Berlin

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The Berlinale begins…

9. Februar 2012 in Berlin, Circus News, Festivals, Film by Paul

circus berlinale

…and we’ve got some wonderful goodie bags for filmgoers available from the hotel reception and created by our wonderful team at Fabisch. The “movie bags” come with popcorn, gummi bears, water, sparkling wine, pretzels and the sandwich of your choice, and are the perfect packed lunch for a busy day of film screenings. Also, guests of the Circus should also keep an eye out for our special ticket giveaways, held an alternate days, giving you the chance to win free tickets to a surprise screening of our choice. Who knows what you might discover.

Want more? Then check out our very special Circus Guide to the Berlinale, or visit the film festival website here.

Have fun!

Issue 3 of C Magazine is launched

8. Februar 2012 in Berlin, Circus News by Paul

It is that time again, as we took delivery last week of the crisp and freshly printed latest edition of C Magazine. As always we have plenty of tips and suggestions about Berlin from the Circus team, plus news and information about the hostel, hotel and apartments. For the third edition, we also have some contributions from some good friends of the Circus – including:

Paul Sullivan (from Slow Travel Berlin) on the Bauhaus archive in Berlin.
Nicky Gardner (from Hidden Europe) on a Bauhaus-themed day-trip from Berlin to Dessau.
Jim Hudson (architecture blogger and cake-shop co-owner) on riots and regeneration in Berlin-Kreuzberg.
Winifried Schweitzer (ZZB eyewitness) on his memories of building a tunnel under the Berlin Wall and the night the wall came down.

Many thanks to all of them for their contributions, as well as Lotte Rowley for her wonderful translation work and of course Julia Stone for the tremendous graphic design and layout that makes the magazine such a visual treat. Hard copies are there for our guests in the three houses, but if you want to take a look you will find a virtual version just below these words… Happy reading.

A brief history of Rosenthaler Platz

7. Februar 2012 in Berlin, Circus Hostel, Circus News, History, Our Neighbourhood by Paul

As part of our slideshows which you will find in the hallways of the Circus Hostel, we have put together a brief history of Rosenthaler Platz – our neighbourhood – which is based on the wonderfully-detailed essay on the topic prepared with help from Jakob Hübner and the Centrum Judaicum here in Berlin. If you’ve got a lunch break approaching and you would like an interesting read with your sandwiches, then you can find the essay here, otherwise scroll down and see our brief history of the Rosenthaler Platz below:

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Exclusive Film Screening: Dreams of a Life

6. Februar 2012 in Berlin, Events, Film by Paul

BFS Dreamsofalife

As part of Berlin Black History Month, the Berlin Film Society are presenting an exclusive screening of the critically acclaimed British independent film ‘Dreams of a Life’. The film tells the true story of Joyce, who died in her London flat but who was not discovered for three years, when her body was finally found surrounded by just-wrapped Christmas presents and with the television still on.

The film interweaves interviews with imagined scenes of Joyce’s life, and is a portrait not only of Joyce but of London, of urban lives, and how someone can somehow slip off the radar in the middle of our contemporary society. The screening will be held on the 13th February at 8.30pm at the Babylon Kino here in Berlin Mitte, and will be followed by a discussion and Q & A with the film’s Director Carol Morley, leading actress Zawe Ashton, and will be moderated by good friend of the Circus, Sharmaine Lovegrove, the founder of Dialogue Books.

Tickets cost €8 (€4 for Society members) and it promises to be a truly memorable evening, so go check it out. Here’s the trailer:

The Circus Guide to the Berlinale 2012

3. Februar 2012 in Berlin, Events, Festivals, Film by Paul

BerlinaleOh baby, it’s coming soon! The cultural head honchos of our home city appear to understand that when Berlin’s winter really bites, then Christmas as a diversionary tactic is simply not going to cut it, so through January and February there are a whole number of different events taking place around the city to keep our souls warm including one of the world’s finest film festivals.

Indeed, for the average cinema-going Joe and Josephine, who has no press credentials and belongs to no list – A, B, C, or otherwise – then the Berlinale is regarded as particularly welcoming due to the number of general sale tickets there are available, including to the red carpet premieres. But to be honest, the camera-snapping, mayor-attending big shows are not the highlight of this event… No, the highlight comes with the discovery of films that you just know will never make it to your neighbourhood arthouse cinema, let alone the local WorldofCineMegaPlex, as the world brings their films to the German capital and puts them up there on the big screens of the Berlinale for everyone to see.

OK, so that all sounds great, right? But the question is, “what about the practicalities, man?” Ah yes, it is important to know how this thing works. The official website, it has to be said, has a wealth of information, but we have pulled out some of the most useful bits for the annual…

…CIRCUS GUIDE TO THE BERLINALE

Part I – When and Where on Earth… ?

The 62nd edition of the Berlin International Film Festival will take place from the 9th – 19th February. Most of the cinemas are around the Potsdamer Platz, although there are participating venues throughout the city. Check out the VENUES page on the official website for more information including maps and stuff.

