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CULTURE

Berlin gentrification takes spotlight in new film by actor Daniel Brühl

German-Spanish actor Daniel Brühl called on some of his more "humiliating" Hollywood experiences for the black comedy "Next Door", his directorial debut premiering in competition at this week's Berlinale film festival.

Berlin gentrification takes spotlight in new film by actor Daniel Brühl
Brühl in a Berlin 'Kneipe' in a scene from Nebenan. Photo: DPA

The German-Spanish Brühl, who shot to fame aged 25 with the bittersweet Berlinale contender “Good Bye, Lenin!”, is now himself up for the Golden Bear top prize Friday at an event that has gone all-virtual due to the pandemic.

Since his early success, Brühl, now 42, has starred in hits including “Rush”, TV series “The Alienist” and the “Captain America” franchise.

READ ALSO: Germany holds virtual Berlinale film festival 

“Next Door” (Nebenan) tells the story of Daniel, a preening German-Spanish actor played by Brühl who like the director himself lives in a gentrified district of Berlin and is up for a role in a major superhero movie.

On his way to the airport, he stops in at one of the German capital’s traditional corner pubs to rehearse his lines.

‘Vain and narcissistic’

Trying to understand his character’s “motivation”, Daniel frantically calls Marvel executives begging them for more pages of the top-secret screenplay so he can better prepare.

Daniel practises the ridiculous dialogue with a familiar Marvel comics growl while watched by Bruno, a mysterious local sitting at the bar who soon reveals he knows more about Daniel’s life than he should.

Bruno is a native East Berliner who doesn’t take kindly to the wealthy newcomers who have moved into the area and driven up prices, and he’s immune to Daniel’s attempts to charm him.

Their small talk turns combative, then sinister as Bruno shows the unctuous Daniel who actually has the upper hand.

Despite the obvious parallels, Brühl joked, “I’m a vain and narcissistic man but I’m not as horrible as the guy we see in the movie”.

He told AFP he wanted “Next Door” to tackle both the transformation of Berlin, where rents have increased more than 75 percent over the last decade, and the occasional silliness of the entertainment industry.

READ ALSO: In graphs: How gentrification has changed Berlin

“I’m making fun of all the (movie) projects, all the ones that I really loved doing. But I also had some experiences in which I felt ridiculous and humiliated,” he said.

“I mean being sent a page where everything is watermarked and blurred and then you have three lines and don’t have any context and people expect you to pull off some magic performance and you think like ‘what the fuck, what is this?'”

‘Ich bin kein Berliner’

Brühl called it “a very purging, cleansing experience for me to show this humiliating aspect finally in a movie”.

But he admitted to being a little afraid of biting the hand that feeds him with his savage satire.

“Someone like (Marvel president) Kevin Feige — he has a great sense of humour. That’s something I like about Marvel. So I hope that when these guys see the movie they understand the joke,” he said.

He sought inspiration from the Coen brothers and fellow actor-turned-director Julie Delpy for the wild shifts in mood in the movie, which was written by bestselling German author Daniel Kehlmann.

Brühl, who grew up in the western German city of Cologne but whose parents live in Barcelona, has called Berlin’s now upscale Prenzlauer Berg district home since the early 2000s.

He said he wanted to take on the ongoing friction between rich and poor in Berlin as well as easterners and westerners three decades after the Wall fell.

“I was privileged to be rather successful as a young man being an actor,” he said.

“But no matter where I went, I always felt like an invader, be it in Prenzlauer Berg or in Barcelona where I found an apartment in 2010.”

He said that even today, Berlin can still give him that fish-out-of-water feeling.

“Even after 20 years, there’s certain encounters that I have where I truly feel, ‘Ich bin kein Berliner’ (I’m not a Berliner).”

By Deborah Cole

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CULTURE

EXPLAINED: What to know about Germany’s youth culture pass

As of June 14th, anyone turning 18 this year can sign up for €200 worth of free books, music, theatre and cinema tickets under Germany's 'Kulturpass' scheme. Here's why and how they can use it.

EXPLAINED: What to know about Germany's youth culture pass

What’s Germany’s culture pass?

The KulturPass – or culture pass – is a bit like a voucher that young people in Germany can use to buy tickets to cultural events, or even products like books or sheet music.

Anyone turning 18 in 2023 – estimated to be about 750,000 people – can get their hands on the pass. They will have €200 credit that they can spend on a special culture pass platform over two years for event tickets and other cultural offers. 

It’s worth noting that the digital pass is available to all young people living in Germany, even if they don’t hold German citizenship.

How is it given out?

The pass won’t be handed out automatically – those who are eligible have to sign up and prove their identity and age. To do so, simply head to the Kulturpass website (you can change the language from German to English by clicking on ‘Profil’) or download the Kulturpass app on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

Cultural venues can also sign up to sell their tickets or entrance cards via the Kulturpass app and website, so they can get a boost to their sales by promoting it on this central platform.

READ ALSO: Everything that changes in June 2023 in Germany

Why is Germany doing this?

The move follows similar youth culture projects by other countries, including France, Italy and Spain. 

The German government initiative has two major aims: the first is to give young people an opportunity to get out and experience live culture in a way they weren’t able to during the pandemic.

Culture Minister Claudia Roth said last year that she hoped the KulturPass would get “young people go out and experience culture, see how diverse and inspiring it is”.

This, the government hopes, will create the next generation of culture vultures. 

The second aim is to help give a boost to cultural institutions like theatres, galleries, live music venues and similar businesses. 

The culture industry was one of the hardest hit in the pandemic, due to the Covid shutdowns put in place by the German government to combat the spread of the virus. 

Venues have struggled to encourage people to break out of their pandemic habits and get out to live events again. 

What kind of events can young people go to?

The emphasis is on live events to get people away from their home and to give the arts scene a boost. Theatres and concert venues will likely be a popular choice, but also independent bookshops, art galleries, and small business cinemas.

Amazon, Spotify, big chain cinemas – those kinds of vendors are excluded. Instead, the emphasis will be on local, independent venues and higher culture like opera, theatre, and concerts, as well as books and music.

Are there plans to roll it out to other age groups?

At the moment, this is a pilot project for people turning 18 this year. Depending on how it goes, the government may be looking at plans to roll such a pass out for 16 and 17 year-olds as well.

To hear more on this story, tune into our Germany in Focus podcast episode released on Friday, March 26th. 

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