I’ve been spending a bit of time over in the former eastern sector of Berlin (“East Berlin,” though never known as such to the East Germans – Berlin was plain old “Berlin,” perhaps snubbing the West Germans). During those past few days, I’m astonished how much the buildings along the Leipziger Strasse remind me remind me of my time in Prague. The architecture, understandably-enough, is so strikingly similar, with Berlin receiving even more of the grandiose Communist stuff given the pedigree and reputation of this burg under the GDR (it was literally their “Alamo”) and the fact that it was the site of so many standoffs between the Soviets and the Allies.
For the past week, as well, I’ve been getting into several chats with local artists and filmmakers and polling them on their views re: the state of the art scene in town and what Berlin’s like as a backdrop for films and the like.
So I’ve basically been in heavy intake mode, with the wide funnel approach to research, which essentially means there’s been less of a content production churn than is typically the case when I’m back at PMD-For-Hire HQ in Toronto.
Here are some of the things I’ve noticed so far as I go about town which is why I think this city makes for excellent film film fodder:
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