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Babylon Berlin: Swetlana Sorokina / Nikoros (SEVERIJA JANUŠAUSKAITĖ)
Swetlana Sorokina / Nikoros (SEVERIJA JANUŠAUSKAITĖ) © Frédéric Batier / X Filme 2017

Babylon Berlin – The series on TV

The successful novels on TV

Babylon Berlin - this is the highly anticipated new TV series from and about Berlin. Based on the successful novels by Volker Kutscher, it portrays the Berlin of the late 1920s. Glitz and glamour and excessive parties on the one hand, inflation, bitter poverty and crime on the other. In the midst of Moloch in the city, detective Gereon Rath tries to solve a murder and gets deeper and deeper into an impenetrable thicket of treason, corruption, and arms trafficking.

Dance on the Volcano

Babylon Berlin: Ilja Tretschkow (Tim Fischer) in the Dutchman
Ilja Tretschkow (Tim Fischer) in the Dutchman © Frédéric Batier / X Filme 2017

Babylon Berlin is a fascinating genre picture of the twenties with the nefarious nightlife of the time, intoxicating celebrations, and hedonistic pleasure. At the same time, the series portrays an unfiltered image of the city of Berlin at a time when it was becoming a huge metropolis. Artists created major works and took exciting new paths, the role of women changed fundamentally, and unimagined freedoms were suddenly possible. At the same time, however, violence and misery also prevailed - and the rise of the national socialists casts dark shadows on what lies ahead.

Babylon Berlin: Charlotte Ritter (Liv Lisa Fries) und Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch)
Charlotte Ritter (Liv Lisa Fries) und Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch) © Frédéric Batier / X Filme 2017

Successful director Tom Tykwer, together with Henk Handloegten and Achim von Borries, have now filmed the volume "Der nasse Fisch" by Volker Kutscher as a series.  The film was shot from May to December 2016 with more than 180 filming days in Berlin, Brandenburg, and North Rhine-Westphalia.
The series "Babylon Berlin" started in October 2017 on Sky 1. In the autumn of 2018, the series will then be on Free-TV at ARD.  The X Filme Creative Pool company produced the series, which is also behind successful films like "Run Lola Run", "Alles auf Zucker", and "Goodbye Lenin!".

Even before the premiere, the first clips won over the jury and the audience at the TV Fair MIPTV (Marché International des Programes de Television) in Cannes, where Babylon Berlin won the Grand Jury Prize in the category "Work in Progress". The series has already won numerous important awards, including the renowned Grimme Prize and the German Television Prize for Best Drama Series, Best Music, Best Camera and Best Equipment.