Berlin Calling

Berlin's techno DJ Star Ickarus (played by real life Berlin DJ star Paul Kalkbrenner) jets around the globe with his girlfriend and manager, Mathilde (Rita Lengyel). He basks in love and admiration that comes from all sides. Life and music are intoxicating. Drugs? They're just part and parcel of the techno scene. And they also bring him to the brink of collapse. One day he swallows a bad pill cut with too many hard drugs. This triggers a psychotic episode and Ickarus ends up in a psychiatric clinic. While he makes friends with other drug victims on the station and Dr. Petra Paul (Corinna Harfouch) helps him on the road to recovery, his girlfriend seeks solace in the arms of an ex-girlfriend. But that's just the start of his downward spiral...
This film is only available in Great Britain, Canada and USA.
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Credits

Original Title: Berlin Calling
Language: German original version with English subtitles
Country of Origin: Germany
Year : 2008
Duration: 105 Min.
Color
Director: Hannes Stöhr
Script: Hannes Stöhr
Camera: Andreas Doub
Editing: Anne Fabini
Sound: Patrick Veigel
Sound Mix: Robby Jäger
Music: Paul Kalkbrenner
Starring/Featuring: Paul Kalkbrenner, Rita Lengyel, Corinna Harfouch, Araba Walton, Peter Schneider, RP Kahl, Henriette Müller, Udo Kroschwald, Megan Gay, Maximilian Mauff, Peter Schneider, Erdal Yildiz, Dirk Borhardt
Production: Sabotage Films GmbH, Stoehrfilm, arte, WDR, Karsten Aurich, Hannes Stöhr
Awards: 2008: Filmfest Hamburg (D); Be Berlin Festival, New York (USA); South by Southwest Festival, Austin (USA); Festival del Film di Locarno (CH)
Parental Guidance Suggestion: suitable for 12 years of age and older
supported by: DFFF - Deutscher Filmförderfonds, BKM Filmförderung des Bundes, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, rbb, Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen, FFA - Filmförderungsanstalt

About the Film

Director's Statement

“Most musician portraits are either about American or British (men) who are dead. Whether it's Jim Morrison, Charlie Parker, Joe Strummer, Kurt Cobain, Brian Jones, Ian Curtis or Johnny Cash, the musician's struggle for survival is always shown in the context of the times in which the musician lived. Consequently, such films become portraits of society, social studies and impressions of an era. The artist's (often self-destructive) battle becomes a metaphor for the whole generation. If it's about Rock ́n Roll heroes, then the idea of social change will be emphasized. “Art & Insantiy” is for me the main subject of all these musician portrait films. The spectator gets hooked into the passionate, unconventional lifestyle of the main character. Will the artist stand or fall - or fly too close to the sun? Indeed, Led Zeppelin used the image of Icarus in their logo.
Why not draw a portrait of a German musician? Maybe even about an artist who's still alive. Why deal with the past when the present is exciting enough? Why not make a movie about someone who composes electronic music? YouTube generation musicians compose on their laptops. They fly around the world and don't need lyrics. They sell their tracks as downloads to avoid dependency on the major labels. They are - in the best sense of the word - service providers for enthusiastic dancers in the globalized club landscape.
BERLIN CALLING isn't a biopic. It's a portrait of a fictional musician in contemporary Berlin. It's a film about art and insanity, intoxication and ecstasy, about hope and the future, friendship and family, and the lust for life, and of course, about love. - Hannes Stöhr