Русская версияAlmost two decades after a popular uprising swept away the
communist East German state, Berlin's film movie business is
enjoying something of a renaissance.
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Quentin Tarantino's been spotted around Berlin
US director Quentin Tarantino jetted into the German capital this
month to begin laying the ground for the shooting of a new film set
between the two world wars.
With two of Hollywood's top actors -
Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio - slated for leading roles,
Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards is likely to add to the star power
that Berlin has been basking in recently.
Only a few years ago, the sprawling Babelsberg film studios on the
outskirts of Berlin were facing an uncertain future. But now, about
80 years after it rocketed to global movie fame with such cinema
classics as "The Blue Angel," "The Cabinet of Dr Caligari" and
"Metropolis," Babelsberg is in the midst of a revival following a
surge in the number of big-budget Hollywood productions being
mounted at the historic studios.
Last year 12 major movies were made at Babelsberg and about 8 are
expected to be produced this year. In 2006, only one film was made
at Babelsberg studios. But generous state financial support and a
sudden new-found interest in German stories are helping Berlin and
Babelsberg to reclaim a place on the world film stage.
"I assume that we will be as successful this year", said Babelsberg
chief Carl Woebcken with the studios swinging back into the black
in 2007 to report a profit of 6 million euros ($9.3 million) after
posting a 2.7-million-euros loss in 2006.
Star-studded set
Former James Bond Pierce Brosnan is due in Berlin early next year
for the production of a thriller by Roman Polanski. Britain's Kate
Winslet has also been in Berlin shooting the adaptation of the
best-selling novel "The Reader" by German law
professor-turned-novelist Bernhard Schlink.
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Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren filmed just east of Berlin
Winslet stepped into the film after pregnancy forced the
Australian-born Nicole Kidman to pull out of the movie. In the
meantime, Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren has been playing the
role of classic Russian writer Leo Tolstoy's wife in a movie shot
to the east of Berlin.
The Bourne Ultimatum, part of Matt Damon's trilogy about rogue
agent Jason Bourne, was also partly shot in Babelsberg, which is
both the world's oldest big movie studio complex and now the most
modern in Europe.
Susan Sarandon, John Goodman and Emilie Hirsh also recently wrapped
up at Babelsberg the 130-million-dollar production of the Wachowski
brothers' action movie "Speed Racer."
"Babelsberg is a marvellous place for filmmaking," said Speed Racer
producer Joel Silver. "So much so, that we are now already looking
around intensively for new opportunities for further films to
produce here."
Bryan Singer's Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise as Count Claus von
Stauffenberg, who led a 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler was also
produced at Babelsberg with the studios forced last year to rent
additional space despite a doubling of studio capacity in recent
years.
Checkered history
CA pre-World War II rival to Hollywood, Babelsberg's re-emergence
on the global filmmaking map represents the latest twist in the
studios' checkered history.
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Joseph Goebbels abused Babelberg for Nazi propaganda
Apart from helping to launch the movie careers of Marlene Dietrich
and Greta Garbo, Babelsberg also played a role in the darker side
of Germany's tumultuous past with Josef Goebbels turning Babelsberg
into a factory for Nazi propaganda.
Indeed, Hitler's rise to power during the 1930's triggered a mass
exodus from Germany's pre-war movie business to the US film
industry, with Babelsberg churning out more than 1000 films during
the Third Reich.
This included some of the Nazis' most virulent and notorious
propaganda films such as the anti-Semitic "Jud Suess."
State support
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Cruise received German subsidies for his film
But also helping to bolster the more recent change in fortunes for
both Babelsberg and the German film industry has been a new set of
financial benefits drawn up by Berlin for movie-making, including a
hefty 60 million euros ($90 million) a year for film production.
As part of that, the German Federal Film Fund paid subsidies
totaling 4.8 million euros for "Valkyrie."
Speed Racer, Warner Brothers' blockbuster adaptation of the cult
1960s Japanese cartoon series, had a total budget of about 40
million euros, including 9.2 million euros from the German film
authorities.
(Deutsche Welle)
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