Part II – The Fillums

Much of the glamour around the festival comes from the Competition, which is where filmmakers from around the world go head to head to be awarded the prestigious Golden Bear. But actually much of the joy of the Berlinale can be found in the other sections, which are as follows:

PANORAMA – showcases new films, new directors and new discoveries from around the world. All films will be holding their world or European premiere, and this is the corner of the festival where you will find lots of international film buyers looking for the next big thing.

FORUM – avant garde, experimental, young filmmakers… this is the most “out there” section of the programme, where, in the words or the organisers, the festival “straddle(s) the line between art and cinema.”

GENERATION – short and feature films aimed at children and young people, and hosted in the main by the House of World Cultures in the Tiergarten.

PERSPEKTIVE DEUTSCHES KINO – 12 filmmakers selected to showcase the best in German cinematic talent.

RETROSPECTIVE – what is says in the tin. In 2012 the title of the Retrospective section is “The Red Dream Factory” and showcases the rediscovered and legendary German-Russian film studio: Mezhrabpom-Film and its German branch Prometheus, who wrote film history from 1922 to 1936.

HOMAGE – this section always pays, well, homage to one personality from the world of film. This year’s recipient is Meryl Streep, and audiences have the chance to see seven of her films from the 1977 work Kramer vs Kramer to her most recent portrayal of the British Prime Minister Margret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. For some reason, there is no screening of Mama Mia(!).

The programme goes online at the beginning of February and can be found here: PROGRAMME

Part III – Ti-ckets!

If you will be Berlin over the 10 days of the festival, then of course the question you want answered is: how do we get in to see the films? Well, its relatively easy. Beginning on the 6th February, films go on sale at the ticket offices and a limited allocation through the Berlinale website.

You can only purchase films less than 3 days in advance (4 days for competition films), and on the day of the screening tickets are only available at the specific box office. The central ticket sales points are at the Arkaden on Potsdamer Platz, the Kino International on Karl-Marx-Allee, and the Urania near Nollendorfplatz (open times for all sales points: 10am-8pm).

There are different prices for special screenings and premieres, and at the time of writing prices have not be confirmed, but most tickets are usually around €8. Detailed ticket information is available online at the Berlinale website, here: TICKETS

Enjoy the festival, and keep your eyes pealed both on the blog and at the Circus for the chance to win some tickets to Berlinale screenings as part of the by-now-annual Circus Berlinale Ticket Giveaway!

Under Trees: Exhibition at the German Historical Museum

30. Januar 2012 in Berlin, History, Museum by Paul

forest

From the Germanic tribes repelling the Romans from between the trees to the fairytales collected by the Brothers Grimm and the post-war environmentalist movement against the dangers of “forest death”, the German imagination has often been stirred by the forest. Right at this moment there is an exhibition taking place at the German Historical Museum that explores the importance of the forest not only as a place of recreation but its symbolic, spiritual and (yes) fairytale role in poetry, art and music.

From the website:

The exhibition will visualize this special relationship of the Germans to the forest, focusing first on the Romantic Age around 1800, when the forest and the trees first became a matter of scientifically based forest management and at the same time enriched literature, music and the graphic arts as subject and theme. It was above all painting – the core of the exhibition – that shaped patterns of perception that have marked our view of the forest up to the present day.

It looks extremely interesting, and we cannot recommend enough the German Historical Museum in general, as one of the best in Berlin and a must-see for anyone interested in history of the city and the country. The “Under Trees” exhibition is running until the 4th March 2012.

More information on the website.

CTM.12 – Festival for Adventurous Music

27. Januar 2012 in Art, Berlin, Events, Festivals, Music by Paul

From the 30th January to the 5th February, various venues across the city will be hosting concerts, exhibitions and discourses as part of CTM.12 – Festival for Adventurous Music and Related Arts. This is the thirteenth edition of the Festival, and as always the CTM is running in parallel to and in cooperation with transmediale – Berlin’s festival for art and digital culture (25 years old this year – happy birthday guys!).

Here’s some more on CTM.12:

In addition to a comprehensive music program at HAU, Berghain, Passionskirche, Gretchen, Kater Holzig, .HBC and Horst Krzbrg, a discourse series developed in collaboration with the philosopher, psycho-historian and author Andreas L. Hofbauer will address the festival’s theme by pursuing questions concerning art, theory, and music.

Ghosts Off the Shelf is an exhibit created by the curator, art critic, and architect Thibaut de Ruyter at the Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien, and explores the artistic use of the exponentially growing capacities of technical archives and their “inherent ghosts”. The exhibit opens on 27 January as part of Vorspiel, a comprehensive partner program within which a number of independent Berlin art, music, and media spaces will present their activities.

Full programme and loads more stuff on the official website: CTM.12

Australia Day in Goldman’s Bar

25. Januar 2012 in Beer, Berlin, Circus Hostel, Events, Music by Paul

the barnhoff

As you can see, we have slightly adapted our Hoff shrine in Goldman’s Bar in honour of Australia’s national day, which is tomorrow. But more than that we have an awfully good evening planned, so if you are up for any of the following then come on down and join the fun. It doesn’t matter if you are Aussie, Kiwi, Pom, German, Italian, French or anything else, we’re all ready to party. Here’s the poster:

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