The Location Managers Guild International (LMGI) is the largest organization of Location Managers and Location Scouts in the motion picture, television, commercial and print production industries. Their membership plays a vital role in the creativ
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36 • LMGI COMPASS | Fall 2018 meters with lots of cities in between with historic and modern architecture, forests, rivers, you name it. There's a lot of stuff in a relatively small area. That's good production value." Other considerations: "Berlin is still one of the most interest- ing and fast-changing cities in Europe, if not in the world. That still attracts creative people like film crews. Most of the people I worked with in the past loved staying in this city with its nearly unlimited possibilities to enjoy your time here. You can live here for years without ever learning German because most of the peo- ple understand and speak English. "Also," Darrelmann adds, "film rebates went up. I think it's now 25 percent with no capping." Studio Babelsberg says: "The Ger- man Federal Film Fund (DFFF) distributes EUR 75 million yearly to stimulate production activities in the film industry. Interna- tional co-producers can qualify for a rebate of up to 25 percent. In addition, a number of regional film funds provide efficient support to productions of any budget. Nearly all German states grant funds and additional soft money depending on local ex- penditure. The German film production rebate is internationally acknowledged: alongside numerous European co-productions, such films as The Reader, Valkyrie, The International, Inglourious Basterds, The Ghost Writer, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Cloud Atlas, The Monuments Men, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Bridge of Spies have profited from the program." Darrelmann has worked on six of them: Valkyrie, Inglourious Basterds, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Cloud Atlas, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Bridge of Spies. He received the 2015 LMGI Award for his work on The Grand Budapest Hotel in the category "Outstanding Locations in a Period Film." The following year, he was co-nominated (with Jason Farrar and Markus Bensch, LMGI) for the 2016 LMGI Award in the same category for his work on Bridge of Spies. His other credits include Mission: Impossible III, The Bourne Ultimatum and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay 1 and 2. THAT exciting. It's been going on for too long. The 'real' Berliners themselves (Berlin is a mixture of native Berliners, people from all over Germany, and last but not least, from all over Europe and all over the world) are usually a little rough-edged. They come up to you with very aggressive-sounding conversations, but once you deal with them, they'll soften up and be your best friend. However, people are not happy when film crews show up." And yet, filmmakers continue to come. Explaining why Germa- ny has become such a popular filming destination, Darrelmann says, "The country in general has an advantage. It's very densely populated and offers a wide variation of landscapes in a quite small area. There are a lot of cities in a relatively close circle, so you don't have to travel for days. Sometimes it's just a three-hour drive, which makes it much more interesting to go to a different city with a varying landscape without adding too many travel days to a schedule. In the north, we have the Baltic Sea and as- tonishingly wide beaches, although it's not that warm. We've got flat areas, hilly areas and the beginning of the Alps. We also tend to use an Austria-like extension of Germany for the high alpine locations some movies require. We can go from sea level to 3,000 A spectacular penthouse apartment was used for the scene where Lisbeth seeks revenge on a wealthy industrialist who beats his wife. Below: Lisbeth's hideout. Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment