February 15: Being a Fan at the Berlinale
Berlin has been turned upside down for ten days with the Berlin International Film Festival. I didn’t even bother trying to get tickets because they’re impossible to find and a bit expensive. Still, I would have liked to see a Spanish-language film, especially since this year the Retrospective section is dedicated to Luis Buñuel.
I spoke with Iker and we agreed to head to Potsdamer Platz to see the Hollywood stars on the red carpet. We went to the premiere of The Other Boleyn Girl with Eric Bana, Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson. When we arrived an hour early, there was already a huge crowd with banners and cameras.
There were also plenty of oddballs and eccentric characters, the most peculiar being those who came alone and started pushing and climbing their way forward until they reached the front row at the barrier.
It was freezing (below zero, according to the thermometer keychain Ana gave me), and not even the pressing human mass generated any warmth.
Little by little, Volkswagen Phaetons arrived with famous people inside. Some went straight to the red carpet, posed for quite a while for the photographers—making faces and silly gestures—and then went into the cinema. Others came over to sign autographs for the crowd. In my section, only Natalie Portman, a guy with very ugly teeth, and Scarlett Johansson approached. Every time they came near, the crowd went wild and crushed you, and since Germans are very tall, I could only see anything by standing on tiptoe. Despite the pushing and my frozen hand, I managed to take a few photos, but only this one turned out well:
When they finally went inside the cinema, we rushed off to avoid the crush in the metro (and because I still had to go back to the lab). I’m left with the feeling that I’ve brought these stars down from the pedestal they occupied in my mind, having seen up close that they’re just flesh-and-blood people.
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