Differing life plans, generational conflicts and the ambivalence of so-called progress are at the centre of numerous films in the 2012 Forum programme.       As such, Ann-Kristin Reyels' film Formentera follows a young couple on holiday who run into the '68 ideals of their parents' generation and come to realise the extent to which their own ideas about life diverge from one another. Sleepless Knights by Stefan Butzmühlen and Cristina Diz ...

Now that the programme is almost complete it can be said that in the aftermath of the financial crisis truly independent cinema is at an advantage. The themes of many first films are daring and hence inspiring, as seen in the work of Israeli filmmaker Michal Aviad who, set against the backdrop of the interminable Palestinian-Israeli conflict, has her protagonists work through traumas in Lo Roim Alaich (Invisible), or with French director Céline Sciamma whose Tomboy portrays the coming of age of...