Berlin Calling

Ickarus is an electronic producer moving from club to club in Berlin. His new album is finished, the label does not like it, and the tour goes on. One night he takes a pill he does not recognise and collapses on stage. He wakes in a psychiatric clinic. What follows runs two ways: treatment on one side, pressure to finish the album on the other, and use continuing even inside the clinic. The film's realism comes from the sound. Paul Kalkbrenner, who plays Ickarus, is an actual DJ and producer and wrote the music himself. The track Sky and Sand stayed on the German charts for a long time after the film and became one of the best known pieces of electronic music. Hannes Stohr directed. Paul Kalkbrenner plays Ickarus and Rita Lengyel plays Mathilde, his girlfriend and label owner. It was shot in real Berlin clubs and has become a record of that scene with documentary value. Who it is for: anyone who likes the electronic music scene and character films built on addiction. Who it is not for: anyone looking for plot. The story repeats itself, most of the characters are one-dimensional, and the film says nothing new about addiction.