The major emphasis of many of the films already selected demonstrates concern with history, politics and the challenges of the future.  

In his latest film THE BIG ONE, the American Michael Moore, whose political satire Roger and Me caused a sensation at the 1990 Forum, embarks on a tour d'horizon through the desolation wrought by liberal economic policies in the country. A born stand-up comedian, Moore always discovers the grotesque within the bitter reality and takes up arms against managerial culture with unshakable optimism. 

US avant-garde director Lynn Hershman's feature CONCEIVING ADA is both a historical appreciation and a slice of pie in the sky: a cyberspace artist achieves virtual contact with the past. In this fascinating film and video experiment, British actress Tilda Swinton plays Countess Ada Byron, who in the year 1843 devised what is now recognised as the first computer programme in history. 

At the heart of the Forum programme is Ron Havilio's FRAGMENTS * JERUSALEM / SHIVREI T MUNOT YERUSHALAIM. Six hours long, with seven chapters, it took more than ten years to make and includes an unparalleled abundance of historical visual material. The history of the city of Jerusalem and the director's family story with all its changes are linked to create an outstanding essay on the driving forces of civilisation. 

The Forum will be screening the world premiere of Rudolf Thome's TIGERSTREIFENBABY WARTET AUF TARZAN (TIGER-STRIPE WOMAN WAITS FOR TARZAN). In many ways a utopian film, it shows how a strange visitor from the future inspires a handful of earth inhabitants to search for personal happiness.  

From the very beginning, the Forum has shown particular interest in young Japanese cinema. Director Masashi Yamamoto was already a Forum guest eleven years ago with his film Robinson's Garden. Yamamoto's latest film JUNK FOOD is an eccentric panorama of outsiders and stray people in night-time Tokyo. Sketched in sharp contours, the film shows the explosive atmosphere in a society between the extremes of globalisation and tradition. 

The Dutch director Johan van der Keuken is once again a Forum guest this time. Following his four-hour long Amsterdam Global Village, TO SANG FOTOSTUDIO also offers a sensitive picture of the multicultural city. This half-hour short will be complemented by Ramon Gieling's LEVEN MIT JE OGEN (LIVING WITH YOUR EYES), an extremely insightful portrait of the filmmaker van der Keuken and his work, which transgresses cultural and national barriers just as easily and naturally as the border between documentary and feature film. 

December 22, 1997