Berlin Goods: Drink Syndikat – Creative Drinking Anytime

Berlin Goods: Drink Syndikat – Creative Drinking Anytime

Berlin’s nice bars and – admittedly – Don Draper have played a significant role in my interest in drinks past wine, beer and vodka soda. There are plenty of great bars and talented barkeepers in this city that can make your mouth happy when it longs for something more experimental than those “standard” liquids.

But there are nights, when I don’t feel like hanging out in a smoky bar, but want to shake and twist a little at home to whip up a great drink. I usually end up with just a glass of wine, because I neither have the energy to research what I could easily mix nor do I want to have huge bottles of ingredients rotting away on my shelves.

The Berlin-based start-up Drink Syndikat now presents the perfect solution to all those issues. Each month drink expert and founder Erik Pfauth assembles a box with high quality ingredients to a total of six drinks, which you can order directly to your house. A little booklet tells you what you can mix from those ingredients as well as the history of the drinks and origin of the spirits.

I spoke with Erik about his business and the best Bars in Berlin…

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Win Tickets for the Berlinale Talents

Win Tickets for the Berlinale Talents

As part of the Berlinale 300 promising directors, actors, authors and other film professionals have been invited to partake in this year’s Berlinale Talents Summit. This year they will learn, work and discuss everything on the topic “2015: A Space Discovery”. In addition to their private program the Berlinale Talents also offers panel discussions, conversations or lectures by renown film professionals such as Darren Aronofski (this year’s Berlinale jury president),  Wim Wenders or The Yes Man. Luckily those are open to the public and even luckier, we have tickets to a few of the events for you to win.

Find out which panels we are inviting you to after the click…

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Berlinale: A Guide to Selecting Films

Berlinale: A Guide to Selecting Films

photo by Ali Ghandtschi

It’s nearly Berlinale time and the city is buzzing with excitement.

The festival will show more than 400 films and is expecting close to half a million visits to the screenings taking place across the city. The program is already online and the first tickets have gone on sale. But how is one expected to make sense of the huge selection and find films one actually will enjoy?

Of course there are plenty of articles with recommendations that can give you an idea. Those are usually films that were raved about at Sundance, films that have been anticipated highly, films from famous directors, with ingenious actors or winners from a few years back. However you never know if that simply means that tickets will sell out immediately or if those films are actually down your alley ( I’m thinking back to that horrific Monuments Men for example). And it’s good to keep in mind that writers who do recommend movies before they’ve premiered often haven’t seen the films either, so really it’s just a lucky guess based on what they know from press releases and participants of the project.

Therefore we recommend you to also make your own choices! Read our little guide on how to select the right films for your Berlinale visit …

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Susan Sontag Revisited in Berlin

Susan Sontag Revisited in Berlin

First of all I want to briefly say: “I know that I don’t know anything (yet)”, which is why I think we should all go here:

The event series Susan Sontag Revisited starts today. The name Susan Sontag rings a bell, but what exactly did she do? I must admit I don’t know much. I know that Susan Sontag was a writer, that she published texts about photography and art, was a critical mind and together with photographer Annie Leibovitz who captured Sontag until her cancer death in 2004. And that’s already the end of it, for now. Because this wonderful series is taking place in Berlin. Susan Sontag Revisited will present, discuss and explore Susan Sontag’s work in a variety of events. More about it after the jump.

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Berlin is always there – A Weekend in Deauville

Berlin is always there – A Weekend in Deauville

photo: Kristine Thiemann

The days are getting shorter, it’s cold outside and we are facing at least three months of Berlin winter.

So a few weeks back, I jumped to the opportunity of a little getaway weekend in France. A couple of days in Paris and a few relaxing nights in Deauville near the ocean sounded simply perfect. Little did I know about all the extravaganza the tiny village had in store for me, even a piece of Berlin crossed my path on the nomadic coast… read more…

Win the ALL NEW KreuzbergKalender

Win the ALL NEW KreuzbergKalender

After three editions of advent calendars the team of the KreuzbergKalender thought of something entirely new for this year’s edition. Instead of little presents the 2014 edition contains little riddles you are asked to solve. The 24 questions from the categories gossip, sports, culture and politics call odd, extraordinary and important events from 2014 to mind.

Instead of using many words the girls let images speak this year and created a cute little film explaining how the KreuzbergKalender 2014 works and how you can participate. Watch it after the jump.

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Welcome back C|O Berlin

Welcome back C|O Berlin

photo: David von Becker

Tonight, Thursday October 30th, starting at 19h is the grand opening of the C/O Berlin in their new venue Amerika Haus. We got a sneak peek yesterday and say: It’s definitely worth a visit. All information about the opening exhibitions and the new venue after the jump. read more…

Film Fest Galore: Italian Film & Lakino Festival

Film Fest Galore: Italian Film & Lakino Festival

The Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in Mitte is diving head first into the film festival circuit. Two great festival programs will commence at the old beauty Kino Babylon and the massive Volksbühne this Friday. From Oktober 2nd through 5th the Tuscia Film Fest 2014 brings the highlights of the Italian art of filmmaking onto the silver screen. And while the final film of their program is still flickering in the Babylon, the Volksbühne opens the gates for Lakino. The Latin American Film Fest will present films, discussions and art from the faraway continent until October 12th 2014. Details after the jump.

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The Favourite Film Festival shows Audience Price Winners in Berlin

The Favourite Film Festival shows Audience Price Winners in Berlin

The film festival circuit is a strange one. Some winning films of festivals get great attention once they are released cinematically, but some winners are celebrated one night and then disappear somewhere into the wide world of agents and negotiations. The Favourites Film Festival shows films from around the Globe that have won audience awards. The selection of short and feature films this year includes winners from Mexico, Afghanistan, Senegal, Germany and plenty of other countries. Each film is a unique star in the solar system of film art and luckily you can fly to unknown ones without risking a false start. Certainly a winner is not instantly a winner for everyone, but audience awards are usually a pretty great indication that most people will enjoy the cinematic experience.

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XPOSED – Why small Festivals are better

XPOSED – Why small Festivals are better

Small film festivals tend to be overlooked. It begins with the Hollywood stars who don’t attend that leads to the press that doesn’t care and all of a sudden most of the city dwellers don’t even know it even happened. However small festivals tend to have a great atmosphere, fabulous films and a much sharper focus, so you can more easily decide if it’s for you or not. Small festivals offer the exchange with like-minded people, the artists and usually you leave those with a much better experience than the big ones. Also you’ll get to see films you might never otherwise. Why am I telling you this? Well, the XPOSED International Queer Film Festival is going into it’s 9th edition this year and it is one of those small festivals Berlin has to offer. Unfortunately you probably won’t hear everyone in Berlin talking about it, but now you know and should spread the word and GO WATCH their amazing program at Moviemento in Kreuzberg. More about it after the jump.

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