Berlin documentary

Up until just two short decades ago, Berlin was split down the middle by a great, dirty wall.

It is not a long chapter in history, yet the city has undergone such monumental change since reunification that the producers felt not only Berliners should be party to the party. Hence the project.

The brainchild of producer Thomas Kufus and director Volker Heise, the documentary will run for 24 hours straight starting at 6am CET on Saturday. That is exactly one year to the day since it was shot.

Early on the morning of Sept. 5, 2008, 80 camera teams hit the streets of Berlin and spent the subsequent 24 hours collecting footage to depict the myriad lives and fates played out day by day in the German capital.

The end result brings together the destinies of 20 main protagonists and 50 secondary characters and takes viewers into the realms - public and private - of a refuse worker, French journalist, poet, drag queen and drug addict.

There are also sequences with more high profile Berlin figures, including the mayor of the city Klaus Wowereit, conductor Daniel Barenboim and the editor of the mass-circulation Bild newspaper Kai Diekmann.

Exploration of diversity

Volker Heise said the film was a way to find out how people live in a city of such diversity. "How do people educate their children? What television programs do they watch? What do they eat?" he asked in material outlining the project.

Work first began on the 2.8-million-euro ($4-million) film some three years ago. Besides the protagonists selected to feature in the tele-visual extravaganza, Berliners were invited to send in their own contributions. Some of these have made it into the final product.

So, too, has the city itself. There are multiple shots of the television tower at Alexanderplatz, the river Spree and other landmarks. But viewers will also catch glimpses of the smaller spots that make Berlin the unique city it is.

In essence, the makers have tried to leave no stone unturned in their portrayal of this 21st-century metropolis. From the bedroom to the sausage stand, the courtroom to the Chancellery, they have set out to capture life as it happens.

And as the introduction is at pains to point out, it is just a normal day: "Nothing special is expected to happen. People will get up and go to work, they will love and hate one another, they will be born and they will die."

The show begins at 6am central European time and can be seen on arte and Berlin public broadcaster, RBB. Viewers outside Germany can pick up the live stream at www.24berlin.tv.

tkw/AFP/EPD

Editor: Kate Bowen