Emily Atef, Andreas Dresen, Wim Wenders, moderated by Jörg Taszman

When it comes to portraying life upfront, with all its dreams, disappointments, daily struggles and sudden surprises until the very last moment, German cinema features diverse filmmakers who have their own strong personal styles specific to their films. An influential figure in New German Cinema in the 1970s, legendary filmmaker Wim Wenders’ cache of award- winning and critically acclaimed films include The American Friend (1978), Paris, Texas (1984), Wings of Desire (1987), Buena Vista Social Club (1999) and Don’t Come Knocking (2005).

His new film, Palermo Shooting, enjoyed its world premiere in the official competition of the Festival de Cannes 2008. One of the most impressive directors of contemporary German cinema, Andreas Dresen has been a writer and director for film and television since the early 1990s. He gained international renown in 1998 for Night Shapes, which won, amongst others, the Berlinale Silver Bear. His other award-winning films include Grill Point (2002 Berlinale Silver Bear) and Summer in Berlin (2005) and the recent feature Cloud 9, which won the Heart Throb Jury Prize at the Festival de Cannes 2008.

French-Iranian filmmaker born in Berlin, Emily Atef’s first feature length film Molly’s Way (2005) received the Jury’s Special Award and was screened in the "International Critic’s Week" of the Festival de Cannes 2008. She is currently in pre-production for her third film Kill Me. Representing three different generations of German cinema, these exemplary filmmakers join forces to throw light on how cinema is a splendid way of capturing dreams, allowing visions to become an integral part of life and making small dreams and great expectations come true on the big screen.

Fredrik Gertten, Laura Poitras, Anat Zuria, moderated by Jörg Taszman

In cooperation with Berlinale Forum and Berlinale Culinary Cinema.

Unveiling unpleasant truths when shooting documentary films challenges filmmakers to balance between building strong trust with their protagonists and taking significant risks. What if the story told endangers protagonists and the film crew or enrages major organisations depicted in the film? Laura Poitras’ THE OATH intimately portrays a man whose involvement with Al-Qaeda sets him on a course of events that take him to Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, Guantanamo, and the U.S. Supreme Court, and revolves around the question of the oath he swore to Bin Laden. Fredrik Gertten's film BANANAS!* confronts the viewer with the banana industry in Latin America, where US-American company Dole dominates the market and forces workers to face life-endangering working conditions. Dole sued the filmmaker after the release of the film. Anat Zuria’s BLACK BUS deals with the ultra-orthodox separation of men and women in public, telling the story of two young women and their courageous attempt to document the society from which they have fled. The directors, who present their films at this year’s Berlinale, discuss the perils of filming on tricky ground.