Element of crime - Wenn es dunkel und kalt wird in berlin
“A film about us, and on tour at that – it’s a bit like a wildlife documentary, with us as the animals. You have to hope for a good director, and that’s exactly what we got in Charly Hübner. We knew he loved the band, we trusted him, and we were right to do so. The film is brilliant, completely different from what we expected, and those are always the best films.” – Sven Regener
This film tells the story and present-day tale of a very special German band, the story of ELEMENT OF CRIME: it’s about music, friendship, a way of looking at the world, and the secret of making music together for 40 years.
ELEMENT OF CRIME was founded in 1985 and has been an integral part of the German music scene ever since. They are considered the best-known unknown or the least-known well-known band in the German-speaking world. What kind of artists are they? How did they become what they are? Director Charly Hübner explores these questions with great sensitivity. He follows the band on a tour of Berlin, organised especially for this film, and takes us to places that symbolise the band’s development. We see Berlin, the city with the Wall, learn about their most important companions, about New York, John Cale, London, Düsseldorf, Ata Tak, the end of the Neue Deutsche Welle (New German Wave) and the beginning of ELEMENT OF CRIME. Never nostalgic, he never sounds as though he’s reminiscing about the ‘good old days’. The band is far too alive for that – essentially at the peak of their creative powers.
Featuring Sven Regener, Jakob Ilja, Richard Pappik and Maike Rosa Vogel, Florian Horwarth, Isolation Berlin, Von wegen Lisbeth, Steiner & Madlaina, Ansa Sauermann
Director: Charly Hübner
Producers: John Lueftner, David Schalko and Gwendolin Stolz
Co-producers: Charlotte Goltermann and Charly Hübner
Cinematography: Casey Campbell
Sound: Thomas Diesel
Editing: Christoph Brunner
A co-production by SUPERFILM, Norddeutscher Rundfunk NDR and Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg RBB, supported by the German Federal Film Board (FFA), the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (MBB) and the German Film Fund (DFFF) in collaboration with DCM, Universal Music Group Germany and Vertigo.
“The film is so good that it makes you want to move to Berlin.”
– The Spot
“Charlie Hübner’s documentary about the story of a band that constantly reinvents itself in order to re”ain true to itself.”
– Epd Film
“It’s easy to fail when trying to turn pop music into documentary films. But fortunately, that’s not always the case. Sven Regener is currently feeling very relieved in this regard. Just a few days ago, the Berlin-based musician and writer celebrated the Austrian premiere of a cinematic portrait of his band – Element of Crime – in high spirits at the packed Filmcasino in Vienna. Now the film is ready for viewing at a cinema near you. And it’s well worth a visit. For ‘When it gets dark and cold in Berlin’, as the film is called, has more light and warmth to offer than the title seems to promise. It was directed by the actor Charly Hübner, who appeared in the 2017 film adaptation of Regener’s novel ‘Magical Mystery’; and his enthusiasm rubbed off on the film’s production. Regener, a sceptical man who is also fond of doubting his own charisma, was always against an Element of Crime documentary, but Hübner had a perspective on the band “that is so strange and yet so unique that we thought, we can trust this”.
– Profil.at
The melancholic, wistful songs with their laconic humour are quite clearly reminiscent of the cinematic universe of the Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki.
– Falter
“When it gets dark and cold in Berlin” is a film about urban music which, to its credit for its sophistication and universality, can also have a formative influence in the countryside, as Hübner recalls in an autobiographical sequence about his youth in the GDR in the late 1980s.”
– TAZ
