| Berlin Calling | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Nigel Dick |
| Written by | Nigel Dick Kastle Waserman |
| Produced by | Nigel Dick |
| Starring | Kastle Waserman Benjamin Waserman |
| Music by | Nigel Dick |
Production company | |
Release date |
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Running time | 81 minutes |
| Language | English |
Berlin Calling is a 2014 documentary film starring Kastle Waserman and Benjamin Waserman. Written by Nigel Dick and Kastle Waserman, and directed by Nigel Dick.
The film follows American punk fan Kastle Waserman as she journeys to Berlin, Prague, Paris, Houston and Theresienstadt to unearth the details of her father's time in Hitler's Germany and his time in Theresienstadt concentration camp. The film concludes with a return visit to Berlin during which Benjamin Waserman meets Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit.
The film was made over a period of seven years and was shot in California, Texas, France, Germany and the Czech Republic. The film was officially released on DVD on April 7, 2015 and its digital release was on April 17, 2015.
The film was awarded a Gold REMI award at the WorldFest Houston International Films Awards in April 2014 and was an Official Selection at the Hartford Jewish Film Festival in March 2015 and the Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival in April 2015.
Klaus Wowereit is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and was the Governing Mayor of Berlin from 21 October 2001 to 11 December 2014. In 2001 state elections his party won a plurality of the votes, 29.7%. He served as President of the Bundesrat in 2001/02. His SPD-led coalition was re-elected in the 2006 elections; after the 2011 elections the SPD's coalition partner changed from the Left to the Christian Democratic Union. He was also sometimes mentioned as a possible SPD candidate for the Chancellorship of Germany (Kanzlerkandidatur), but that never materialized.
Friedrich Münzer was a German classical scholar noted for the development of prosopography, particularly for his demonstrations of how family relationships in ancient Rome connected to political struggles. He died in Theresienstadt concentration camp.
Tempelhof is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. It is the location of the former Tempelhof Airport, one of the earliest commercial airports in the world. The former airport and surroundings are now a park called Tempelhofer Feld, making it the largest inner city open space in the world.
Kurt Gerron was a German Jewish actor and film director. He and his wife, Olga, were murdered in the Holocaust.
Regina Jonas was a Berlin-born Reform rabbi. In 1935, she became the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi. Jonas was murdered in the Holocaust.
Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination camps. Its conditions were deliberately engineered to hasten the death of its prisoners, and the ghetto also served a propaganda role. Unlike other ghettos, the exploitation of forced labor was not economically significant.
Alles auf Zucker! is a German comedy film, released internationally in 2004. It can be seen as part of the "Ossi-Wessi" confrontation within Germany. Directed by Dani Levy, the cast includes Henry Hübchen, Hannelore Elsner, Udo Samel, Gołda Tencer and Steffen Groth.
Nigel Dick is a British music video and film director, writer and musician from Catterick, England, now based in Los Angeles, California. He has directed many pop videos, for singers who include Britney Spears, Toto and Band Aid.
Sebastian Koch is a German television and film actor. He is known for roles in the 2007 Academy Award-winning film The Lives of Others, in Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies, and as Otto Düring in the fifth season of the Showtime series Homeland.
Theresienstadt. Ein Dokumentarfilm aus dem jüdischen Siedlungsgebiet, unofficially Der Führer schenkt den Juden eine Stadt, was a black-and-white projected Nazi propaganda film. It was directed by the German Jewish prisoner Kurt Gerron and the Czech filmmaker Karel Pečený under close SS supervision in the Theresienstadt concentration camp, and edited by Pečený's company, Aktualita. Filmed mostly in the autumn of 1944, it was completed on 28 March 1945 and screened privately four times. After the war, the film was lost but about twenty minutes of footage was later rediscovered in various archives.
Spider's Web is a 1989 West German film directed by Bernhard Wicki. It is based on the 1923 novel by Joseph Roth. It was chosen as West Germany's official submission to the 62nd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, but did not manage to receive a nomination. The film was the last submission by West Germany, due to German reunification in 1990, Germany competed at the 63rd Academy Awards as a single country.
Karl Rahm was a Sturmbannführer (major) in the German Schutzstaffel who, from February 1944 to May 1945, served as the commandant of the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Rahm was the third and final commander of the camp, succeeding Siegfried Seidl and Anton Burger. He was hanged for war crimes.
Inge Keller was a German stage and film actress whose career on stage and screen spanned seventy years. She was one of the most prominent performers in the former German Democratic Republic. Thomas Langhoff described her as "perhaps the most famous actress of the German Democratic Republic—a star." Deutschlandradio Kultur reporter Dieter Kranz called her "a theater legend".
Benjamin Israel Murmelstein was an Austrian rabbi. He was one of 17 community rabbis in Vienna in 1938 and the only one remaining in Vienna by late 1939. An important figure and board member of the Jewish group in Vienna during the early stages of the war, he was also an "Ältester" of the Judenrat in the Theresienstadt concentration camp after 1943. He was the only "Judenältester" to survive the Holocaust and has been credited with saving the lives of thousands of Jews by assisting in their emigration, while also being accused of being a Nazi collaborator.
Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, is an Orthodox rabbi based in Berlin, Germany. He is Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Berlin and president of the Chabad Jewish Education Centre in Berlin.
Rainer Michael Müller is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as Governing Mayor of Berlin from 2014 to 2021 as a member of the German Bundestag since the 2021 elections, representing the Berlin-Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district.
Der Bunker is a 2015 German horror-comedy film by Nikias Chryssos, in his feature film directorial debut. The film had its world premiere on 7 February 2015 at the Berlin International Film Festival and was released to DVD, Blu-ray, and VOD, alongside a limited theatrical release, in December of the same year.
The first Müller senate was the state government of Berlin between 2014 and 2016, sworn in on 11 December 2014 after Michael Müller was elected as Governing Mayor by the members of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin. It was the 26th Senate of Berlin.
The fourth Wowereit senate was the state government of Berlin between 2011 and 2014, sworn in on 24 November 2011 after Klaus Wowereit was elected as Governing Mayor by the members of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin. It was the 25th Senate of Berlin.