesje is a passionate synchronised swimmer, and the big competition is just around the corner. However, when a fight erupts between the girls during the final rehearsal, everything changes. The subtle nuances between belonging and feeling marginalised begin to surface.
Veins of the World (Byambasuren Davaa, Germany / Mongolia): Amra is growing up in the Mongolian steppe between herds of goats and YouTube videos. His hopes and dreams revolve around someday performing onstage in "Mongolia's Got Talent". However, the fight against the exploitation by gold mining companies and the campaign for a viable environment soon challenge the boy's eclectic talents.
HOMAGE TO HELEN MIRREN
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (Peter Greenaway, UK / France / Netherlands 1989)
The Good Liar (Bill Condon, USA 2019)
The Last Station (Michael Hoffmann, Germany / UK / Russia 2009)
The Long Good Friday (John Mackenzie, UK 1980)
The Queen (Stephen Frears, UK / France / Italy 2006)
PERSPEKTIVE DEUTSCHES KINO
A Fish Swimming Upside Down (Eliza Petkova, Germany): Andrea, a woman without a past, is the object of both Philipp’s and his son’s desire. A love triangle filled with expectations, longing and fears leaves open the speculation of who knows what about whom.
Automotive (Jonas Heldt, Germany): While Sedanur spends the whole night in Ingolstadt sorting car parts, headhunter Eva is looking for specialists in logistics automation. Two very different representatives of a generation in which, sooner or later, everyone will be replaceable.
Garage People (Natalija Yefimkina, Germany): In Russia’s unwelcoming north, garages stretch out into endlessness. Behind rusty doors everything can be found, except cars. They are the refuge of the Russian man, the vanishing point out of bleak daily life and a signal of hope for big dreams.
Kids Run (Barbara Ott, Germany): Andi’s life is a constant battle for his home, his three children and the woman he still loves. He only has two weeks to pay her back the borrowed 5,000 €. When he loses his job, an amateur boxing tournament looks like the only solution.
Sisters Apart (Daphne Charizani, Germany / Greece): Rojda, a German soldier and native Kurd, volunteers for a mission to train female Kurdish soldiers in Iraq to fight ISIS. No one must know that she is actually looking for her missing sister.
Sleep (Michael Venus, Germany): Mona’s days are filled with concern for her mother, a woman broken by her belief that her nightmares are real. In search of answers, Mona arrives in a village where she encounters an old family curse in a strange hotel.
Wagenknecht (Sandra Kaudelka, Germany): Left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht’s working day is marked by applause and admiration but also doubts and intrigues. This film follows her and her team: from the 2017 election campaign to her withdrawal from political leadership in 2019.
Walchensee Forever (Janna Ji Wonders, Germany): If there is such a thing as a family memory that carries forward over the course of history, then it determines the actions of every generation. The director tells the story of the women in her family, set amongst Walchensee, the Summer of Love, hippie dreams and the harem surrounding Rainer Langhans.
FORUM
Anne at 13,000FT (Kazik Radwanski, Canada / USA)
A Storm Was Coming (Javier Fernández Vázquez, Spain)
The Notes of Anna Azzori / A Mirror that Travels through Time (Constanze Ruhm, Austria / Germany / France)
The House of Love (Luca Ferri, Italy)
Window Boy Would Also Like to Have a Submarine (Alex Piperno, Uruguay / Argentina / Brazil / Netherlands / Philippines)
