It’s open, it’s tolerant, it withstands innovation, experimentation and challenges. There’s no artist who at some point didn’t long to be in Berlin, as this city’s myth never ceases to feed the imagination of those with a creative mandate in life.
In recent years Berlin has become home for a community of Greek designers and that’s been steadily growing in numbers due to the Greek financial crisis.
Stratos Tzitzis
Filmmaker, author
Text: Evi Karkiti
He left Greece in 2004 and moved to Berlin where he just about on the spot realized this wasn’t another German city; Berlin was a city of the world, authentic and liberal, one that allowed him to put his thoughts in order, away from the hubbub of modern-day Greece.
As a filmmaker, Stratos Tzitzis has drawn his own distinctive path. A realist in the films “Save me” and “45m2”, Spartan and somewhat theatrical in “Ashes”, playful in “Love is an Elephant”, he succeeded in capturing Berlin’s Dionysian nightlife in his latest film “Night Out”.
«I wanted to document this freedom, this unpretentious, authentic and wild character of Berlin’s nightlife, before it disappears. »
Tzitzis hasn’t stopped working in Greece, on Greek-related issues, and does admit he isn’t too fond of German cinema. In the last few years, alongside his filmmaking, Tzitzis is also dabbling with a more theoretical genre by writing a series of philosophical essays which are published in various websites.
Being now a bona fide part of Berlin’s artistic community, Tzitzis doesn’t mince his words when referring to the negative aspects of recent years. Nonetheless, he never ceases to believe that Berlin is a city open to everyone and not just to those who have made it, a city that always strives to preserve its incomparable character.
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