Directors’ paradise


By DQ
October 17, 2017

DQ TVIN FOCUS

Viewers will be transported to Berlin in the Roaring Twenties in epic German period drama Babylon Berlin.

Based on Volker Kutscher’s novels, the story follows Gereon Rath, a police officer from Cologne investigating in the capital with his own agenda. Yet the story only serves as a way into a city overrun by organised crime and political extremism. Berlin is a metropolis for those with talent and ambition but a dead end for the impoverished masses striving for a better life.

Writers and directors Tom Tykwer, Henrik Handloegten and Achim von Borries discuss how they used to books as the basis of the 16-episode series, which they say also asks questions about German society during the emergence of the Nazis.

They also reveal how they shared responsibilities in pre-production, during shooting and in the editing process, on a production that ran to 185 shooting days and filmed on a backlot built at Studio Babelsberg, complete with four streets and squares.

Babylon Berlin is produced by X Filme, ARD Degeto, Sky and distributor Beta Film.

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