Being at the Berlin Film Festival helps me appreciate the difference that a film-literate audience can make to the film making experience
Here is a city where people have attended the festival year after year and over time they have developed the ability to articulate their analyses and insights about film.
Even films from little known places have sold out screenings. The premiere of Invisible City, a Singapore documentary about history and memories, for instance, was packed to the overflowing, with some people sitting along the aisle. From what I hear, other Asian films at the festival are doing equally well.
I have had the pleasure of chatting with quite a few people who have travelled to the festival every year. I have also met individuals who have volunteered tirelessly at the festival for decades.
One of these chance encounters led to an interview about my Beijing Olympics documentary, Boomtown Beijing, on German radio. “35 mm” is regular film magazine show on Radio Dreyeckland in Freiburg, in the southwestern part of Germany.
Alexander Sancho-Rauschel, the radio journalist who interviewed me, also volunteers at the student cinema at the University of Freiburg. The Aka Film Club, or Academic Film Club, has been around for 50 years. It was started in an effort to enable students in post war Germany to watch more international films. Although the name of the club sounds very stern and seems almost archaic in this day and age, it has been retained out of reverence for tradition.
I wonder what the listeners of Radio Dreyeckland will think of the interview of my little documentary about the Beijing Olympics?
One thing, for sure, the passion for film seems to transcend cultural and linguistic boundaries here. So I cherish the hope being a little known film director making a small film in the Far East might actually be an advantage, fuelling curiosity about the project.
I am attending the Berlin Film Festival 2008 as script consultant for the Singapore documentary, Invisible City.
The Berlinale deserves its reputation as one of the top festivals in the world. Every section at the festival is a film universe unto its own and has developed a distinct identity and developed a loyal audience base over the years.
The choices can be overwhelming, from the wonderful films you can catch to the parties and events. Our senses are continuously bombarded by people, events and happenings.
On top of all this, there is the Berlinale Talent Campus, a week-long film academy that runs parallel to the main festival. Award-winning directors and top-notch industry professionals are giving seminars and workshops on a broad cross-section
of topics, for instance
Between Realities — Development Documentary Film Treatments
Golden Key to the Archives: The Legal Path to Found Footage
Indie Film makers´ Guide to Using the Internet
Matters of Life and Death– Reviews that Make or Break
Real Life Emotions:Biopics & Doc Stars
And the list goes on. I look forward to busy week of watching films and listening to others talk about films.
I will be attending the Berlin Film Festival 2008 (7th — 17th February 2008) There are two big reasons why I am going.
Invisible City, a film I worked on, is screening in the Forum section of the Berlinale.
I will also take the opportunity to market and promote my own film about the Beijing Olympics, Boomtown Beijing at the Festival and the European Film Market.
With thousands of journalists and film makers attending, I am sure Berlin will be a zoo. But hopefully, it’d also be a lot of fun.
Today, I received an email request from my friend, Singaporean film maker Tan Pin Pin:
"Hi Siok, if its convenient, can you let Web 2.0 know to watch or look out for Invisible City in Berlin?"
Those were her exact words.:)
So hear ye, Web 2.0 folks out there, look out for this Singapore documentary film at one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world
Invisible City is a documentary about documenteurs. The film conveys the fragility of histories stitched together by a patchwork of memories and artefacts.
You can watch the trailer of the film here:
The following are the dates and times for the screening of Invisible City at the Berlinale.
08.02.08 17:45 CinemaxX5 (press screening)
09.02.08 20:00 Arsenal
10.02.08 15:00 Cubix 7
11.02.08 15:00 CineStar 8
I will be traveling to the festival with director, Pin Pin, as a member of the Invisible City production team.
