GDR Skateboarders, Missing Children and Slam Poets in Berlin's Perspektive Deutsches Kino Lineup

COLOGNE, Germany - The strange world of East German skateboarders, modern-day slam poets and the plight of recent immigrants are some of the topics explored in this year's Persepektive Deutsches Kino lineup, the Berlin International Film Festival sidebar focusing on films from young German directors.

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Among this year's selections are two documentaries on seldom-seen German subcultures. Marten Persiel's This Ain't California, compiled from super-8 home movie footage, looks at the underground culture of Rollbrettfahrer, as skateboarders were called in communist East Germany. Marion Hutter's Rhymers and Rivals examines the world of German slam poets from Berlin to Bochum.

The features on offer include Jan Speckenbach's Reported Missing, a drama centering on a missing child; and Karaman, a self-financed feature from directing duo Tamer Yigit and Branka Prlic about a Muslim woman who wants to immigrate to Germany against her family's wishes.

The 2012 Berlinale runs Feb.9-19.

The 2012 full lineup of Perspektive Deustsches Kino:
Ararat dir. Engin Kundag
Rhymers and Rivals dir. Marion Hutter
Reported Missing dir. Jan Speckenbach
Before Tomorrow dir. Joachim Schoenfeld
Karaman dir. Tamer Yigit and Branka Prlic
Man for a Day dir. Katarina Peters
Rodicas dir. Alice Gruia
Sometimes we sit and think, and sometimes we just sit dir. Julian Porksen
Dying Not Planned For dir. Matthias Stoll
Out Off dir. Janis Mazuch
This Ain’t California dir. Marten Persiel
Trattoria dir. Soleen Yusef
Westerland dir. Tim Staffel