The label Darling Berlin stands for fresh and uncommon independent movies from the German capital.
Often underfunded but with a lot of heart and a story to tell, a whole new generation of filmmakers and actors is producing movies that are down to earth yet skillfully defy expectations. No rules. No compromise. Deeply funny, genuinely moving and refreshingly different.
With the Berlin audience already convinced, UCM.ONE, the creators of Darling Berlin, has been dedicated to making these movies accessible to the rest of the world.
The following feature films, sometimes inspired by real life people or events, have been published on the film label Darling Berlin so far:
More information about the films listed above (synopsis, backgrounds, trailers, participants & actors, awards) you can get by clicking on the poster of the film you want to get more information about.
Documentations illuminate individual themes, scenes or areas and because we want to show Berlin in picture and sound in as many facets as possible, documentation should not be missing. For this reason, Darling Berlin occasionally brings out documentary films (a non-fictional film genre) that deal with specific Berlin topics.
More information about the documentaries listed above (synopsis, backgrounds, trailers, participants & actors, awards) you can get by clicking on the poster of the documentary you want to get more information about.
The definition of a “medium-length film” is merely that it is a film whose duration is between that of a short film and that of a feature film. The name of this particular genre is hardly common in German-speaking countries, it is however a phenomenon in countries with Romance languages: “moyen-métrage” (French), “mediometraggio” (Italian) and “mediometraje” (Spanish).
We find “medium-length films” exciting, because the pressures and limitations of the marketable formats do not apply, it is the story itself that is the focus – no matter when it ends. We usually release and market “medium-length films” digitally, although occasionally we also include them in DVD releases (as a bonus film) or in DVD boxes.
Short stories respectively short films are understood as an independent genre with special expressive possibilities. Due to its brevity, the short film offers filmmakers artistic possibilities. As a result, directors of cinematographic films often return to the short film format. The maximum playing time to classify a film as a short film is not handled consistently. The makers of the Berlinale define the maximum length of a short film depending on the section to a maximum of 30 minutes.
On December 16, 2016, the series Emma’s Word (German: “Emmas Welt”) by Nicole Fornoff (Producer) and Luise Brinkmann (Director) was exclusively launched on Darling Berlin‘s YouTube channel. In the following weeks, another episode was published. Later, the series was then also at other providers such. Amazon Prime, Dailymotion and Vimeo VOD released via Darling Berlin.
The series tells the story of 25-year-old Emma. Her clumsy and lovable way of chasing her absurd funny situations literally. She has just dropped out of law school in support of her life partner when she realizes he is cheating on her. Now she is faced with nothingness: without a job, without money, without a flat.
In addition to the current films, Darling Berlin also publishes selected classic films from directors of the past. Just as we can show the current Berlin in picture and sound today, in these films, the long-forgotten times can revive again, because directors from those days archived the tends, speeches and everyday problems of the Berliners through their work.
More information about the films listed above (synopsis, backgrounds, trailers, participants & actors, awards) you can get by clicking on the poster of the film you want to get more information about.
From about 2008, the movement German Mumblecore* developed in Berlin. “German Mumblecore” stands above all (but not only) for improvised cinema “Made in Germany”. The films and their makers are celebrated especially at film festivals in Germany. Without a screenplay, films were full of energy, explosiveness and lightness. These are extraordinary tragicomedies: only laughter is more cordial and the tragic more everyday than one knows from comparable German films. With little money and great independence, the highly talented filmmakers succeed in capturing the lifestyle of their generation in Berlin with their camera.
Together with the film festival achtung berlin, the “Edition German Mumblecore” was created, which presents in a box the most important films of the “German Mumblecore” on 10 DVDs with a big booklet.
In addition to the 10 DVDs, the DVD box also contains a 60-page booklet in which Urs Spörri (including manager of culture at the German Filminstitut - DIF e.V. in Frankfurt) sheds light on the background to the movement.
