An Ode to Community and Loss

 

 

 

Change is the Only Constant
No funding. No interference. Telling the story our way. Authentic.
Once again combining acted scenes and documentary statements.
A new document made with the local Berlin-Neukölln community.

 

Berlin Past and Future
In 2010 Tom Atkins Blues told the story of creeping gentrification in Berlin, playing for a year in local cinemas and at festivals across Europe.
A conversation about the plight of the city but also about what happens when a dedicated, skilled group create their own film with the local neighbourhood.
16 years later Berlin is even more homogenised and gentrified, the ranks of the independent shrinking and communities disappearing.
From within this milieu comes the sequel, providing a voice to the community and offering some hope to a splintered world.

 

Déjà vu
Tom has run his cafe for 15 years, at the heart of a diverse Berlin neighbourhood. A second front room, creating a sense of community.
But market forces are on the march. Talk is of rising rents and moving on. People’s hopes and fears are in the balance as the social fabric is dismantled.
When his cafe faces a rent increase of 130%, Tom knows his time is up. He has been here before but that makes it no easier.
He and the neighbourhood try to come to terms with these events while also looking to the future.