News from Berlin

Berlin's Babelsberg Studio Set for Refurbishment

August 06th, 2014
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News from Berlin – Berlin’s Babelsberg film studio, the oldest large-scale film studio in the world, has announced plans to invest 12 million in a new project to create a new exterior set called Neue Berliner Strasse. The aim is to bolster the studio’s already attractive reputation as a centre of film production in Europe.

The studio, which has a stellar reputation as a creative hub, has acted as a production base for many famous films throughout the years. Beginning in the 1920s, it was home to the creative powerhouse of German cinema, with the feted sci-fi film “Metropolis” by director Fritz Lang proving a particular highpoint. The studios was then used to make infamous propaganda films during the Nazi era under the stewardship of propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbels. Since then however, it has hosted production of many notable Hollywood films including “The Pianist”, “The Bourne Trilogy” and Quentin Tarantino’s Second World War western, “Inglorious Basterds”.

The set, which covers an area of more than 12,000 metres, offers streets and buildings in various architectural styles which can removed and used in combination with blue and green screen shots.

On Monday, Charlie Woebcken, CEO of Studio Babelsberg, was joined by Germany’s federal minister for economic affairs and energy, Sigmar Gabriel, and the prime-minister of Brandenburg, Dietmar Woidke, for the laying of the foundation stone for the set. Woidke said: “Studio Babelsberg combines myth and modernity. The studio once again does justice to this claim with today’s laying of the foundation stone. The ‘Old Berliner Strasse’ has helped write German film history. Its successor will now meet the established technical standards for film and television production. It is also through such further developments that film and TV formats can remain competitive in the digital age.”

News from Berlin – Berlin Global