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 13^th 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:

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 62^nd edition of the Berlin International Film Festival will take place from the 9^th – 19^th 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!

From the 30^th January to the 5^th 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

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:

Every Tuesday one of the Circus owners – Jim – takes guests on a very special free tour to somewhere in the city that, well, he basically finds interesting. As he has a love for off-beat spots they are often in weird and wonderful corners of Berlin, that you basically would probably not visit during a “normal” exploration of the city.

The tour for tomorrow is to the Allied Museum, located in the former headquarters of the American military in (West) Berlin, and the museum itself can be found in old Army cinema. The US presence in Berlin that began with the division of the city into zones of occupation following the Second World War came to an end in 1994, four years after the reunification of Germany.

On the tour guests will get to see the original guard cabin from the Checkpoint Charlie border crossing in the Berlin Wall, as well as a GDR guard tower and one of the world famous “Candy Bombers”. These were planes that were used during the Airlift of 1948/9, when Stalin closed all land-based supply routes to the western zones of the city in an attempt to squeeze the Allies and, ultimately, bring all of Berlin under Soviet control.

Thanks to an extraordinary effort, West Berlin was supplied by air – the sheer number of planes and flights needed was astounding – and the siege failed. As the planes came into land, usually at the old Tempelhof airport, the pilots dropped sweets on little parachutes to the children waiting below, and it was from this action that they got their nickname. It was an incredible propaganda coup at a time of heightened Cold War tensions, and helped cement support for the Allies and the West within those zones of the city.

Jimbo’s Tour is free – although you will need public transport tickets to and from the museum – and is open to all guests of The Circus. Places are limited so people need to sign up at reception. And if you are not in Berlin but you are coming to Berlin soon, keep a look out for the Tuesday tours. On the hostel website you can find a list of the upcoming tours. See you soon!

So the fashion world is in town again, for the Berlin Fashion Week – with the former Tempelhof Airport being the location for Bread & Butter. Our mates from the States Red Wing Shoes are there, but there are plenty of other things going on Berlin this week that are worth checking out as well.

One such event, which we like for its tongue in cheek title, is Toast & Jam, Berlin’s first vintage fashion market that is being held just down the road from Tempelhof and which is completely open to the public. Here’s some details:

From January 19-21, 2012, Exberliner Magazine and Nowkoelln Flowmarkt will be hosting a Vintage Market in C-Club, Berlin-Tempelhof. For three days, around 30 selected, high-quality vintage fashion vendors from around Germany and Europe will present their wares in the historical C-Club opposite Tempelhof Airport – location of the massive Bread and Butter fashion fair. During the event, we will be organizing a fashion floorshow involving select vintage threads.

The three-day event ends January 21, with a massive closing party featuring DJs, bands and performers to match. We hope to see you there!

We hope that everyone who is in town for reasons of fashion & style have a great time in Berlin and for those of you who are staying with us at the Circus, as always, come and talk to us if you need any help or information about the multitude of things going on in the city this week.

William S. Burroughs was one of the America’s most iconic “men of letters” during the second half of the 20^th Century. Despite struggling throughout his life with addiction, the accidental killing of his wife, and difficulties with the legal system both in the United States and abroad, Burroughs created some works of literature – especially the novel Naked Lunch, which was one of the last books to be banned by the US government – that are rightly regarded as modern classics.

Some notes from the filmmakers:

“William Burroughs was one of the first to cross the dangerous boundaries of queer and drug culture in the 1950s, and write about his experiences. Eventually he was hailed the godfather of the beat generation and influenced artists for generations to come. However, his friends were left wondering, did William ever find happiness? This extremely personal documentary breaks the surface of the troubled and brilliant world of one of the greatest authors of all time.”

Well worth checking out.

Premiere on the 11^th January, and then daily from the 12^th – in original version with German subtitles. Moviemento Kino Berlin – Kottbusser Dam 22, Berlin.

William S. Burroughs: A Man Within Official Website

Our speaker this month is Frau Gericke who was born in Potsdam in 1925, and grew up through the Weimar period, the Nazi’s rise to power, and the Second World War. In 1945 her family’s home was confiscated to be used as Winston Churchill’s residence during the Potsdam conflict, and was only returned to the family after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990.

Frau Gericke will share her story with us, and will be available afterwards to answer questions. This is not only the first ZZB talk of 2012 but it is also the first anniversary of our cooperation with the ZeitZeugenBörse. We have had a great year of talks in Fabisch, and we are looking forward to many more fascinating evenings sharing the experiences of the eyewitnesses who are kind enough to join us and give us their time.

VENUE: Fabisch @ The Circus Hotel
DATE: Tuesday 10th January
TIME: 6.45pm

And finally…we have a very special ZZB-themed treat coming up in the next couple of days, so keep your eyes peeled both here and on our facebook page.

Ohhh, it’s coming. For many people, New Year’s Eve is THE party in Berlin, and if you have never experienced it before, you are certainly in for a treat. Many would say that it is not even that important where you celebrate the arrival of the new year, as it is the pandemonium on the streets at midnight, when 3 million (or more) people explode the national debts-worth of fireworks into the sky that makes New Year’s Eve in Berlin such an experience like nowhere else.

