"Berlinale or Bust"

Ok, it’s 4:17pm and in just over 6 hours I’m getting on a plane and heading

for the Berlin International Film Festival.  My film, “A Little Night

Fright” is screening in the Generation section, and I’m experiencing a

mixture of excitement, nerves, and a ringing in my ears that won’t go away.

As the hours and minutes tick away I find myself adding to my “Things to do

before I leave” list rather than subtracting from it.  I have prepped all my

press material but I haven’t packed or even done my laundry.  I did get

travel insurance, but I haven’t eaten any lunch or fed the fish.  I have

checked the weather report for Berlin (52°/31°) but still haven’t gotten a

European plug adaptor or gone to the ATM for a little “emergency” cash.

I do, however, trust that I will get all this done before I head out.

Even though I am leaving on a Friday evening, I don’t actually get to Berlin

until Sunday morning.  I have a stopover in Atlanta, and then about 8 hours in

New York.  Fortunately, some friends are going to meet me at JFK and take me

out for lunch before I continue on to Germany.  With all the flights, I’m

going to be spending the next two nights on a plane.  I have resigned myself to

not getting much rest, but who needs rest when you are going to a film festival?

 And especially Berlin.

I am taking an immense pleasure in knowing that I will be screening in Berlin.

Yes, some of this is a result of the thrill at being recognized by one of the

most prestigious festivals in the world, but a lot of it has to do with a very

personal connection I have to the city itself.

My grandfather was originally from Berlin, and came from a very prominent and

respected family.  The family lived in what was to become East Berlin in later

years.  During World War II, my grandfather fled Nazi Germany, wound up in

Scotland, and settled there.  Save for one brother, his entire family was wiped

out by the Nazis.

For the remainder of his life, he would tell my mother that there was property

in Germany that belonged to the family, and that if the Wall ever came down,

perhaps the family would be able to reclaim it.  He knew that he would never

live to see that, and indeed he didn’t.  However, when the Wall finally did

come down, and properties were restored to their original owners, my family

came into a little money.

It was this money that enabled me, then completing my military service in the

Israeli army, to come to the US to study film in Los Angeles.  It was this

money that set me on my current course as a filmmaker.

So you see, the thought that my film is screening in Berlin, a city that lies

at the very root of my career, gives me a tremendous sense of having come full

circle.

My grandfather would be proud.