Berlin Documentaries
Ever since Walter Ruttmann’s Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Groβstadt (Berlin, Symphony of a Great City, 1927) Berlin continues to be the subject of documentary films (observational, didactic, experimental, commercial etc.) that record its many social, political, and cultural changes, transformations, struggles, and discrepancies. The term “documentary” was only a year old by the time Ruttmann’s film came out; John Grierson, a British film producer, used it in 1926 to designate non-fiction film. In Lewis Jacobs’ definition,
"What has come to be called “documentary” developed slowly over a period of almost thirty years, from 1894 to 1922, emerging finally as an original model distinct from all other types of motion pictures. The documentary film came to be identifiable as a special kind of picture with a clear social purpose, dealing with real people and real events, as opposed to staged scenes of imaginary characters and fictional stories of the studio-made pictures" (Jacobs 2).
"What has come to be called “documentary” developed slowly over a period of almost thirty years, from 1894 to 1922, emerging finally as an original model distinct from all other types of motion pictures. The documentary film came to be identifiable as a special kind of picture with a clear social purpose, dealing with real people and real events, as opposed to staged scenes of imaginary characters and fictional stories of the studio-made pictures" (Jacobs 2).
Post-reunification Berlin documentaries can be divided into the following four subgroups:
- Observational documentaries of artistic communities or individuals living and working in Berlin, such as Sehnsucht Berlin: The City named Desire (dir. By Peter Zach, 2009), that follows several artists, writers, and musicians, all recipients of DAAD stipends set up by the Academy of Arts, in their creative environments. Berlin Song (dir. Uli M. Schueppel, 2010) is a portrait of musicians from all over the world working in Berlin today and reflecting on their relationship with the city and its transformations. Both films provide the artistic outsiders’ perception of the New Berlin, and their understanding of and (sometimes limited) critical engagement with its identity. Especially in Berlin Song, the protagonists are the consumers of the New Berlin brand that has been projected and manufactured for global consumption. Comrade Couture: Ein Traum in Erdbeerfolie (dir. Marco Wilms, 2009) documents a reunion of several members of the former East-Berlin (Prenzlauer Berg) underground fashion scene in their attempt to recreate a fashion show, featuring the no-longer produced strawberry foil (used by farmers to cover up strawberry crops) and plastic shower curtains of the GDR fabric shortages era, certainly not without sentiments of Ostalgie (and thus not the type of nostalgia I am discussing here).
- Observational Kiez-documentaries, such as Prinzessinenbad (dir. Bettina Blümne, 2007), which follows three teenage girls through their daily escapades in Kreuzberg. Neukölln Unlimited (dir. Agostino Imondi and Dietmar Ratsch, 2010) follows three German-born sibling of Lebanese descent as they work to support their family and prevent it from deportation. Hasenheide (dir. Nana Rebhan, 2010) presents various people who frequent Neukölln’s public park as an alternative community. These documentaries focus on portraits of multicultural minorities and/or public places (like public pools or parks) where diverse protagonists provide a glimpse into the contemporary Berlin mosaic. These films do not feature any nostalgic elements. Mauerpark (dir. Dennis Karsten, 2011), which is one of my case studies, does touch on nostalgic elements for the pre-gentrified Berlin of the 1990s.
- Topographical documentaries that engage with the many transformations in the city topography and architecture, such as Die Mauer (dir. Jürgen Böttcher, 1991), Die leere Mitte (dir. Hito Streyerl, 1998), After the Fall (dir. Eric Black, Frauke Sandig, 2000), and Berlin: Sinfonie einer Groβstadt (dir. Thomas Schadt, 2002). Schadt’s homage to Walter Ruttmann’s Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Groβstadt (1927) was shot in black-and-white, on 35mm film, and features voids and construction sites (Holocaust Memorial is still an empty lot) so symbolic of post-reunification Berlin. My case studies Berlin Babylon (dir. Hubertus Siegert, 2001), Der Weg, den wir nicht zusammen gehen (dir. Domink Graf and Martin Gressmann, 2009), and The Invisible Frame (dir. Cynthia Beatt, 2009) also fit into this subgroup.
