ABC / 2010 – 53:40
Berlin is a small city with a big financial problem, but it has long had a reputation as a creative centre – a reputation that has endured through several wars and the Wall. It has attracted international artists as diverse as Christopher Isherwood, Nick Cave, Barrie Kosky and Ming Wong. The fall of the Wall might have put an end to (west) Berlin’s sense of being a singular enclave of freedom in the midst of oppression, but it also created new opportunities, as whole areas of the city suddenly became available for re-invention and re-occupation. These days, creative Berlin flourishes, even as the city’s finances continue to slide.
In this peripatetic documentary, Jean Claude Kuner, a long-time Berlin resident and an award-winning feature maker, tries to see his city through the eyes of expatriate artists, matching their romantic visions against his own hard bitten understandings of one of the world’s iconic cities.
→ text of the radio play (PDF)
Author and Director: Jean-Claude Kuner
Broadcast: ABC / 5 October 2010