Berlin has been the backdrop to some major events in recent history and several notable box office movies have been set here, too. The streets and squares reflect the drama and glamour of Berlin’s long film history.
Celia Martínez, the founder of Berlin & Film*, has designed a walking tour through the city’s streets on behalf of Hotel Gat Point Charlie. This exclusive itinerary recounts Berlin’s modern history through cinema.
As Martínez, who holds a doctorate in Music and Cinema Studies, explains, “For Berlin, cinema is almost everything.”
The seventh art has allowed us to get a feel for the history of 20th century Berlin, which coincided with the birth and boom of the industry, through films on Nazism, the cabaret or the underground world of espionage before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
“The Berlinale, the Berlin International Film Festival, played a key role in the attempt to restore cultural and cinematic activity after the Second World War.” Martínez also points out that, along with the Museum of Film and Television, the Berlinale headquarters have been established on Potsdamer Platz, one of the city’s squares most portrayed in cinema history.
The walking tour has been designed with the aim of giving participants an understanding of how and where the events we have seen on the big screen took place, and includes visits to film locations and sets, old theatres and cabaret venues. “Most of all, we talk about cinema,” says Martínez, who also recommends it to anyone who wants to “discover the city in a unique, elegant way.”
To download the route click here, and for more information, visit www.berlinfilm.es, contact info@berlinfilm.es, check out Facebook or call +49 157 34715848.
Enjoy your Gat Tour!
*Berlin & Film is a platform for the diffusion of content on Berlin and its film industry: historical tours through the city, guided visits to the Museum of Film and Television, lectures, cultural activities and publications.