But before we get to that point you need something to do, right? So here is a quick round-up of what we have going on at The Circus, plus some tips for elsewhere in Berlin provided by our Minister for Fun and Games, Andrew Rowley…

New Year’s Eve at The Circus…

At the Fabisch restaurant in The Circus Hotel we have a special “Silvester Menu”, a 4-course “final meal” of 2011, featuring a choice of main meals and of course a glass of sekt. Musical entertainment will be provided by DJ M.path.iq who will be spinning throughout the evening. Across the street at the hostel, Goldman’s Bar will be hosting their traditional New Year’s Eve Party, with cold drinks and cool tunes. On the morning after, don’t miss our special Jazz brunch at Fabisch, with a special buffet and live music to sooth away the excesses of the night before.

…and in Berlin – Party at the Brandenburg Gate…

If you will be in town on the 31st December and want to see what a million people celebrating the arrival of a new year is like, then head down to the Brandenburg Gate. Behind the gate, running along the Strasse des 17. Juni to the Victory Column, is the official Festmeile…where there will be stages featuring top musical performances (including former winners of British talent shows), drinks and other refreshments on sale, and of course, the spectacular light, laser and fireworks show that will greet the arrival of 2012.

The celebrations at the Brandenburg Gate are extremely popular, and although entry to the Festmeile is free, they do close the gates once it is full…last year there were no further people allowed in at some point between 8 and 9pm, so if you want to be there for midnight, get there early. And if you want to be close to the stage, it would be advisable to get down there at around 5pm…remember to wrap up warm!

More Info on the Visit Berlin website.

…The World’s Largest Firework Display…

I have no idea if this is true, but the shear volume of explosives launched into the Berlin night from midnight on must make it a contender. Berlin’s hills and bridges are some of the best vantage points to watch this DIY display, including the Teufelsberg (West Berlin, Google Maps), the Kreuzberg (South of the centre, Google Maps) or the bridges Oberbaumbrücke (Friedrichshain/Kreuzberg, Google Maps) or the bridge at the S-Bahn station Bornholmer Strasse (Wedding/Prenzlauer Berg, Google Maps). With a bottle of cheap bubbly from Lidl, this is one of the cheapest and yet most spectacular ways to usher in the new year.

& Andrew’s Club Tips…

Here are the tips from Mr Rowley… for more information or ideas of how to celebrate New Year’s Eve, come and talk to us at reception…

ADS (Friedrichshain) :Ostfunk & Subdub (Party)

Bassy Cowboy Club: Silvester im Bassy: Rogall, The Mytch, Mr. Garage Records, Mystic N. (Shakin’ R&B, 60s Garage, Frantic Soul & Rock ‘n’ Roll u. a

live: Les Kitschenettes (60s French Beat)

Cookies: Happy New Year: A Tale of Us, No Regular Play, La Fleur, Norman, Beathoavenz, Jessicat (Electronic u. a.)

Icon: Drum N Bass Party – The Last Icon Party ever…..(will be big)

Magnet Club : Silvester Pop Explosion 2011: Karrera Klub/Tim, Christian & Spencer, Christian Vorbau (Indie Disko) / Vossi & Blitzkrieg Rob ( 3 Floors)

Tresor: NYE 2011/2012: Octave One, Mike Huckaby, Oliver Deutschmann, Franklin de Costa, Cari lekebusch, Gary Beck, Joel Mull, Mike Dehne

Weekend Club: RICHIE HAWTIN

Kulturbrauerei Silvester Party: 15 Locations * 30 DJ’s * Live Band * Riesenfeuerwerk

(photo: Queues form for dinner at the cafe)

Christmas is an interesting time at The Circus. Whereas big events and holidays during the year, such as film festivals, easter and bank holidays, the marathon weekend and, of course, New Year’s Eve, bring a certain special atmosphere to the different houses because of the number of people milling around, Christmas is very different. Berlin itself feels quiet, as it feels like half the city have gone someplace else to celebrate with friends and family, many businesses close down for the holidays, and everything just feels peaceful and calm.

(photo: Dinner is served at the hostel)

Ever since The Circus began almost fifteen years ago, we have been very aware that Christmas can actually be a difficult time for our guests, especially those travellers who find themselves along way from home and everything that entails (of course there are the others for whom escape from tradition is the very reason they are with us in Berlin … but that’s another story). So we always try and put on something on Christmas Day, not only for our guests but those of us who are working, and it is often one of the best days of the year to be hanging around the hostel, the hotel and, as of 2011, the new apartments.

(photo: Christmas dinner in Fabisch)

As is now traditional, we offered special Christmas dinner in both the Circus Cafe at the hostel and in the Fabisch restaurant in the hotel. We also had live music on Christmas eve, cocktails and festive tunes in Goldman’s Bar, and plenty of other goodies to hopefully give people fond memories of the time they spent Christmas with us in Berlin. We hope that everyone who was with us over the holiday had a great time, and that all of you reading this had a special couple of days with good food and wine, some nice people and some great presents!

The fun never stops of course, and we have a full programme of events taking place at The Circus to celebrate the arrival of the new year. So to find out what’s going on as we usher in 2012, check out the Circus blog tomorrow…