It was the end of 1991. The communist wall in Europe had fallen and you could feel the vibrant energy and deep uncertainty all over Europe.  The song ‘Winds of Change’ by the Scorpions played from every radio and convenience store.  No place was the new reality more poignant than in Berlin, a city divided, now reunited. The wall may have disappeared but from the tall buildings at night the lines of separation were clearly visible.  West Berlin was brightly lit like a Christmas tree.  Multicolored storefront and restaurant and crossing signs flashing along the busy boulevards in startling contrast to the quiet darkened unlit neighborhoods, grey buildings and deserted streets of East Berlin.

Twenty years later I returned to Berlin to attend a school for documentary film making. Berlin, well known for its vibrant arts scene, swinging clubs and swinger’s clubs, Low- and high-tech startups, street murals and street life, now the hippest scene and undisputed cultural capital of Europe was vibrating with energy. Yet what changed my life and changed me as a person were the students and the teachers and the mad adventures we had during the three months I spent at the Met Film School in Neukollin. 

In those three months, we spent a week hands-on basic equipment use.  Another week of sound and then of film editing. Armed with the knowledge that the only way to make films was to go out and change the world, we organized ourselves and working together made eleven separated documentaries.  It was mad: and it was magnificent.  Hauling equipment around on the metro, the restaurants, and the clubs at night, our successes and our frustrations and the forming of new relationships with the many people who agreed to have their lives and passions documented in our films. Yet the one thing that stands out over all others is the bond we made with each other, and that will stay with me for the rest of my life. 

These pages are dedicated to the students and my friends from the Met film School fall class of 2018.