Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, Arta Dobroshi, Sunil Doshi, Raphaël Nadjari, moderated by Dorothee Wenner

In cooperation with Berlinale Forum and Berlinale Shorts.

Chance, destiny, fate, karma or kismet: call it what you like, but each represents that single minute thing that we least control but desperately wish for when reality turns sour. Films work on the psychological level, the plot level, the political level – and the mythic level as well. Fate is a more or less accepted element in Eastern storytelling – but the good old days of deus ex machina expeditiously solving delicate situations are gone.

And it isn’t just stories originating in the east; most stories of cultures are inevitably linked to fate. The nature of fate is that no matter how you try to avoid it, it tracks you down. Films tell stories about people coming together unexpectedly, exploring their full potential, the journey of discovering a dream job or changing careers – thus coping with the hand fate has dealt them and changing protagonists‘ lives dramatically. At the same time, fate has also changed the course of life and careers of those participating in the films. And which filmmaker doesn‘t dream of recognition or a break-through enabling him or her to make films more easily in the future? Dorothee Wenner leads high profile experts into a discussion on how fate intervenes in film.