On the 9th of November it will be 24 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. On this occasion our director will talk about her docu trip to the Berlins in the USA: One in particular – the one and only remaining East Berlin in Pennsylvania, USA. This small picturesque town, only two hours north of Washington D.C. also has a Cold War story to tell. Tune in to Süpermercado at Funkhaus Europa tomorrow at 11am CET.
Check out below the latest video message by our director Anke. A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OUR SUPPORTERS FOR THEIR DONATIONS SO FAR. You guys are fantastic! Keep donating and spreading the word. Together we can finish this film!
Meet Theo Knust. This summer he turned 102. He is the oldest resident in New Berlin. His grandparents came over from Germany to Illinois in the mid 19th century. Theo never spoke German „My parents, when I was young, they didn’t want me to know what they were talking about, they talked German.“
Through High School he carried journals for 4 years as a paperboy, earning 15 cents a week. After finishing school Theo ran the Berlin restaurant for 18 years. Then he got out of that and ran a shell service station until he retired in the mid-sixties. He has been retired since 1965. Theo is also huge fan of horse races. He went to the Kentucky Derby a record-breaking 75 times. Quote Theo: „I am just a little old country boy. Never had less, I have had a good life and a good wife and a good family and I just bet a little and if I win a little I am alright and if I loose a little I am not hurting.“ Until 3 years ago you could see him cycle around the streets of New Berlin. Since his small accident, Theo unfortunately has to keep his bike now locked up in the garage.
Dorit used to live in Neu Kölln – Berlin Germany. In the final days of the Second War war, together with her mom she spent several weeks in a bunker in Friedrichs- strasse. One warm summers’ day in 1948 when Dorit was playing with her friend, the sky above her was roaring with planes again, this time tossing Hershey bars to the children of Berlin.
In 1953, Dorits’ mom married an American soldier and moved to Georgia, U.S.A..
Only a few years later Dorit herself married a G.I. and followed his assignments all around the world Okinawa, Japan, Augsburg , Germany Rhode Island & Boston, USA. She is now retired in New Braunfels close to New Berlin, Texas. In 2006 she met Gail Halverson, the “Candy bomber” from the Berlin Airlift whose acquaintance she made, from the distance , 57 years earlier and to whom she addressed anonymous Christmas cards for many years. She is still a Berliner at heart. She is a happy lady, lived a wonderful life always having one foot in the USA and one in Berlin Germany. To quote Dorit: “Ich bin eine echte Berliner Pflanze und berlinern kann ick ooch noch.” ( I am are real Berlin “plant” and I scan still speak Berlin dialect)
All having one thing in common: German roots.
“I (HEART) BERLIN” is a road trip from Berlin, Germany taking us on a journey through the Berlins of the USA.
A journey into the past of the German descendant in the US as well as exploration of the concept of identity, cultural-historical roots in today’s Germany, Europe and America itself.
Which is more important where you are or where you are from? Do you leave your history behind and start a new life in an unknown, foreign country?
View the trailer for our documentary here!
We have shown a short version of our film at the opening of the exhibition “Berlins –Made in the USA” at the German American Heritage Museum in Washington DC this summer, on the day of the 50th anniversary of JFKs speech “Ich bin ein Berliner”. Plenty of Berliners from all over the US participated in the event which we covered to be part of our final documentary.
( below in the pictures you see the director of the museum Rüdiger Lentz introducing the film together with the director of “I (HEART) BERLIN”.
Starting and ending in Berlin, the capital of Germany, the story is told through personal stories of German descendants and German migrants. Those portraits will be intercut with the director’s own personal story of migration, dislocation and re-location.
On the road we will make plenty of acquaintances like:
We meet Maria Schlablach, an Amish lady from Berlin Ohio (the largest Amish community in the USA), who was excommunicated from her community 2 years ago and gives very interesting insights about daily Amish life and the old myth of “Rummspringerl”.
In Berlin Georgia we meet Inge Fischer. She flew Eastern Berlin the night of Stalin’s death after being locked up for anti-establishment comments and migrated to the USA on one of the first Jet planes.
We then meet Stewart Saylor from the Historical Society in Berlin Somerset. His ancestors arrived on a ship in 1749 and belong to the first wave of German migrants to Pennsylvania. Stewart got his family DNA analysed and can track back his German heritage to the Lichtenstein cave in the Harz mountains 3000 years ago.
We will be having a “bottomless cup coffee” for 75 cent at Brietzke’s Café. This institution of a diner is owned by Evangeline otherwise known as Mutsie for everybody in the neighbourhood of New Berlin Texas. In the early 1840s five sovereign princes and sixteen noblemen from Hessia, Germany, formed an organisation, the Adelsverein, with a very ambitious plan to establish German settlements in Texas. Mutsie’s great grandparents migrated to Texas with the Hessian Princes.
In Berlin Massachusetts on of the oldest Berlins in the USA I meet Kai von Fintel. Kai spent 10 years of his life planning and building an eco-village in Berlin. Kai is also a professor for linguistics at MIT. Kai represents my most recent migrant on the trip. Kai only came over to the USA 20 years ago.
…Of course there are plenty more Berliners featured in our film. Tell us YOUR stories! Be part of I (HEART) BERLIN!
Support our project on Indiegogo!
We have just launched a crowdfunding campaign on the fundraising platform Indiegogo. We would very much appreciate also your help and your support!
All donations will bet rewarded with plenty of goodies, from posters, special edition DVDs of our documentary, T-Shirts, you name it. Only this week Klaus Wowereit, the governing mayor of Berlin Germany, signed three beautiful large prints which are up for grabs as well!
For the US Berlin communities, we set up a special screening package. We are planning to tour the US Berlins we are featuring, arrange screenings and be present if money allows.
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/i-heart-berlin-film
Our aim is still to complete the film by the end of the year 2013. Help us make this happen!
iheartberlinfilm 