- Narrative-portrait documentaries such as In Berlin (dir. Michael Ballhaus and Ciro Cappellari, 2009), which is also one of my case studies, take their cue from Schadt's film, but they not only provide visual and musical experiences of the city, but also narrative portraits of the people who live and work in Berlin. 24h Berlin (dir. Volker Heise, 2009) showcases average and famous Berliners and their mundane and creative lives in the city.
Theories:
The growing interest in documentary films that take Berlin and Berliners as their focus can perhaps also be explained by Berlin’s now widely accepted status as Schaustelle (display/spectacle site), which has gradually replaced its status as Baustelle (construction site). It is also the place where urban and national identities continue to be renegotiated, particularly when it comes to issues of multiculturalism.
Nick Hodgin's Screening the East: Heimat, Memory and Nostalgia in German Film since 1989, criticises successful documentaries such as Berlin – Sinfonie einer Groβstadt (2002) and Berlin Babylon (2001) as “lacking the critical impetus of the period’s earlier documentaries – Jürgen Böttcher’s Die Mauer (The Wall, 1991), Heide Reidemeister’s Lichter aus dem Hintergrund (Lights from Afar, 1998) and Hito Streyerl’s Die leere Mitte (The Empty Centre, 1998) – and [as] failing to represent a sustained, historically specific reflection of developments within the city’s urban space.” (Hodgins, p.132)
Nick Hodgin's Screening the East: Heimat, Memory and Nostalgia in German Film since 1989, criticises successful documentaries such as Berlin – Sinfonie einer Groβstadt (2002) and Berlin Babylon (2001) as “lacking the critical impetus of the period’s earlier documentaries – Jürgen Böttcher’s Die Mauer (The Wall, 1991), Heide Reidemeister’s Lichter aus dem Hintergrund (Lights from Afar, 1998) and Hito Streyerl’s Die leere Mitte (The Empty Centre, 1998) – and [as] failing to represent a sustained, historically specific reflection of developments within the city’s urban space.” (Hodgins, p.132)
In his study, Shadows, Specters, Shards: Making History in Avant-Garde Film (2005), Jeffrey Skoller examined Daniel Eisenberg’s film Persistence: Film in 24 Absences/Presences/ Prospects (1997). His analysis of Berlin as presented in Eisenberg’s film can also be applied to Jürgen Böttcher’s Die Mauer (1991):
"Part of the reconfiguring of Berlin as a unified city includes the erasure of much of the evidence of the forced division. Immediately after reunification, statues, monuments, and military installations were dismantled. The empty areas surrounding the Berlin Wall were rebuilt. The film carefully documents such sites in anticipation of the receding and eventual erasure of the period of the city’s division. The film attempts to stand as a counter-memory to the construction of whatever master narrative may emerge in the current German effort to reconstitute its national identity as a single unified nation" (Skoller 89).
This anticipation of the erasure of traces of division documented in the films of the 1990s can also be traced in narratives of construction of the New Berlin (such as Berlin Babylon), as well as in in Cynthia Beatt’s narrative of retracement in The Invisible Frame (2009).
"Part of the reconfiguring of Berlin as a unified city includes the erasure of much of the evidence of the forced division. Immediately after reunification, statues, monuments, and military installations were dismantled. The empty areas surrounding the Berlin Wall were rebuilt. The film carefully documents such sites in anticipation of the receding and eventual erasure of the period of the city’s division. The film attempts to stand as a counter-memory to the construction of whatever master narrative may emerge in the current German effort to reconstitute its national identity as a single unified nation" (Skoller 89).
This anticipation of the erasure of traces of division documented in the films of the 1990s can also be traced in narratives of construction of the New Berlin (such as Berlin Babylon), as well as in in Cynthia Beatt’s narrative of retracement in The Invisible Frame (2009).
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