Usually I enjoy travelling but on Wednesday I really did not look forward to hopping over to Germany for a couple of days. Work is piling up in Amsterdam and days without meetings are really needed. Well, commitments are commitments so I headed to the airport dutifully straight from work. I recognise the feeling all too well already: you get all sweaty as you get to the airport on the last possible minute, you start getting anxious because people are wasting time in the security check, you get irritated by the bad quality of the airplane food and keep dozing off when you try to finish the last work issues of the day. When you finally get to the hotel around eleven, your head is buzzing, you feel simultaneously hyperactive and supertired.
Now, on Saturday afternoon, I am extremely glad I did not cancel the trip. I feel like my batteries have been charged – even a KLM steward said as I boarded the plane:”Sir, you look very happy today.” On Thursday we had an inspiring session for the development of eurotopics.net and I really felt like I was able to help them in improving the product. I pushed forward some funding things and in the evening visited a cute small cultural event of our partner organisation Schlesische27 in Kreuzberg.
I just love Berlin. It is definitely up there with Istanbul on my list of fantastic cities,. Let me elaborate why:
1. Cool Germanica: It is very German with the Christmas markets and bratwursts but at the same time extremely trendy with it underground bars and designer shops.
2. Human scale: Starting from its incredible metro system and continuing to its coffee houses, Berlin is made for people and their interaction.
3. Affordable: Studio flat for 400 euros. Beer for one euro. Club entrance two euros. Lunch 5 euros.
4. Creative: I just met yesterday a Finnish friend of mine who had moved to Berlin 1,5 months ago to try and see how life here would work. As he put it:”I have savings for 6 months, then I really need to start seeing what I wish to do.” His story is not original in Berlin.
5. Scruffy: At a popular club the most important thing is not a trendy haircut or T-shirt. But that is also allowed. Punk still exists in Berlin.
6. Turkey: Some parts of Berlin are like you would be in a Turkish city. The vegetable salesmen shout in Turkish and you have this distinct smell where goat milk mixes with pickles and olives.
And ladies and gentlemen, there is hope: I saw yesterday an American film in Berlin WITHOUT dubbing.
There is one minus point: Tegel. Berlin’s airport is shameful for such a fun city. It is too small and so badly organised that you end up walking forever or standing in line for ages.
Showing posts with label berlin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label berlin. Show all posts
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Reflections from Prix Europa
Two weeks back I spent a week in Berlin seeing and judging the best of the best when it comes to European television. I wrote a piece for the website of the European Cultural Foundation on the subject.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Wider angle
Last Sunday I got back from a working trip - having spent nearly a week watching the best of European television. I still need to watch the winning documentary of Prix Europa, a BBC documentary on alcoholism from Paul Watson. I saw people - top professionals in the TV field - coming out of the screenings with watered eyes. But even without it, I was inspired, shocked and moved.
The best thing I saw at the festival from David Okuefuna's documentary called Racism: A History. Without the need to create a happy ending, Okuefuna showed how brutal and cruel we the whites have been towards blacks in places like Congo, South Africa and the United States. The pictures of lynchings of blacks or of a young black man beaten to death with his face bloated after having spent weeks after his death in the bottom of the river do not leave my mind. I felt guilty for being white and rightly so.
So on Sunday I crashed on my sofa with a pizza delivered to my door and instead of watching the Dutch talent competition for the main role in Evita, I ended up spending two hours watching the CNN documentary God's Warriors on Christian Fundamentalism in the US. Even if in the beginning the subject sounded slightly too heavy, I was glad that I pushed myself through it. Christiane Amanpour's incredibly powerful take on the misuse of religion is part of a three-hour series and a year of work covering fundamentalist Judaism, Islam and Christianity.
Best of all, Amanpour's dedicated investigation - as well as Okuefuna's documentary - remind me how there still is a great need for journalism which is not only about speed but also about depth. All these makers were able to show something to me that I did not know. They had spent a year doing these programmes and it shows. They were able to move me and they made me talk about the issues they covered. This is something that a news bulletin or an SMS is never able to do.
The best thing I saw at the festival from David Okuefuna's documentary called Racism: A History. Without the need to create a happy ending, Okuefuna showed how brutal and cruel we the whites have been towards blacks in places like Congo, South Africa and the United States. The pictures of lynchings of blacks or of a young black man beaten to death with his face bloated after having spent weeks after his death in the bottom of the river do not leave my mind. I felt guilty for being white and rightly so.
