2026 | Forum Expanded
Unauthorised Versions
Butterfly Stories: Malaise II
For two decades now, the Berlinale Forum Expanded has been opening up the cinematic space to experimental and artistic moving images and extended film forms such as expanded cinema performances and video and film installations. The artists whose work is presented in the programme often find unusual approaches and perspectives on current political and social issues.
With the title of “Unauthorised Versions”, the programme of the 21st Forum Expanded brings together 33 films, installations and performances from 31 countries. Many of the selected works explore history and historiography and, in doing so, examine which perspectives and voices are often omitted from official reports and narratives. Which groups are denied visibility and justice? And how can the established view of historical events and their consequences be broadened or challenged?
These other, unofficial stories and perspectives that are presented in the films and installations often revolve around violence – both physical and structural – perpetrated or tolerated by a state. But they also show how solidarity can be effective across geographical and social boundaries.
Narrative
Narrative by Anocha Suwichankornpong is an example of these films that are entirely dedicated to giving a voice to the unheard. In a film studio, the relatives of pro-democracy demonstrators killed by the military at a rally in Thailand in 2010 gather. The bereaved families are, to this day, fighting in vain for an official investigation into the killings and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. Through discussion groups and guided conversation exercises, the film slowly and patiently uncovers the many layers of injustice.
Fanfictie: Volcanology
Riar Rizaldi is returning to Forum Expanded with Fanfictie: Volcanology , an installation that negotiates the friction points between local Indonesian knowledge creation and Western science using the example of a geologist living an eternal life, undead, inside an active volcano. This camp zombie movie follows the delirious researcher on his journey through the bubbling underworld and eavesdrops on his pronouncements about the significance of volcanoes in Javanese culture.
„Land Invaders“
For the first time, a video game is being featured in the Forum Expanded exhibition with “Land Invaders”. This work by Cass Gardiner and Juan Mateo Menendez is an anti-colonialist variation on the classic arcade game, “Space Invaders”. While the goal in the latter was to prevent aliens from reaching the surface of planet Earth, in “Land Invaders” the objective is to thwart Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” of North America – or rather, Turtle Island, as the First Nations call their homeland.
Uchronia
Resistance is also the driving force behind Fil Ieropoulos’ experimental essay film Uchronia. Guided by Arthur Rimbaud, the film sweeps us away on a wild ride through the history of the 20th century’s queer avant-garde. We encounter not only Emma Goldman, David Wojnarowicz, Marsha P. Johnson and other icons and pioneers, but are also confronted with the question: What could a queer avant-garde look like today? What form of resistance is both necessary and possible?
Warnungen an die ferne Zukunft (Warnings to the distant future)
Juliana Jaschnow and Stefanie Schroeder also focus on vast timescales – so vast that they defy human imagination. Their film Warnungen an die ferne Zukunft (Warnings to the distant future) depicts the arduous efforts being made to establish a permanent, joint East/West German nuclear waste repository. This essay film observes, with incredulous yet sincere interest, protest boat trips and online civic participation forums, nuclear power plants repurposed as amusement parks and the Last Generation’s mashed-potato protests.
Born of the Yam
And finally, Born of the Yam is one of the expanded cinema performances in the programme. Singaporean duo Mark Chua and Lam Li Shuen use hand-developed 16mm film, feedback, noise and a multitude of projections for a ritual dedicated to a demigod who emerged from the root of a yam. A screen-busting experience.
All Works and Events in the Forum Expanded 2026:
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