Entre perro y lobo (Irene Gutiérrez, Cuba / Spain)
This Is My Desire (Arie Esiri, Chuko Esiri, Nigeria / USA)
Frem (Viera Čákanyová, Czech Republic / Slovakia)
Generations (Lynne Siefert, USA)
In Deep Sleep (Maria Ignatenko, Russian Federation)
Strike or Die (Jonathan Rescigno, France)
The Exit of The Trains (Radu Jude, Adrian Cioflâncă, Romania)
As Above So Below (Sarah Francis, Lebanon)
Art Comes from the Beak the Way It Has Grown (Sabine Herpich, Germany)
Red Moon Tide (Lois Patiño, Spain)
Light in the Tropics (Paula Gaitán, Brazil)
Maggie’s Farm (James Benning, USA)
Medium (Edgardo Cozarinsky, Argentina)
The Alien (Nader Saeivar, Iran)
Oeconomia(Carmen Losmann, Germany)
Ouvertures (Louis Henderson, Olivier Marboeuf together with The Living and the Dead Ensemble, United Kingdom / France)
Petit samedi (Paola Sermon-Daï, Belgium)
The Calming (SONG Fang, China)
Corporate Accountability (Jonathan Perel, Argentina)
Zero (Kazuhiro Soda, Japan / USA)
The Tango of the Widower And Its Distorting Mirror (Raúl Ruiz, Valeria Sarmiento, Chile)
Uppercase Print (Radu Jude, Romania)
After the Crossing (Joël Richmond Mathieu Akafou, France / Côte d’Ivoire)
The Twentieth Century (Matthew Rankin, Canada)
The Two Sights (Joshua Bonnetta, Canada / United Kingdom)
Victoria (Sofie Benoot, Liesbeth De Ceulaer, Isabelle Tollenaere Belgium)
The Viewing Booth (Ra’anan Alexandrowicz Israel / USA)
Divinely Evil (Gustavo Vinagre Brazil)
Was Bleibt | Šta Ostaje | What Remains / Re-visited (Clarissa Thieme Germany / Austria / Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Zeus Machine. The Invincible (Nadia Ranocchi, David Zamagni Italy)
FORUM EXPANDED
Abstracted / Family (Koki Tanaka, Japan)
Akiya (Jonna Kina, Finland / Japan / USA)
The Landing (Akram Zaatari, Lebanon / United Arab Emirates)
The Promised (Ahmed Elghoneimy, Egypt)
Apiyemiyekî? (Ana Vaz, Brazil / France / Netherlands / Portugal)
Born of the * * * On Zarathustra'’s Going Under from Cairo to Oran (Ayreen Anastas, Rene Gabri, Palestine / USA)
Citizens of the Cosmos (Anton Vidokle, USA / Japan / Ukraine)
Doublewide (Jenny Perlin, USA)
Equinox (Margaret Honda, USA)
Expedition Content (Ernst Karel, Veronika Kusumaryati, USA)
Her Name Was Europa (Anja Dornieden, Juan David González Monroy, Germany)
Jiíbie (Laura Huertas Millán, Colombia / France)
Directed Games (Jonathas de Andrade, Brazil)
Letter to a Friend (Emily Jacir, Palestine / USA)
Matata (Petna Ndaliko Katondolo, Democratic Republic of the Congo / USA / Netherlands)
Most of What Follows Is True (Maged Nader, Egypt)
On vous parle de Paris: Maspero, les mots ont un sens (Chris Marker, France, 1970)
(Other) Foundations (Aline Motta, Brazil)
The Phantom Menace (Graeme Arnfield, United Kingdom)
Recovery (Kevin Jerome Everson, USA)
Purple Sea (Amel Alzakout, Khaled Abdulwahed, Germany)
Tatsuniya II (Rahima Gambo, Nigeria)
Untitled Sequence of Gaps (Vika Kirchenbauer, Germany)
Dazed Flesh (Grace Passô, Ricardo Alves Jr., Brazil)
Télé Réalité (Lucile Desamory, Gustave Fundi, Glodie Mubikay, Belgium / Germany / Democratic Republic of the Congo)
The Whole Shebang (Ken Jacobs, USA)
FORUM EXPANDED - GROUP EXHIBITION
A I O U (Anton Vidokle, Adam Khalil, Bayley Sweitzer, USA)
Half Blue (Joe Namy, USA / Lebanon)
Imaginary Explosions, episode 2, Chaitén (Caitlin Berrigan, USA / Chile / Germany)
INFINITY minus Infinity (The Otolith Group, United Kingdom / United Arab Emirates / Belgium)
Memory Also Die (Didi Cheeka Anni, Nigeria)
Porosity Valley 2: Tricksters’ Plot (Ayoung Kim, Republic of Korea)
