63rd Berlinale {4}

February 11, 2013



On Friday, the Berlinale began for us with Wong Kar Wei's "The Grandmaster", which was epic! especially in aesthetic, visual points.

Up to now, we already saw a lot of really great films. There were only a few who disappointed us...

At the moment, my absolute favourites are actually two children movies: "Nono, Het Zigzag Kind" and "Satellite Boy". The first one is about a young boy who wants to become an inspector and sets out to solve the mystery about the death of his mother. It is set in the 70's with bright colours, beautiful locations and full of cleverness, humour and charme. All this can be said about the second film, too. Except that he is completely different - it's about two Aboriginal kids in today's northern Australia who get lost in the outback and have to remember the things their elders told them about nature's magic powers in order to survive. Do you know the feeling when a film is able to suck you through the screen into another world. So that afterwards you need time to come back to your reality? Like after a very long, deep and healthy sleep? It's difficult to describe... In any case, I love this feeling.




Sunday morning, 9:00 a.m. and the Friedrichstadtpalast fills up. I like the rushing in this picture a lot (in fact, most of the people weren't really able to rush because they were still half asleep and the caffeine hadn't seeped through yet ...)



Seating plan of the Friedrichstadtpalast
The Friedrichstadtpalast is a location I really like because of it's very own atmosphere, but you really, really have to like the film to be able to stay in these seats for a while. They are made out of wood (but they are upholstered) and its really, really cramped. I'm 1,60 m long and I have to sit up very straight to not bang my knees at the seat in front of me or to cross my legs. I cannot imagine how taller people manage to fold themselves into these seats...




One of my favourite cinema's in Berlin is the Delphi, a beautiful place for cinema lovers, I think. A very old house which was a dance hall in the beginning of the 20th century and became a cinema at the end of the 40's. If you are interested, here are some old pictures: click.




Fortunately, the Berlinale website offers the possibility to create your own festival planner. I would be completely lost without it.

Ok, we are back in the cinema! Have a wonderful day!

3 comments:

  1. I enjoyed looking at the old pictures of the theater. The two movies sound very interesting - I believe that I have heard about the Satellite Boy. I look forward to your future posts!

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  2. It certainly looks like they squeeze a lot of people in there! I would be lost without a schedule/planner, too!

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  3. I think you've captured the feeling of watching a great film well, I love that feeling too!

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