* Interesting about the name “German Mumblecore” is above all that the Berlin scene seldom even uses this name or not at all and is usually more critical of the name. Rather, the name was used by festivals and press and thus shaped. The term “Mumblecore” is originally a US sub-genre of independent film. In Germany, the name “Berlin Flow” is occasionally used for this type of film. In the US, “Andrew Bujalski” is usually referred to as the one who shot the first Mumblecore movie in 2002 with the movie “Funny Ha Ha“. Characteristic of Mumblecore are small to very small production budgets, improvised dialogues, the use of interiors and sometimes deliberate do-it-yourself aesthetics. At the center of the plot are often young people with their inner views and interpersonal problems, with the focus mostly on realistic human interactions, incorporating the personal experiences of directors and actors.
We from Darling Berlin have dealt with the implementation of the project a lot with the name of the box – but then decided to use the name “German Mumblecore“, although we have deliberately not used in the marketing of their own films and will use. But since festivals and the press have coined this name and we do not want to present a new name with the box, but to show an emerging movement (as it will always be called later), we use in this case the name, the the most attentive movie lovers currently most connect with it. Urs Spörri also deals extensively with the entry and the term “German Mumblecore” in the booklet of the DVD box. For the first time, the name “German Mumblecore” in Germany was used by Sebastian Brose during a performance at the festival achtung berlin. This was also a strong argument to use the name “Mumblecore”, as this Berlin festival actively accompanies the developments of the young filmmakers in Berlin and also presents this DVD box in cooperation with Darling Berlin.
What would films be without the right music? For this reason, UCM.ONE also releases the corresponding “Original Soundtracks” for some films. While the term “soundtrack” literally refers to the “sound track” with parts of sounds, music and effects of a film, TV programme or show, the abbreviation “OST” or the term “original soundtrack” usually stands for the music that can be heard in the film, although usually only excerpts of the entire music tracks are part in the film.
The arthouse streaming service MUBI is showing the Darling Berlin film “Second Thoughts (German title: “Ich Ich Ich”) as part of the film series “Will They? Won’t They?”. Director Zora Rux’s feature film debut, starring Elisa Plüss and Thomas Fränzel, premiered on September 25, 2021 at the Zurich Film Festival and screened in the feature…
On Saturday, November 2, 2024, “Heiko’s World” (original title: “Heikos Welt”) will celebrate its North American premiere in New York City! The Berlin-Weddinger Kneipenkomödie by Dominik Galiza, released on the Berlin film label “Darling Berlin”, follows the whimsical anti-hero Heiko, whose unwavering devotion to the game of darts leads him on an unusual path to…
On Homeless Day on 11 September, the Babylon cinema is showing the documentary film *Berlin Bytch Love* (Darling Berlin, directed by Heiko Aufdermauer and Johannes Girke) today at 6 p.m. in cooperation with UCM.ONE and the Berlin Housing Crisis Working Group. ‘Berlin Bytch Love’ was made under the direction of Heiko Aufdermauer and Johannes Girke,…
Two weeks before the local and European elections in Brandenburg on 9 June, the feature film ‘Surviving Brandenburg’ (Darling Berlin) is going on another cinema tour through East German villages, towns and cities. In Berlin, the comedy will be shown daily from Thursday 23 May at the Kant Kino, where the film team will be…
In May, the cult comedy ‘Heiko’s World’ (Darling Berlin) by Dominik Galizia will be back on Berlin screens. It will kick off on Father’s Day, 9 May 2024, at the Hasenheide open-air cinema, which will show the film starring Martin ‘Heiko’ Rohde on a special daytime stage at 6 pm. In his feature film, director…
A good two weeks before the German Film Awards(Lola) 2024 are presented, there will be a public screening for members of the German Film Academy of “Sprich mit mir” by Janin Halisch (present) at the Cinenova cinema in Cologne on Thursday, 18 April at 8 pm. Actress Barbara Philipp has been nominated for the Lola…
