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!

It has been a while since we heard from Vladimir, our globe-trotting turtle friend. There were rumours of course, the odd facebook update, a lurking figure in the background of G20 summits – can it really be him? – and the news that single turtles the world over will despair at… that Vladi got hitched!

To see where he has been before, check out this post from last year…

And the pics below of more recent trips to…

China…

…India…

…Spain…

…the UK…

…Laos…

…and up the aisle!

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 4^th March 2012.

More information on the website.

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:

Even though we have spent much of the past few months on the opening of the Apartments, there is another new corner of the Circus that has been “created” recently, and that is the Penthouse Apartment that you can find on the top floor of the Circus Hotel. On two levels, the Penthouse has a terrace on both floors with incredible views over the city – even on a grey day like today – so you can wake up each morning to the sight of the television tower, the Reichstag, the New Synagogue and much more.

Inside the apartment there is 122m² of living space, including bedroom with reading corner and a separate working space on the upper level. As with all the apartments on Choriner Straße, the Penthouse comes with iPad loaded with music library, city guides and a range of apps, a multimedia docking station,
flatscreen television with Bluray player and wireless connection to keep you in touch with the rest of the world.

Once again, Sandra has done a great job on the interior design… and here are some more pics to give you an idea:

You can book the Circus Penthouse Apartments through the website here.

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.

Tränenpalast means “Palace of Tears”, and this was the name Berliners gave to the border control checkpoint at Friedrichstraße station during the long years that the city was divided by the Berlin Wall. When the city was divided so too were communities, families and couples, and the building received its nickname due to the many tearful farewells that took place there.

After the Wall fell and there was no longer any need for a border checkpoint as the city was joyously reunited, it became a popular club until 2006. Due to its historic role, this fairly unspectacular building was placed under landmark protection as a reminder of how the division of the country and of Berlin in particular had such a painful impact on the everyday lives of ordinary people.

Last year the building became the location for a new permanent exhibition by the Stiftung Haus der Geschichte that brings together ordinary objects and artifacts from the time when the building was the scene for over 10 million individual border-crossings, as well as the stories of some of the individuals for whom this was truly a palace of tears.

The exhibition Border Experiences: The Everyday Life of the German Division, is open Tuesday to Friday from 9am until 7pm, and on Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 6pm (closed on Mondays). Admission is free, and the nearest transport links (S-Bahn, U-Bahn and Tram) is Friedrichstraße. From Rosenthaler Platz you can take the Tram M1 from outside the front door of the Circus Hostel.