BERLINALE

As a teenager, I always wanted to be live in Berlin, and despite being a very proud New Zealander, I am very proud to be a Berliner. Possibly one of the highlights of this fantastic city is its own Hollywood experience - the Berlinale. The worlds largest public film festival held every February. It's a bit of a thing and many a famous film have debuted here.

Someone I had worked with previously had passed on my name and I was called up one day. The Berlinale was shopping around for a new website. I told them I'm not really into websites, but I would love to do the poster. Well, that call ended pretty quickly. Nevertheless, I got yet another call a couple of months later. They were now shopping around for the poster design. I was the 6th person they were willing to invite and if I would be interested. Fuck yeah, I said or possibly whispered.

I had 2 weeks to deliver. I did everything possible to get into the flow and come up with an idea. It was creative heaven. On the Friday before the presentation, I had an idea. Come Tuesday I was there, with one single idea - presented as an a3 poster, an advert in a newspaper and some other format.

The room was full of maybe 6 people. My opening sentence was pretty much “I think all of the berlinale posters until now were terrible” and I presented my one idea. The whole presentation lasted 7 minutes. Keeping it simple was an underestimation.

A couple of months later, I was in Seoul. On a bad line back home and was informed I had the job. I was elated. The original design I delivered went almost unchanged into print. Yet it was a very draining process for all. And maybe not a very good one. Something I do regret. The Berliner BZ tabloid even stated that “Berlinale” on the Berlinale poster was spelt wrong because of the too many “i” …wtf.

I flew to Milano and got an Armani suit for some red carpet event I insisted on being invited too. I see the Berlinale bags around now and then. I do still love that poster. Creative wise, it was an honour of which I am proud. Yet of the whole handling, apart from that opening sentence, sadly not.