So on Sunday I crashed on my sofa with a pizza delivered to my door and instead of watching the Dutch talent competition for the main role in Evita, I ended up spending two hours watching the CNN documentary God's Warriors on Christian Fundamentalism in the US. Even if in the beginning the subject sounded slightly too heavy, I was glad that I pushed myself through it. Christiane Amanpour's incredibly powerful take on the misuse of religion is part of a three-hour series and a year of work covering fundamentalist Judaism, Islam and Christianity.
Best of all, Amanpour's dedicated investigation - as well as Okuefuna's documentary - remind me how there still is a great need for journalism which is not only about speed but also about depth. All these makers were able to show something to me that I did not know. They had spent a year doing these programmes and it shows. They were able to move me and they made me talk about the issues they covered. This is something that a news bulletin or an SMS is never able to do.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Jump
Tuesday was one of those evenings that you could describe with a capital E. It was entertaining but inspiring, intelligent but fun. Fantastic setting in a relaxed Italian restaurant in Prenzlauer Berg and good company - what more can one ask.
The discussion went on and on. On what and with which logic - difficult to say. But we managed to cover over two courses the state of business, crisis of politics, role of images and what have you. I was excited, agitated, moved and shaken. Good people make a good evening.
We talked a lot about things and people that are driving change. My dinner dates are running big creative businesses and at the same time doing highly sophisticated (and beautiful) cultural products. They make a living with things that do not make them lose a lot of sleep. If I would be asked to describe my future now, that would get quite close: do good for the society and do good business. Start from wishes and needs, not from problems. I think this can be achieved in a way that is both fruitful and fun. Just look at Dove cosmetics: beautiful campaign on normal beautiful women led to rise in sales and questioned the way advertisement portrays beauty.
A lot of people I know have started things, made things happen and changed things. I am finding myself more and more curious towards the setting that drove them to take the risk. Like we discussed last night, the same goes for business and socialist revolution: change does not happen if you are not willing to jump and maybe even hurt yourself when landing.
The discussion went on and on. On what and with which logic - difficult to say. But we managed to cover over two courses the state of business, crisis of politics, role of images and what have you. I was excited, agitated, moved and shaken. Good people make a good evening.
We talked a lot about things and people that are driving change. My dinner dates are running big creative businesses and at the same time doing highly sophisticated (and beautiful) cultural products. They make a living with things that do not make them lose a lot of sleep. If I would be asked to describe my future now, that would get quite close: do good for the society and do good business. Start from wishes and needs, not from problems. I think this can be achieved in a way that is both fruitful and fun. Just look at Dove cosmetics: beautiful campaign on normal beautiful women led to rise in sales and questioned the way advertisement portrays beauty.
A lot of people I know have started things, made things happen and changed things. I am finding myself more and more curious towards the setting that drove them to take the risk. Like we discussed last night, the same goes for business and socialist revolution: change does not happen if you are not willing to jump and maybe even hurt yourself when landing.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Bockwurst mit Senf, bitte
This post will make my dad smile.
After a one-night pitstop in Amsterdam, I travelled to Berlin for the annual Prix Europa festival, the biggest competition for the best public service radio and television productions. Over the next week, nearly 1.000 television and radio professionals will watch, listen, discuss and rate programmes from Sweden to Romania. Due to my job in the ECF I was appointed a member of the Steering Committee last year and just love coming here every year.
Anyway, that was not really the issue I wished to address. Last summer I decided to stop with my vegetarian diet and start eating meat again. And where else than in Germany - the superpower of sausages - one could really live it to the full?
I took my luggage to the hotel and decided to go for a walk and grab something to eat having once again skipped lunch at work. I found myself passing a full and clearly nice Singaporean restaurant and kept walking. I did not wish to admit it first but the direction was obvious - gas station's diner.
Germans do know how to make a fantastic sausage. Having them steamed and served with a bun and some überstrong mustard kicks ass. Willkommen in Deutschland.
After a one-night pitstop in Amsterdam, I travelled to Berlin for the annual Prix Europa festival, the biggest competition for the best public service radio and television productions. Over the next week, nearly 1.000 television and radio professionals will watch, listen, discuss and rate programmes from Sweden to Romania. Due to my job in the ECF I was appointed a member of the Steering Committee last year and just love coming here every year.
Anyway, that was not really the issue I wished to address. Last summer I decided to stop with my vegetarian diet and start eating meat again. And where else than in Germany - the superpower of sausages - one could really live it to the full?
I took my luggage to the hotel and decided to go for a walk and grab something to eat having once again skipped lunch at work. I found myself passing a full and clearly nice Singaporean restaurant and kept walking. I did not wish to admit it first but the direction was obvious - gas station's diner.
Germans do know how to make a fantastic sausage. Having them steamed and served with a bun and some überstrong mustard kicks ass. Willkommen in Deutschland.
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