For DW's series on the best in German cinema, we pick our favorite films set in the capital city, the backdrop for the tumultuous history of the 20th century. In each of these films, Berlin is one of the main characters.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/Warner Bros. Home Video
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KINO favorites: Top 10 Berlin films
Part of DW's series on the best of German cinema, here is a selection of favorite films set in Berlin - city of secret agents and crime, German politics and entertainment, music and poetry.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
#10: People on Sunday
Annie, a fashion model, prefers to spend Sunday at home while her friends are having a good time at Lake Wannsee. In the 1930 film "People on Sunday," a mix between a feature film and a documentary, Berlin and its surroundings are the actual stars. The legendary film was directed by Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer.
Image: Imago/United Archives
#9: Cabaret
Bob Fosse filmed his famous Berlin musical "Cabaret" in Berlin and in Munich in 1972. Many of the outdoor scenes were filmed in West Berlin, but most of the indoor scenes were shot in Munich studios. The story plays in Berlin in 1931, against the backdrop of the rise of the Nazi party. The film netted eight Oscars.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/Warner Bros. Home Video
#8: Murderers among us
"Murderers among us" was the first German film after the end of WWII, directed in 1946 by Wolfgang Staudte. It was filmed both in Berlin studios and in the city's vast ruins. The movie spawned the term Trümmerfilm (rubble film), and premiered that same year in Berlin's eastern Soviet sector.
Image: DEFA
#7: One, Two, Three
Billy Wilder shot the comedy "One, Two, Three" under spectacular circumstances in 1961. The veteran Hollywood director was keen on filming in the divided but not yet severed city. The Berlin Wall went up during the shooting, so the team couldn't film at the Brandenburg Gate and had to create an elaborate reconstruction in Munich.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
#6: Bridge of Spies
Another Cold War film: the American-German production "Bridge of Spies," directed by Steven Spielberg. The Academy Award-winning director filmed the movie two years ago in the actual locations in the German capital, including Glienicke Bridge, the designated spot for the exchange of captured spies during the Cold War.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/2015 Twentieth Century Fox
#5: Berlin is in Germany
In his 2001 debut "Berlin is in Germany," director Hannes Stöhr tells a misfit's story from the heart of Berlin: Martin Schulz, an East German, is free to leave prison - but finds himself in a new world, as the Berlin Wall has fallen and East Germany no longer exists. This film is pure Berlin!
Image: Imago/EntertainmentPictures
#4: Summer in Berlin
The lovely comedy film "Summer in Berlin" was mainly shot in Berlin's Prenzlauer Berg district. Andreas Dresen's 2004 film revolves around Katrin and Nike, whose friendship is sorely tested when they meet a happy-go-lucky truck driver. Lots of local Berlin color on the screen - the audience loved it.
Image: Imago/United Archives
#3: Oh Boy
Another debut film with unconventional Berlin color: Jan-Ole Gerster's 2012 "Oh Boy" tells the story of Niko Fischer, a young, melancholy drifter. Woven through with poetic nuances, the film received numerous awards, including six German film prizes.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/X-Verleih
#2: Victoria
Contemporary Berlin lifestyle: Sebastian Schipper's 2015 film "Victoria" is about a group of friends who spend a night in a Berlin club and are sucked into maelstrom of unforeseeable events. The movie is one continuous long shot, 140 minutes of authentic Berlin feeling.
Image: Panorama Entertainment
#1: Wings of Desire
In 1987, Wim Wenders directed the ultimate Berlin film, a movie with the most stunning black and white views of the city. "Wings of Desire" tells the tale of Damiel and Cassiel, angels who watch people's lives in the divided city. French camera man Henri Alekan created a fantastic tapestry of Berlin.
For the latest edition in our KINO Favorites series, we turn the spotlight on the city of Berlin and our favorite films set in Germany's once and current capital.
Berlin is a screenwriter's dream. Few places have seen as much political and social upheaval. Arguably none have been at the center of so many events that shaped the modern world.
Berlin is where modern, liberal Europe first came together in the roaring 20s and where it was torn apart by Hitler and the Nazis. It was ground zero for the Cold War and it's where the concrete curtain dividing East and West was finally smashed. Berlin now is the epicenter of cool for Europe's young people but its history still casts a dark shadow.
In short, it's the ultimate backlot for stories where the personal butts up against the political, where a character's individual choices can have far-reaching consequences.
In picking our 10 favorite Berlin films, we set ourselves some strict rules. We wanted movies depicting every modern era in the city - from the 1920s through the Cold War to reunification and the Berlin of today. We also picked films where the city is one of the main characters. These are stories that could only happen here.
It's a political place, so there are some political films, and we don't skim over the uglier chapters in Berlin's story. But we also picked comedies and private dramas, stories that show what life is really like in Kreuzberg, Mitte or Prenzlauer Berg. Films whose heroes, above all, are ordinary Berliners whose sardonic humor and melancholy resilience has seen them through all the upheaval and chaos, the destruction and horror, that the 20th century rained down upon this city.
This is a very personal list. You might not agree with our choices. But love letters are always personal. And this is our cinematic love letter to Berlin.
