Monat: Juli 2009

This is for specialists only … never try to self-process an Ekta 16mm film that has lived more than 20 years outside a fridge. Deborah Phillips my friend and I didn’t believe Mr Draser, the god of Andec, who refused to process her 30 meter long film because of that reason (it would ruin the developer baths with all the black gelatine particles).
It did exactly that. All the beautiful filmed scenes, all work, all images got dissolved in the first two baths. Though … it was fun to do that dirty bucket processing again (30 meters of 16mm film is too much for a Russian tank) so we – thanks to Fernando – occupied a darkroom, set up the scene: 4 buckets, some towels, hot water to keep the chemicals in appropriate mood (38 degrees centigrade), plastic gloves, and my new invention: who tells you the exact countdown time of 6 minutes when you’re in absolute darkness? No red light allowed! So I recorded a kind of down-counting voice with some nice weird music telling every 10 seconds where we are!
Anyway … it all went shit. So we strolled away to have one two drinks around the corner at Syndikat. Good white wine!
I noticed a cat opposite to the bar, it balanced nicely on the balcony rim, said hello to the tree leaves, looked at us and then returned back inside. It was a lovely day anyway!

This is an invitation to a very special evening:

Helen Bittner is a musician and I am a filmmaker. We found each other, spent one day together walking and subwayriding through Berlin, inviting coincidence, strolling around, me filming (on super 8) … and now the music clip for her song You And The Moon (Groovy) is finished. There’s going to be a little party this coming Sunday (the premiere of that clip!!) at Arcanoa (Tempelhofer Ufer 8, Berlin-Kreuzberg) from 8 pm.
No entrance fee!
She’ll be performing some of her songs (with 3 guest musicians) and later I’m going to show some of my films in original super 8.

Here’s the song list:
I’m alive
You are the one
You and the Moon (jazzy)
Where are you tonight?
So blue
You and the Moon (groovy)

… and here’s the film list:
Milchwolken Liebe
Die 6 Astronauten
Ach, es ist so schön, ein Käfer zu sein
Cowboy, reite immer schneller!
Der höchste Spiegel der Welt
Stich 8 juckt einfach super!
Die Salzfrösche von Hiddensee

Come and meet us!

… force people to fold their sunshades and wipe up rain drops in no time.

Riding home from my job through Köpenicker Strasse I saw a beautiful sky, looked like a thundery front approaching, warm tropical evening, beautiful saturated colors, crispy air!
I stopped at a night kiosk (remembering my empty fridge) and bought a bottle of good icecold Rivaner white wine. Stepped in, smiled at the old lady who guarded the open door. The guy (young, friendly, tattooed all over) said, when he realized that I was anxiously watching my unlocked bike outside: „Don’t worry, the owner lady will keep an eye on your bike and if someone’s trying to snatch it she’ll take care of him and throw her crutches at him!!“
I love Kreuzberg …

And then … at home … sitting in my open balcony window I heard a percussion sound, someone’s drumming … I looked down (2 storeys) and I saw 4 guys drumming tenderly on the orange garbage can on my street, a spontaneous 3 minutes concert! Whow! Awesome! Listen and watch! under-my-balcony1.mov

Finally. One of those nights. The summer has come back. The city is humming and buzzing. I light my Guadalupe candle (which I imported from LA last summer!), fill my glass with ice cubes and rosé prosecco, watch the blue-pink sky, listen to the chasing flocks of Mauersegler (European or Common Swift). Mmmh! This is summer and I love it!

In the course of one’s life – film friend Khani told me recently – everybody inhales and swallows (eats!!!!! Yikes!!!) … four spiders.
An urban myth?

Aah, just 2 minutes in the googleverse swang me to a science site!

You can say it’s ugly, this Kottbusser Damm (the street that separates Kreuzberg from Neukölln), yes it is, but it is as well charming on a Sunday noon when you sit at lovely Ankerklause, a café / bar spot on the street. Nothing better than a coffee and a croissant, watching people passing by, relaxing after a long Saturday with too much work.

Happy Sunny day!

Midsummer in the city of Berlin. Suddenly you know: you need to go to the countryside right now or else you go crazy.
So my brother and his son took me out on a ride to the emerald green clear crispy clean beautiful lake called Liepnitzsee, situated about 30 kms North of Berlin. The lake belongs to the district of Wandlitz, which in GDR times was the space where the highest East German functionaries lived.

You can rent rowboats for hours for little money, watch ducks, ducklings, great crested grebes (Haubentaucher), herons (Fischreiher) and coots (Blesshühner) … swim in the soft cuddly water, walk to the Insulanerklause, (a kind of little open air restaurant) and have a wheat beer, a salad, a coke, a Wienerwürstchen, icecream … stroll through the woods on the island and the surrounding banks …
It was a perfect Sunday 🙂

Try to count the mosquito bites on my legs … but funny, the magic water cools the itching away!
And this is my brother taking a dive!!