I’m not a film buff, but I had to check out Babelsberg Studio south of Potsdam center. It bills itself as the world’s biggest large-scale film studio — born a year after Hollywood and a major film center for more than 100 years.
The sign at the studio entrance has become iconic.
The Studio:
- Founded in 1912, made film history during the Weimar period with movies such as “Metropolis” and “The Blue Angel”
- Produced Goebbels’ antisemitic films during the Nazi period
- Made moralizing socialist films — and a few banned ones — for the East Germans during the Cold War
- Went private again as a major production hub in the 1990s.
“All on the same huge Studio Babelsberg block!”, said a tour leader at the Film Museum across town, while talking me through the permanent exhibit, “The Dream Factory — 100 Years of Film in Babelsberg”.
Studio Babelsberg
The reputation of the so-called “Hollywood of Europe” started with the landmark silent film, “Metropolis”, and “The Blue Angel” that made Marlene Dietrich a star. More recently, films such as “Inglourious Basterds”, “Monuments Men”, “Valkyrie”, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”, “Bridge of Spies” and “Cloud Atlas” have been added to its resume.
The Studio has made more than 3,000 movies and TV shows on its huge sound stages and large outdoor backlots. Recent stars included Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray and John Goodman. Directors included Tarantino, Spielberg and Wes Anderson.
They’re still calling “action” on the Studio Babelsberg lots. It’s a working facility providing production for major international films. No tourists, except maybe on special occasions.
Film Park
But the adjacent Film Park tries to give visitors insights into how a film is made through displays and exhibitions on costumes, sets, lighting, props, stunt and western shows, cameras and other technology.
On the “Street of Giants”, movie-size film characters greet walk-through visitors.
One film veteran is “Maria”, a robot from Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent sci-fi masterpiece, “Metropolis”.
Visitors can walk through game-show and soap sets under real lighting.
Even walk into a western set with live actors.
A special effort is made to engage impatient young people, even if film is not a special interest at the moment.
Outside the gates, a street name can recall movie-star glory of yesteryear.
The revived studio brand “UFA” is still closely linked to the Studio, not just because the company has offices almost directly across from the Studio entrance. The biggest name in cinema during the Weimar and Nazi eras, UFA today is one of the largest movie and TV content producers in Germany. It provides thousands of hours of programming each year, from prestige drama to soaps.
Also just outside the Film Park gates is Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, Germany’s first and only film university.
Film Museum
Across town in Potsdam center, the Filmmuseum uses a long former royal stables to offer an even more detailed look behind the scenes.
Visitors can linger at displays covering makeup, costumes, scripts, cameras, sets, lighting and other key areas of film-making.
There’s plenty of history on the productions themselves. Films in the museum’s theater seem to change weekly. I recognized “Hamnet” and “Interstellar” among films in the latest schedule.
Included is history on who made the films.
Camera history, of course, shows up all over the museum.
The museum’s exhibition depot back across the Havel River in Babelsberg displays about 750 exhibits and 400 documents out of about a million stored. They include technology and objects used in films as part of a further look behind the scenes at how the films were made.
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