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BERLINALE 2023

The Berlinale unveils its full Forum and Forum Expanded line-ups

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- The German festival has announced new European titles by names such as Claire Simon, Vlad Petri, Mehran Tamadon, Tomasz Wolski and Piotr Pawlus

The Berlinale unveils its full Forum and Forum Expanded line-ups
Our Body by Claire Simon

Today, the Berlinale (16-26 February) announced the full line-ups for its Forum and Forum Expanded strands. In detail, this year’s Forum section will see “powerful documentaries stand alongside highly personal essay films”, and according to the official press release, the 28 titles look set to “celebrate the diversity of cinematic forms, approaches and narratives, and explore the predicaments of the past and present in unflinching fashion”.

Among the Forum’s European highlights is, without a doubt, Claire Simon’s new documentary Our Body [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 (France). In it, the helmer looks around a gynaecological clinic in Paris “with a gaze full of tenderness, collecting scenes of births and cancer diagnoses, consultations about endometriosis and hormone therapy”. Next, Paris-based Iranian filmmaker Mehran Tamadon will present Where God Is Not [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mehran Tamadon
film profile
]
(France/Switzerland). The director asks acquaintances of his, who have served time in Iranian prisons, to reconstruct their experiences in an empty warehouse. Another timely work set to world-premiere at the German gathering is Tomasz Wolski and Piotr PawlusIn Ukraine [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Piotr Pawlus, Tomasz Wolski
film profile
]
(Poland). Here, the two filmmakers examine “the pulse of everyday life in a state of war”, deliberately “avoiding dramatisation and the pathos of urgency”.

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Meanwhile, the 34 films and installations from 20 countries which make up this year’s Forum Expanded line-up revolve around “political and personal legacies which often lie in shambles”, and see their makers “keen on artistic experimentation, [...] propelling them forward on ever-changing and surprising trajectories”. The seven European (co-)productions included in this strand are Ana Vaz’s The Tree (Spain/Brazil), Manthia Diawara’s AI: African Intelligence (Portugal/Senegal/Belgium), Dan Guthrie’s Black Strangers (UK), Heiko-Thandeka Ncube’s The early rain which washes away the chaff before spring rains (Germany), Graeme Arnfield’s Home Invasion (UK), Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory’s Prototype (Canada/Denmark) and Cana Bilir-Meier’s In-between Worlds (Germany).

Here is the complete list of titles (including the previously announced ones – see the news):

Forum

Allensworth – James Benning (USA)
Anqa [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
Helin Çelik (Austria/Spain)
About Thirty – Martin Shanly (Argentina)
Being in a Place – A Portrait of Margaret Tait [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
Luke Fowler (UK)
The Bride – Myriam U Birara (Rwanda)
Cidade Rabat [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
Susana Nobre (Portugal/France)
De Facto [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
Selma Doborac (Austria/Germany)
The Intrusion [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
Flora Dias, Juruna Mallon (Brazil/France)
The Temple Woods Gang [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche (France)
Leaving and Staying [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
Volker Koepp (Germany)
Between Revolutions [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Vlad Petri
film profile
]
Vlad Petri (Romania/Croatia/Qatar/Iran)
There Is a Stone – Tatsunari Ota (Japan)
Where God Is Not [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mehran Tamadon
film profile
]
Mehran Tamadon (France/Switzerland)
Our Body [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
Claire Simon (France)
A Golden Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
Boubacar Sangaré (Burkina Faso/Benin/France)
The Face of the Jellyfish – Melisa Liebenthal (Argentina)
Remembering Every Night – Yui Kiyohara (Japan)
Forms of Forgetting – Burak Çevik (Turkey)
Regardless of Us – Yoo Heong-jun (South Korea)
In Ukraine [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Piotr Pawlus, Tomasz Wolski
film profile
]
Piotr Pawlus, Tomasz Wolski (Poland)
Concrete ValleyAntoine Bourges (Canada)
Dearest Fiona [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fiona Tan
film profile
]
Fiona Tan (Netherlands)
Horse OperaMoyra Davey (USA)
The Trial [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
Ulises de la Orden (Argentina/Italy/France/Norway)
Calls from Moscow [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
Luís Alejandro Yero (Cuba/Germany/Norway)
Mammalia [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
Sebastian Mihăilescu (Romania/Poland/Germany)
Notes from Eremocene [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Viera Čákanyová
film profile
]
Viera Čákanyová (Czech Republic/Slovakia)
This Is the End [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
Vincent Dieutre (France)

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