Aurielle Akerele in The Inheritance
Aurielle Akerele in The Inheritance

17 films makes up the 51st Berlinale Forum program and the Forum Expanded film selection consists of four short film selections, one medium-length film and two feature-length films, with a total of 18 films to be shown in March at the 2021 Berlin International Film Festival. Eight installations will also be shown in June.

In the Berlinale Forum, many films take narrative detours, alternating between fiction and documentary like Manque La Banca’s debut Esquí (Ski) and dipping into archives to link findings from the past with the present. Jean-Luc Godard’s La chinoise is, for example, subjected to two separate revisions in Ephraim Asili’s The Inheritance and Vincent Meessen’s Juste un movement (Just A Movement) respectively. In her feature-length debut Sichuan hao nuren (The Good Woman of Sichuan), Sabrina Zhao transforms one of Brecht’s learning-plays into an opaque cinematic space. Uldus Bakhtiozina’s debut Doch rybaka (Tzarevna Scaling) tells a straightforward fairy tale on the one hand, while filling her fiction with dizzying culture historical pirouettes on the other. Her characters even have the shiniest diamond-encrusted teeth.

The Forum Expanded, titled “The Days Float Through My Eyes” is taken from the song “Changes” by David Bowie, is organized by Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art and is positioning itself at the place where cinema meets other areas of art and society for the 16th time.

Films of the 51st Berlinale Forum

À pas aveugles (From Where They Stood)
France / Germany
by Christophe Cognet
with Christophe Cognet
*World premiere

Anmaßung (Anamnesis)
Germany
by Chris Wright, Stefan Kolbe
with Nadia Ihjelj, Josephine Hock
*World premiere

Doch rybaka (Tzarevna Scaling)
Russian Federation
by Uldus Bakhtiozina
with Alina Korol, Viktoria Lisovskaya, Valentina Yasen
*International premiere / Debut film

Esquí (Ski)
Argentina / Brazil
by Manque La Banca
with José Alejandro Colin, Segundo Botti, Shaman Herrera
*World premiere / Debut film

The First 54 Years – An Abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation
France / Finland / Israel / Germany
by Avi Mograbi
with Avi Mograbi
*World premiere

Garderie nocturne (Night Nursery)
Burkina Faso / France / Germany
by Moumouni Sanou
*World premiere / Debut film

The Inheritance
USA
by Ephraim Asili
with Eric Lockley, Nozipho McClean, Chris Jarrell
Debut film

Jai jumlong (Come Here)
Thailand
by Anocha Suwichakornpong
with Apinya Sakuljaroensuk, Waywiree Ittianunkul, Sirat Intarachote
*World premiere

Juste un mouvement (Just A Movement)
Belgium / France
by Vincent Meessen
with Dialo Blondin Diop, Ousman Blondin Diop, Marie-Thérèse Diedhiou
*World premiere

Mbah Jhiwo (Mbah Jhiwo / Ancient Soul)
Spain
by Alvaro Gurrea
with Yono Aris Munandar, Sayu Kholif, Musaena’h
*World premiere / Debut film

No táxi do Jack (Jack’s Ride)
Portugal
by Susana Nobre
with Amindo Martins Rato, Maria Carvalho, Joaquim Verissimo
*World premiere

Qué será del verano (What Will Summer Bring)
Argentina
by Ignacio Ceroi
with Ignacio Ceroi, Mariana Martinelli, Charles Louvet
*World premiere

A River Runs, Turns, Erases, Replaces
USA
by Shengze Zhu
*World premiere

Sichuan hao nuren (The Good Woman of Sichuan)
Canada
by Sabrina Zhao
with Weihang He, Ruobing Zhao
*World premiere / Debut film

Ste. Anne
Canada
by Rhayne Vermette
with Isabelle d’Eschambault, Jack Theis, Valerie Marion
*World premiere / Debut film

Taming the Garden
Switzerland / Germany / Georgia
by Salomé Jashi

La veduta luminosa (The Luminous View)
Italy / Spain
by Fabrizio Ferraro
with Alessandro Carlini, Catarina Wallenstein, Freddy Paul Grunert
*World premiere

Films of the 16th Forum Expanded

Black Bach Artsakh
Republic of Artsakh, 140’
by Ayreen Anastas, Rene Gabri
*World premiere

Ploy
Thailand / Singapore, 51’
by Prapat Jiwarangsan
*International premiere

Saba’ sanawat hawl delta al-neel (Seven Years Around the Nile Delta)
Egypt, 331’
by Sharief Zohairy
*International premiere

Short film selection #01

Songs of the Shirt
Germany, 4 x 1’
by Kerstin Schroedinger
*World premiere

One of the four Songs of the Shirt will be screened in each selection

Lost on Arrival
Netherlands, 8’
by PolakVanBekkum
*International premiere

Böse zu sein ist auch ein Beweis von Gefühl (Fury is a Feeling Too)
Germany, 25’
by Cynthia Beatt

Night for Day
Portugal / Austria, 47’
by Emily Wardill
*International premiere

Short film selection #02

13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
Portugal, 31’
by Ana Vaz
*World premiere

Autotrofia
Italy, 31’
by Anton Vidokle
*World premiere

The Coast
India, 17’
by Sohrab Hura
*World premiere

Short film selection #03

May June July
USA, 8’
by Kevin Jerome Everson
*World premiere

Bicentenario
Colombia / Canada, 43’
by Pablo Alvarez Mesa

“레드필터가 철회됩니다.” (“The Red Filter is Withdrawn.“)
Republic of Korea, 11’
by Minjung Kim
*International premiere

Mudança (Upheaval)
Germany / Portugal, 27’
by Welket Bungué
*International premiere

Short film selection #04

After Life Followed by Red Impasto Jar
Finland, 9’
by Jonna Kina
*World premiere

Kapita
USA, 22’
by Petna Katondolo
*World premiere

Zahlvaterschaft (Fatherland)
Germany, 22’
by Moritz Siebert
*World premiere

Ahorita Frames
Germany, 22’
by Angelika Levi
*World premiere

Installations

All of Your Stars are But Dust on my Shoes
Lebanon
by Haig Aivazian
*International premiere

Black Beauty: For a Shamanic Cinema
Spain / United Kingdom / Belgium
by Grace Ndiritu
*World premiere

Jole dobe na (Those Who Do Not Drown)
India / Japan / Sweden
by Naeem Mohaiemen
*International premiere

Medicine and Magic
Canada
by Thirza Cuthand
*World premiere

Se hace camino al andar
Brazil
by Paula Gaitán
*International premiere

Sous le masque blanc: le film qu’Haesaerts aurait pu réaliser (Under the White Mask: The Film That Haesaerts Could Have Made)
Belgium
by Matthias De Groof
* World premiere

The Song of the Shirt
Germany
by Kerstin Schroedinger
*World premiere

Voices and Shells
Germany
by Maya Schweizer

The Wake
Haiti / France / United Kingdom
by The Living and the Dead Ensemble
*World premiere

The Zama Zama Project
USA / South Africa / Canada
by Rosalind Morris
*International premiere

Share ...

Subscribe for Blog Updates

Sign up for our latest updates.

Please follow us to get updates online.