''Neukölln Unlimited'' is a 2010 German

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

. The film follows three Lebanese siblings—Hassan, Lial and Maradona—through their daily lives in Berlin's district of

Neukölln Neukölln (), officially abbreviated Neuk, is one of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is located south-east of Berlin's center and stretches from the inner city southward to the border with Brandenburg, encompassing the eponymous quarter of Neu ...

. The film was co-produced by the German broadcaster RBB in collaboration with the Franco-German cultural channel

Arte Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...

. Financial support for the documentary came from the , DFFF, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, as well as from MFG Baden-Württemberg and the MEDIA Programme of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. The children of the Akkouch family, Hassan (18), Lial (19), and Maradona (14), are successful musicians and breakdancers who live in Berlin. They grew up with hip hop and streetdance, that is their language and their passion. But the pressure has put a strain on the two teenagers and a rivalry arises about who should be the family's main breadwinner. In the meantime, Maradona gets himself into more and more trouble, and is suspended from school. He is at the crossroads between his siblings’ ambitious lifestyle and the street life of his mates. However, a surprising qualification for a TV-casting show could prove to be his turning point. If he wins the 100,000 euro prize money, he might be the one who saves the family. ''Neukölln Unlimited'' can best be described as a musical film that deals with the topic of

integration Integration may refer to: Biology *Multisensory integration *Path integration * Pre-integration complex, viral genetic material used to insert a viral genome into a host genome *DNA integration, by means of site-specific recombinase technology, ...

of immigrant youth living in neglected urban areas.

Music and dance

The

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

was produced by the German composers Eike Hosenfeld, Moritz Denis and Tim Stanzel. The musicians took their inspirations from the

urban music Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contemporary r ...

played by the film's protagonists Hassan and Lial,

breakdance Breakdancing or breaking, also called b-boying (when performed by men) or b-girling (women), is a style of street dance originated by African Americans and Puerto Ricans in The Bronx borough of New York City. Breakdancing consists mainly ...

type music heard during battles, as well as traditional middle-eastern melodies. This mixture of different sounds emphasizes the "living-in-two cultures" of the film's protagonists and their peers in Neukölln. Other songs heard in the film were performed by Hassan and Lial's band NoIBN, and were produced by the independent music label Foreign Flavour. A lot of emphasis is also put on dance. Beside the various subgenres of

street dancing Street dance is an umbrella term for a large number of social dance styles such as: breakdancing, popping, locking, house dance, waacking, voguing, etc. Social dance styles have many accompanying steps and foundations, created organically fr ...

, other forms like

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

and expressionist dance are used as filmic metaphors for the protagonists' coming of age. The soundtrack of the film is released exclusively for download by the German record label Salon Mondial. The album includes the complete music from the documentary, as well as some bonus tracks inspired by the film.

Animation

To convey the protagonists' experience made during a past deportation, and to take the audience along on this emotional journey, the directors decided it was important not to show the historical context by using the classical documentary style of so-called "talking heads" giving interviews. They wanted to find a way to convey the experience of being deported and of feeling like a stranger in one's homeland, in this case Lebanon. They needed something that would remain in the audiences’ memories long after having seen the film. Because graffiti is a major artistic method of expression in the hip-hop and breaker scene, the directors decided to portray past events in the style of comic strips. Comic strip artist Benjamin Kniebe developed the drawings. Animation specialist Julia Dufek made the individual drawings come to life. The challenge of the animated sequences lay in portraying the drama without appearing unintentionally funny. Since "Neukölln Unlimited" is a low-budget production, complicated animation scenes were avoided and drama was created with the help of music, sound design, and, especially, Hassan's anecdotes.

Filming locations

A breakdance battle was filmed in the gym hall of the Rütli highschool. Some famous Berlin locations seen in the film are the

East Side Gallery The East Side Gallery () memorial in Berlin-Friedrichshain is a permanent open-air gallery on the longest surviving section of the Berlin Wall in Mühlenstraße between the Berlin Ostbahnhof and the along the Spree. It consists of a series of ...

, the Soviet War Memorial, and the former techno club

E-Werk E-Werk may refer to of a number of music venues across Germany, including *E-Werk (Berlin) E-Werk was a techno music club in Berlin, Germany that was held in a former electrical substation called ''Abspannwerk Buchhändlerhof''. Located near Chec ...

. Parts of the film were also shot in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

Reggio Emilia Reggio nell'Emilia (; ), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until Unification of Italy, 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 172,51 ...

, and at the Théâtre national de Chaillot in Paris. Neukoelln-unlimited-arkaden

Festivals

*60th Berlin International Film Festival60th Berlin International Film Festival
Berlinale ''Generation 14Plus'' press release * 12th Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema12th Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema
/ref> * 23rd Singapore International Film Festival23rd Singapore International Film Festival
*

Sarajevo Film Festival The Sarajevo Film Festival is the premier and largest film festival in Southeast Europe, and is one of the largest film festivals in Europe. It was founded in Sarajevo in 1995 during the siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian War, and brings internatio ...

2010 *CineSparks Film Festival for Young People, Brisbane 2010CineSparks 2010 programme
*12th

Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Taipei Golden Horse Awards () are a film festival and associated awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. The festival and ceremony were founded in 1962 by the Government Information Office of the Republ ...

, Section "Next Generation" *11th Seoul International Youth Film Festival, Section "It's ok to be different" *6th Tel Aviv International Children Film Festival *Chicago International Children's Film FestivalCICFF 2010 13+ Program
/ref> *"Movies That Matter" Film Festival, Den Haag *"Moscow, Achtung Berlin!" Film Festival *Monterrey International Film Festival *

São Paulo International Film Festival The São Paulo International Film Festival (), also known internationally as Mostra, is an annual film festival held in the city of São Paulo, Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South Ame ...

* German Film Days,

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

* European Film Festival,

Yangon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

Awards

* Crystal Bear for best Feature Film, 60th Berlin International Film FestivalBerlinale Crystal Bear 2010
/ref> * Film Workers Union Award, Buster Film Festival 2010,

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

* 1st Prize for Feature Documentary,

Chicago International Children's Film Festival In 1983, Facets Multi-Media founded the Chicago International Children's Film Festival (CICFF), the first competitive festival of films for children in the U.S. The impetus for the Festival came from a need to introduce new, culturally diverse fi ...

* MovieSquad All Rights Award, Movies That Matter Film Festival,

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

,from Radio Netherlands: Human rights film festival bestows awards
won

Nominations

* Peace Film Award 2010Peace Film Award
* German Film Critics Award 2011 * German Documentary Film Award 2011
/ref>

References

External links

* *

at filmstarts.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Neukolln Unlimited 2010 films 2010 documentary films Documentary films about Berlin Documentary films about dance Documentary films about immigration German musical documentary films 2010s German-language films Breakdancing films 2010s German films