Quantum Creole (Filipa César, Germany / France / Portugal / Spain)
Secrets of a Digital Garden: 50 Villages - 50 Flowers (Riwaq, Palestine)
Shipwreck at the Threshold of Europe, Lesvos, Aegean Sea: 28 October 2015 (Forensic Architecture, United Kingdom)
The Sun (Kika Thorne, Canada)
Vu de l’extérieur (Lucile Desamory in collaboration with Glodie Mubikay and Gustave Fundi, Belgium / Democratic Republic of the Congo / Luxembourg)
FORUM: 2020 ANNIVERSARY
Reconstruction (Theo Angelopoulos Greece 1970)
Angela – Portrait of A Revolutionary (Yolande du Luart USA / France 1971)
El cuarto poder (Helena Lumbreras, Mariano Lisa Spain 1971)
The Passengers (Annie Tresgot, Algeria 1971)
Eldridge Cleaver, Black Panther (William Klein, Algeria / France 1970)
The Ceremony (Nagisa Ōshima, Japan 1971)
The Great Chicago Conspiracy Circus (Kerry Feltham, Canada 1970)
The Big Mess (Alexander Kluge, Federal Republic of Germany 1971)
I-Outside-Objects (Klaus Bessau, Federal Republic of Germany 1970/1971)
Mare’s Tail (David Larcher, United Kingdom 1969)
My Neighbours (Med Hondo, France 1971)
Monangambeee (Sarah Maldoror, Algeria 1969)
Les mots ont un sens (Chris Marker, France 1970)
The Murder of Fred Hampton (Howard Alk, USA 1970)
It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives (Rosa von Praunheim, Federal Republic of Germany 1971)
Obsession (Luchino Visconti, Italy 1943)
Ostia (Sergio Citti, Italy 1970)
End of the Dialogue (Antonia Caccia, Chris Curling, Simon Louvish, Nana Mahomo, Vus Make, Rakhetla Tsehlana, South Africa 1970)
A Bonus for Irene (Helke Sander, Federal Republic of Germany 1971)
Ramparts of Clay (Jean-Louis Bertuccelli, France / Algeria 1970)
Something Self Explanatory (15x) (Harun Farocki, Hartmut Bitomsky, Federal Republic of Germany 1971)
Happiness (Alexandr Medvedkin, USSR 1935)
Sochaux: 11 Juin 68 (Bruno Muel, Groupe Medvedkine de Sochaux, France 1970)
Soleil Ô (Med Hondo, France / Mauritania 1967)
Les trois-quarts de la vie (Groupe Medvedkine de Sochaux, France 1970)
W.R. – The Mysteries of Organism (Dušan Makavejev, Yugoslavia / Federal Republic of Germany 1971)
The Woman’s Film (Newsreel Group (Judy Smith, Louise Alaimo, Ellen Sorrin), USA 1970)
Eyes Do Not Want to Close at All Times or Perhaps One Day Rome Will Permit Herself to Choose in Her Turn (Jean-Marie Straub, Danièle Huillet, Federal Republic of Germany / Italy 1970)
SHORTS
2008 (Blake Williams,Canada)
À l'entrée de la nuit (Anton Bialas, France)
Aletsch Negative (Laurence Bonvin, Switzerland)
Atkūrimas (Laurynas Bareisa, Lithuania)
Cause of Death (Jyoti Mistry, South Africa / Austria)
Celle qui porte la pluie (Marianne Métivier, Canada)
A Demonstration (Sasha Litvintseva, Beny Wagner, Germany / Netherlands / United Kingdom)
Écume (Omar Elhamy, Canada)
Filipiñana (Rafael Manuel, Philippines / United Kingdom)
Genius Loci (Adrien Mérigeau, France)
Girl and Body (Charlotte Mars, Australia)
Gumnaam Din (Ekta Mittal, India)
HaMa'azin (Omer Sterenberg, Israel)
How to Disappear (Robin Klengel, Leonhard Müllner, Michael Stumpf, Austria)
Huntsville Station (Chris Filippone, Jamie Meltzer, USA)
Inflorescence, Nicolaas Schmidt, Germany)
It Wasn't the Right Mountain, Mohammad (Mili Pecherer, France)
My Galactic Twin Galaction (Sasha Svirsky, Russian Federation)
Playback. Ensayo de una despedida (Agustina Comedi, Argentina)
So We Live (Rand Abou Fakher, Belgium)
Stump the Guesser (Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, Canada)
T (Keisha Rae Witherspoon, USA)
Union County (Adam Meeks, USA)
Veitstanz/Feixtanz (Gabriele Stötzer, GDR, 25’, 1988)