The City Named Desire

The Berlin Artists' Programme (BKP) managed by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has been around for 40 years and sees itself as the "mother of all artist-in-residence programmes". In the film The City Named Desire (Sehnsucht Berlin), former grant recipients tell their personal stories about this programme from the past 40 years and how it grew from a West Berlin bastion "on the front" into an international programme sans frontiéres. The film was shot parallel to the DAAD exhibition Beyond the wall which was shown at the Max Liebermann Haus in Berlin from September to December 2007.
In the course of four decades, the BKP has created a vast network of artists from all fields. Many former grant recipients, who are now world renowned artists, writers, filmmakers and composers, were invited back to Berlin to make guest appearances in the film.

Directed by: Peter Zach
Participating artists: Stephen Wilks (GB), Anne-Mie Kerkhoven (B), Peter Nádas (H), Petr Borkovec (CR), Juri Andruchovych (UA), Andrew Horn (USA), Antonio Skármeta (RCH), Clemens Gadenstätter (A), Clemens Klopfenstein (CH), David Moss (USA), Damián Ortega (MEX), Imre Kertéz (H), Liza Lim (AUS), Paul Nizon (CH), Arvo Pärt (EST)

Schedule and venue:
22 March 2009, 7 pm, Film Premiere, Kino Babylon, Rosa-Luxemburg-Str. 30, 10178 Berlin