The making of Berlin (2022)   Berlin

What is real? Where does fiction begin? Where does the line blur between memory and dream?

To mark its 20th anniversary, the Berlin multi-media artist collective from Belgium has chosen to embark on a journey into the unknown. The making of Berlin ells the story of a man with a seamless biography lined with success. After a performance of Zvizdal, a play about an old couple who have continued to live in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, the artist collective meets an elderly German. During the meeting, the artists become increasingly fascinated by the man’s life story. A couple of chats and as many weeks later, Berlin decide to make him the subject of their new project – their chance acquaintance, a die-hard Berliner who worked for many years as orchestra manager at the Berlin Opera. An unfulfilled dream, in which Wagner’s Götterdämmerung plays a central role, keeps drawing him back to the past. The Berlin collective, supported by the orchestra of the Flanders Opera Ballet and Radio Klara, is determined to make his dream come true. But inconsistencies soon emerge and cracks appear in the story, so that Berlin’s work takes an unexpected turn.

Director: Yves Degryse
with Friedrich Mohr, Martin Wuttke, Stefan Lennert, Werner Buchholz, Alisa Tomina, Krijn Thijs, Chantal Pattyn, Symphonic Orchestra Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Alejo Pérez, Yves Degryse, Caroline Große, Michael Becker, Claire Hoofwijk, Alejandro Urrutia, Marek Burák, Marvyn Pettina, Farnaz Emamverdi
Team BERLIN: Jane Seynaeve, Eveline Martens, Jessica Ridderhof, Geert De Vleesschauwer, Sam Loncke, Manu Siebens, Kurt Lannoye
Team Opera Ballet Vlaanderen: Jan Vandenhouwe, Lise Thomas, Eva Knapen, Christophe De Tremerie
Video and editing: Geert De Vleesschauwer, Fien Leysen, Yves Degryse
Internship video editing: Maria Feenstra
Drone recordings: Yorick Leusink and Solon Lutz
Behind the scene footage: Fien Leysen
Scenography: Manu Siebens
Set construction: Manu Siebens, Ina Peeters, Rex Tee, Joris Festjens
Set construction and film design: Jessica Ridderhof, Klaartje Vermeulen, Ruth Lodder, Ina Peeters
Musical composition and mixing: Peter Van Laerhoven
Live music: Rozanne Descheemaeker or Diechje Minne/Matea Majic
Music in the film: Peter Van Laerhoven, Tim Coenen, Symphonic Orchestra Opera Ballet Vlaanderen under the direction of Alejo Pérez
Mixing orchestra: Maarten Buyl
Live sound design and sound mixing: Arnold Bastiaanse
Sound recordings: Bas De Caluwé, Maarten Moesen, Bart Vandebril
Translation and subtitling: Dorien Beckers, Maria Feenstra, Annika Serong, Nadine Malfait, Isabelle Grynberg
Technical coordination: Manu Siebens, Geert De Vleesschauwer Production management: Jessica Ridderhof
Production assistance Germany: Daniela Schwabe, Gordon Schirmer
Research Wagner: Clem Robyns
Internship Research: Annika Serong
Photography: Koen Broos, Gordon Schirmer
Business management: Tine Verhaert
Business management [until 2021]: Kurt Lannoye
Day-to-day coordination and production: Jane Seynaeve
Distribution: Eveline Martens
Communication: Sam Loncke
Production: Berlin
Co-production: De Singel, le Centquatre-Paris , Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Vooruit, C-TAKT, Theatre Festival Boulevard, Berliner Festspiele
With the support of: the Flemish Government, Sabam for Culture, Tax Shelter of the Belgian federal government via Flanders Tax Shelter
Thanks to: Linnen Berlin, Xaveriuscollege, Zaal Billy, corso, Klara, Oderberger Hotel, Het nieuwstedelijk, De Munt – La Monnaie, Cornelius Puschke, Lisa Homburger, Jill Barnes, Aino El Sohl, Natasha Padabed, Max-Philip Aschenbrenner, Carena Schlewitt, Myriam De Clopper, Barbara Raes, Dirk Rochtus, Anneleen Hermans, Mark Reybrouck, Karen Vermeiren, Guido Spruyt, Hannes D’Hoine, Niels Kloet, Roel Gelderland, Mark Dedecker, Eric Mostert/VMOO, Cees Vossen