Berlin im Licht: Stories from the Golden Twenties
Accompanied by historical film footage and the music of Kurt Weill, actress Dagmar Manzel tells the story of Berlin in the 1920s: a city that was characterised in equal measure by cultural splendour and economic misery, political instability and joie de vivre, light music and cutting-edge art. Berlin im Licht is the title of a festival that in 1928 turned night into day in the capital. Weill and Bertolt Brecht wrote the catchy tune of the same name.
The fact that nobody had to go to sleep at night in 1920s Berlin was due not least to the possibilities of electric lighting: “This is no little hick town. This is one helluva city! If you want to see everything you can, you have to use a few watts!” says the title song by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill which quickly became a hit with the night owls.
Berlin im Licht is also the title of the film by Oliver Hilmes and Andreas Morell, which was produced as part of the Philharmoniker’s online festival Die Goldenen Zwanziger (The Golden Twenties) during the coronavirus pandemic. It shows the city as a setting for both high culture and subculture, it depicts the yearning for pleasure and economic hardship of the time, and sheds light on the metropolis as a centre of political conflict and aesthetic diversity. The narrator of the film is the actress Dagmar Manzel. As a native of Berlin, she embodies the spirit of the city as authentically as anyone can.
A film by Andreas Morell (2021)
Dagmar Manzel
Category
Artists
© 2021 Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker
