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Riots In Street – Oddball Hits Berlin
It’s a war zone. Police sirens, helicopters, armed police, armoured trucks. I'd heard you get a great welcome in Berlin (writes Johnnie Oddball), but this isn’t quite what I was expecting ...
Dark Hunter producer Johnnie Oddball organised Berlin's 48 Hour Film Challenge 1-3 May 04, part of the annual Berlin Britspotting Film Festival run by the British Council to showcase independent film-making from Britain and Ireland. 88 teams registered at the Acud Cinema on 1 May to make a film in 48 hours. 75 completed films were handed in on 3 May. Judges were Dr. Martin Blaney (Screen International); Heinz Hermanns (Interfilm);Caroline Cooper (UK Film Council); Anna Seifert (Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg); Johnnie Oddball. Films were and shown at Berlin’s Acud Cinema on 9 May. The award ceremony took place at Berlin’s British Embassy on 10 May.
Saturday 1 May 04. The film challenge teams are queuing to register outside Acud Kino’s cinema doors. It’s a war zone - police sirens, helicopters, armed police, armoured trucks. It’s like something from a horror movie.
That’s just the May Day demonstration between Nazis and Communists, by the way. The queue for the event is somewhat tame. But once they get inside and the trailer for the event comes on the screen, all hell breaks loose – the Germans are up for the challenge. Four teams even fly in from the UK.
The teams are each given a title and theme for their film – and they’re off. In 30 minutes the cinema’s empty - and the riot’s moved to another street. We step out into the daylight. It’s like coming out of the bunker after World War 3 - deserted streets, no cars, no police. Nothing but the sound of silence in the streets of Berlin.
For the rest of the two days, I spend time filming the art in the city. It’s for trailer for the screenings in Berlin, a week from now. The city is amazing, there’s art everywhere. And great graffiti – not all tags, some real imagination. Cars give way to cyclists, cyclists give way to pedestrians and each other. There’s no road-rage, just complete respect for each other. It’s unreal – if only London could do that. I’d move here tomorrow given the choice. I feel inspired in a way I never thought possible. I’m going to learn German before I come back – er, in a week. The place is bursting with talent and energy. And a key’s learning to respect the Germans – that way you become less of an angry Brit, more of an open-minded artist. Berlin’s now my second home.
Sunday 9 May 04. Screening the movies at the Acud Kino, Berlin. As always I plan ahead (this is not said with a straight face). Well this time, I did! Instead of putting all the films onto one or two Mini DVs, I put them on a DVD for the screening – and it works really well (except see later).
The Acud Kino is packed. It’s so packed people have to bring their own chairs. We have deck-chairs at the front and stools in the aisles. It’s wonderful. The audience is great, we all feel completely at home together. It must be that film makes you equal wherever you come from. There’s 300 people in a 260-seater cinema, so many turn up that we have to screen the films again. Local news teams and film reporters are all 200% behind the idea of the event. After the screening one of them says it’s an inspiration to the German film industry. It’s amazing.
Monday 10 May 04. Prize-giving and screening of the top ten films at Berlin’s British Embassy. I’m always worried something will go wrong. We arrive, the police are on top security alert. I sense my surfing shirt, baseball cap and suitcase aren’t tactful. I’m relieved to see a Canadian girl with Vegan Kid t-shirt and punk-style hair – we blend in instantly. The police have machine guns. We have pink t-shirt, Magnum PI shirt, plus Mini DV camera.
The embassy hits you instantly – incredible. The architect is some English guy - Michael Wilford. The art-work in the venue is like Tate Modern. The screening-room doors slide open – it’s straight out of a sci-fi movie – and we’re in the embassy cinema. It’s one of the most amazing times I’ve ever had. Well, apart from my son being born.
It’s filling up. The embassy staff are really excited – they’ve never had so much talent from Germany in the place. The film-makers are equally excited. We test the gear – it all works.
The British Ambassador, Sir Peter Torry, announces the event and makes a speech in German - which is nice, but one week turned out not to be enough to master the language completely (for me, not him). He stands behind a plinth – the audience are now looking really serious.
The director of Berlin Britspotting Film Festival makes a speech. The audience is looking very serious indeed, it’s taking on the look of a seminar. Time to lighten the tone, and it’s my turn to speak.
I ask for a hand-held mic, go to the centre of the screen and shout ‘Hello Berlin’ – everyone wakes up, and the party starts. We run the trailer with ‘God Save The Queen’ – the Sex Pistols version. Sir Peter Torry leaves discreetly. The venue rocks, it’s crazy, the audience goes mad.
We’re at the runner-up award. The DVD stops – aargh. We have to fast-forward through the whole DVD to get to the winning film. It’s everyone’s favourite as well as the judges’. When we screen the winning film, the audience goes mad. We do the prizes and certificates for the winners (Stefan Müller, Stefan Ott, Ingo Schiller) and two runners-up. The room’s incredibly happy for them to win – there’s such generosity of spirit. There are no hard feelings.
The embassy ask us to come back next year. There are so many film-makers to meet and thank. TV companies wait to interview them. They’re the stars of the event.
There’s a great invitation to come and seminars in Berlin at a film school. I’m half-way through saying, that’s why I do these events – to get people out of the classroom and into the real world of film-making by doing it, not talking about it.
But then I think – if it means I can come back to Berlin, we can talk outside the lecture theatre. Sit on the grass in the sun. I’m going to miss the fantastic people in Berlin and all the buzz it has to offer. There’s so much talent here.
(c) Johnnie Oddball 15 May 2004
Details of events organised by Johnnie Oddball are at - Digital Guerrilla FilmMakers. U-Network currently reports his UK National Challenge (London, Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh) due later this year. Oddball's next major event will be the 48-hour film-making challenge in New York.
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008
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