If you've had your fill of Christmas Markets and sloshing around banks of snow to get your mitts around some Glühwein or Bratwurst, you're probably ready for a change of pace on Christmas Eve.
This is the best day on which to visit one of Berlin's museums, a few of which -- like the Bode Museum at the Museum Island -- are open till 2 p.m. Finally, you will have the beautiful art and opulent interior spaces all to yourself. There couldn't be a better time than the morning of Christmas Eve to take in the Bode Museum's collection of Byzantine art, leaving the last-minute shoppers and madding crowd far behind.
photo: Gunnar Bach Pedersen/Wikimedia Commons
After that, you have time to stroll down Oranienburgerstrasse and later, to stop by the Sophienkirche, which has a live manger scene, beginning at 4.30 p.m., and a sacred music program at 6 p.m.
Merry Christmas!
See Spiegel Online's photo gallery on the Bode Museum here.
The Bode Museum is at the Musuem Island, on Am Kupfergraben 1. The nearest subway is S and U Friedrichstr. or Bus 100 or 200 (stop: Staatsoper).
The Sophienkirche is at Hackescher Markt, on Große Hamburgerstr. 29. The nearest subway is U Weinmeisterstr.
Ever since he saw the comedy "Liebesgrüße vom Wörthersee " at age seventeen, Bernhard Karl was hooked on films. His early career years were spent as theater director in München, but his dream was to work for one of the major film festivals. He applied to the Berlinale but was turned down. "Why don't you create your own film festival?" asked one of his friends. That was the beginning of "Around the World in 14 Films," the film festival without red carpets.
Bernhard Karl is the founder of "Around the World in 14 Films," now taking place at the Kino Babylon in its fifth edition. Each year, Karl travels to ten festivals in 14 world regions, from Locarno to Toronto, from Cannes to Venice. He sees some 5000 films a year. Then he brings home a selection of his favorites for the broad public, mere unaccredited mortals who have no access to the top festivals in exotic locations.
This festival is like no other. Run on a shoestring budget, with help from supporters, sponsors and friends, its administrative team consists of Karl and his laptop. The screenings include no glamour, no popping flashbulbs, no red carpets. Just great films and avid cineasts.
Scene from "Curling," directed by Denis Côté (Canada)
Actually, avid and eternally grateful cineasts -- because many of these films will never make it to German movie houses. "The only films that are successful commercially, " sighs Karl, "are comedies or films about Hitler." That's exactly why "Around the World in 14 Films" fills a niche. It brings home some of the best films shown in world festivals and, at the same time, gives producers a brilliant opportunity to find a public for box-office non-starters.
One of the most interesting films this year (and Karl's personal favorite) is "Autobiografia Lui Nicolae Ceausescu, " a bio pic about the Romanian dictator. Director Andrei Ujica went through 1000 hours of footage to find material for this gem of a film.
Temperatures are sub-zero and the Berlinale isn't till February. See you at the Babylon this weekend?
"Around the World in 14 Films" runs from Friday, November 26 to Saturday, December 4 at Kino Babylon, Rosa-Luxemburg Strasse 30 (U Rosa-Luxemburg Platz). The next screening of "Autobiografia Lui Nicolae Ceausescu, " is on Saturday, December 4, at 16:00. For more details go to the Festival website.
Who is the most interesting person you know? Stuart Holt, British photographer, has been traveling to some of the world's metropolitan cities, asking this question.
Each person he films sends him to somebody he or she finds most interesting, who then becomes the next stop on Holt's filmic journey. This domino reaction continues till, finally, Holt has created what he calls a trail -- a linked sequence of short films, featuring ordinary people who talk about their passions, convictions and personal heroes. Each "most interesting person" also chooses the location for the conversation. Long Trail Film Making, says Holt, is a great way to get "behind the skin" of a throbbing metropolis.
Stuart Holt started the project in London, continuing on to New York, Los Angeles, Sao Paulo and Tel Aviv. For the past year he has been in Berlin, and recently, he presented his series of short films in the Ballhaus Ost. The Berlin trails -- four in all -- are fascinating portraits of the people behind the creative energy of this city. Berlin's Trail Four, for instance, begins with Jetta Miller, film producer and director, who talks to Holt in her apartment in Berlin Mitte.
From Jetta Miller, the trail moves on to Rebecca Bach, video and performance artist. Bach chooses the Plänterwald as the environment in which to talk about her video project, "Wo sind Sie überhaupt?", an exploration of Berlin on foot along a single axis that cuts through the city. Bach's personal hero is Thorsten Schmitz, journalist for the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Schmitz talks quietly about reporting in conflict zones while he walks through the Pfaueninsel, a natural surrounding which, in his words, allows you to listen to silence and simply "be."
Schmitz's most interesting person is Edda Kruse Rosset, student, who talks to us from the place that is most significant for her: the "magic rooftops" above her house in Kreuzberg, one of the empty buildings that were occupied by squatters in the 1980s. Rosset points us to Beanne da Costa, also a student. Eighteen-year-old da Costa takes us through the park in Friedrichshain, and in the sun-dappled light slanting through trees, she shares with us her conviction of the power of music. In this delightful clip, she sings, narrates and dissolves into peals of laughter whenever she cannot take herself too seriously.
I asked Holt if the Berlin sequence was different from the others. Very much so, said Holt. The most interesting persons in London or Los Angeles, for instance, tended to be those who could further the careers of others. The choices of Berliners were more honest, varied and unpredictable. This city is a cultural ground zero, said Holt, which makes the Berlin stories that much richer.
Holt's sequences of three-minute-long portraits are spot on: a snapshot of Berlin 2010. Take a look at this "under the skin" perspective of the city on the Most Interesting Person website. And keep an eye open just in case this talented photographer/filmmaker happens to be following a trail in your city!
Each post emerges from conversations with Berliners about what they are planning to see or do that week. Instead of covering the major exhibitions, festivals and stage productions you'll see in international media and English-language blogs, Culture Crawl focuses mostly on smaller or locally publicized events. The cultural spaces and events featured here usually cost nothing or, at best, a modest sum -- but behind them you'll find a curious story, a slice of history, a local angle, a creative entrepreneur or a nifty idea.
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