And Speaking of Culture

Two days till the Berlinale!

For a person who sees movies so rarely the rest of the year, I get surprisingly excited about this film festival. It's a fun thing to be a part of - all these films and filmmakers from all over the world convening in little old Berlin. The big name stars and the Hollywood blockbusters that come along with a major festival seem sort of incidental to me; I'm generally interested in the international stuff, the independent stuff, the stuff you wouldn't come across otherwise.

Good thing about the Berlinale: It's one major film festival (maybe the only?) that's well and truly open to the public - most screenings cost just 8 euros. Kids' films cost 3 euros. And there's a "cinema day" on the last day of the festival where everything is even cheaper.

Bad thing about the Berlinale: The ticket sales system was invented by sadists. There is no other explanation for it. There are three ticket offices for the entire city; the one near me has only two people working. Think about it for a second - at any given time, there can be hundreds of people who want to buy tickets; there are two people selling them. I actually know folks here who take this week off work, because between seeing films and buying the tickets for them, the Berlinale is a full-time commitment.

I swore to myself, I really did, that this year, I wouldn't make myself crazy with the Berlinale. I swore it. But I already put in more than two hours on the ticket line yesterday (each festival day's tickets are released three days before, so I went on Monday to get tickets for Thursday). When I went again today to get tickets for Friday and only had to spend half an hour waiting, I was over the moon.

Let the filmgoing commence!