Yony Leyser's desires
INTERVIEW. Leyser's queer Berlin underground snapshot "Desire Will Set You Free" has been making the rounds in film circles this early summer and everyone's got something to say – including him. It...
View ArticleInterview with the aliens
We caught up with XLterrestrials, the otherworldly artist collective behind Berlin's strange, experimental film evening Citizen Kino challenging viewers to think about the visuals we see around us...
View ArticleThe Italian connection: Itaca
International magazine, international band! At our 14th Birthday Party this Friday, June 17 at Humboldthain Club, catch Itaca, the German duo throwing Italo pop hooks into the mix with cool synth...
View ArticleFeeding on refugees: The Center for Political Beauty
INTERVIEW: Four hungry tigers and the promise of the carnage of ancient Rome are now on offer at Gorki as refugees are asked to volunteer as human-food in protest of travel restrictions. Tasteless?
View ArticleThe physicality of the internet: Andrew Blum
INTERVIEW! Disruption Network Lab is back with "Deep Cables" (Jun 17-18 at Kunstquartier Bethanien), an exploration of the internet's workings. On Sat, Jun 18, author Andrew Blum takes us through the...
View ArticleHow queer can feminism be?
INTERVIEW. Hengameh Yaghoobifarah is a lot of things: A blogger, an activist, a queer feminist, a fa(t)shionista. She sat down with Exberliner to sound off about her intersectional dentity and queer...
View ArticleBeauty, death and neon: Nicolas Winding Refn
INTERVIEW! The hotly anticipated (and Cannes-contested) Refn film, "The Neon Demon", hits Berlin cinemas June 23.
View ArticleMoney for everyone: Stefan Mekiffer on basic income
From neoliberals to hippie dreamers, the spectrum of people talking about basic income runs the gamut. Read our interview with one of its proponents and then go learn more for yourself on Thu, Jul 7 at...
View ArticleBack to the future: Ben Wheatley
INTERVIEW! British director Ben Wheatley discusses his adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s dystopian novel High-Rise, a period social commentary that doubles as a sci-fi satire. The film opens in Berlin on...
View ArticleSmartshots: Sean Baker's "Tangerine"
INTERVIEW! Writer/director Baker managed to turn his iPhone 5S-shot film into a gimmick-free, distinctly fabulous and heartfelt look at the hustle of trans working girls in Los Angeles – fears,...
View ArticleFive questions for... Vessels
INTERVIEW. Martin Teff, of post-rock electronic band Vessels, talks about the band's change from cerebral to dance music. Don't miss them play Foreign Affairs on July 9 at Haus der Berlin Festspiele.
View ArticleThe Berliner who took Cannes by storm
INTERVIEW! Defying all expectations, the surprise hit at Cannes this year was not only German, but a comedy! Three-time director Maren Ade's tale of prankster dad and his corporate daughter, "Toni...
View ArticleA different kind of cooking show
Pick up the fork and the smart device! "Thirsting for Salt" is a multi-part experimental performance and installation tying together culture, family, technology and, of course, food Jul 20-21....
View ArticleDocumenting life and death in Lampedusa
INTERVIEW! This year’s winner of the Berlinale Golden Bear, Gianfranco Rosi, sat with us to talk about his emotional documentary Fuocoammare (Seefeuer) and his approach to filmmaking.
View ArticleTop chef: Klaus Reiher
Twice a month, we shine a spotlight on our favourite chefs in Berlin. This month: Klaus Reiher of Mitte bistro L'Ami Fritz explains his love of French-German cooking and wonders why nobody eats piglet...
View ArticleTanz im August Blog: SUNNY openings
INTERVIEW! Emanuel Gat and Awir Leon open this year’s Tanz im August festival with SUNNY, an unpretentious and largely improvised collision of music and movement. Lily Kelting spoke with the duo about...
View ArticleTop Chef: Patrick Groth
Patrick Groth is the man behind Centro Italia, a mini-chain of Italian grocery stores, each containing impressive trattorias serving impressive lunch.
View ArticleHating music Fearlessly
INTERVIEW! Death in Vegas frontman Richard Fearless certainly fits his moniker. He dishes on everything from the state of the British music scene to working with former porn star Sasha Grey ahead of...
View ArticleMoving on from Madonna: Reijer Zwaan's Strike a Pose
INTERVIEW! Zwaan and co-director Ester Gould's Berlinale crowd-pleaser, Strike a Pose, about the men behind Madonna at the height of her career, returns to Berlin Thu, Aug 25 at Freiluftkino Hasenheide.
View ArticleEXBlicks: Lorde of Berlin
INTERVIEW! Most of you know of poet and activist Audre Lorde, but did you know she spent some of her last years here in Berlin? Dagmar Schultz' doco details them in "Audre Lorde – The Berlin Years",...
View ArticleTanz im August: An interview with Sidney Leoni
Sidney Leoni on his new feature film: Under Influence. Leoni talks female idols, Scandinavian darkness, and the return to basic, human sensations.
View ArticleHuman error or cyberweapon: Alex Gibney
INTERVIEW! How Alex Gibney learned to start worrying and fear the cyberbomb in "Zero Days", opening in Berlin cinemas on Sep 1.
View ArticleRejecting fear, resisting Islam
INTERVIEW! Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal, the controversial author behind 2084: The End of the World, sounds off on Islam and why "we cannot talk about anything anymore." Catch him at the...
View ArticleTop Chef: Sebastian and Roma Barticzka
Twice a month, we shine a spotlight on our favourite chefs in the city. This time around, it's Polish couple Sebastian and Roma Barticzka of Schmeckerei/Pierogi.
View ArticlePalestinians speak out: After the Last Sky
INTERVIEW. Israelis have a voice here, but Palestinians, not so much. Curators of "After the Last Sky" Anna-Esther Younes and Pary El-Qualqili aim to change that with their fest at Ballhaus...
View ArticleRefugees on Mars: Halil Altindere
INTERVIEW! Refugees... in space! Halil Altindere is hitting Berlin Art Week with a jarring dystopian proposal: send them to Mars. Check out "Space Refugee" opening at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein on Sep 14.
View ArticleThe nice kind of Obama drama: Richard Tanne
INTERVIEW! A low-budget, fictionalised account of the Obamas’ chaste first date might sound like a made-for-TV nightmare, but Tanne’s directorial debut is in fact an impressive slice of lo-fi...
View ArticleTop Chef: Vladimir Kosic
Twice a month, we shine a spotlight on our favourite chefs in the city. This time around, it's Vladimr Kosic, owner of fish restaurant Lesendro, celebrating his newly opened branch in Wilmersdorf.
View ArticleMetal machine music: Wir sind die Roboter
INTERVIEW! The robots are coming! New festival Wir sind die Roboter fills the Musikbrauerei with the mind-warping booming, beeping and humming only mechanical musicians can make. Read our chat with the...
View ArticleSubtle monsters: Sebastian Koch
INTERVIEW! The first film to deal with the Nazi euthanasia programme, “Nebel im August” star Koch (of “The Lives of Others”) must channel a hard-to-recognize evil in the form of a Third Reich...
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