This special report on the 54th Berlinale is brought to you by Becky Tan, Mary Wienke, and Kirsten Greco, three members of the AWC Film Reviewers’ group in Hamburg. Here is some information about each of us:

Becky Tan

Since 1994 I have had the pleasure of working with English-speaking film critics in northern Germany. We started humbly attending press showings at Streit’s theater. In the last ten years, we have evolved into a professional team which is recognized and respected among like circles. We are unique in that we are the only ones to write in English in Hamburg, Germany. We receive invitations to press conferences from twenty distributors.

We have attended the Hamburg film festival since 1997 and the Berlinale since 2001. (I have attended eight Hamburg festivals and two Berlinales.) We published two anthologies of film reviews as well as monthly reviews for Currents, Top Info (www.hamburg-fuehrer.de) and www.awchamburg.org. We regularly hold workshops and information sessions to discuss improvements to our working conditions and have a terrific spring tea every April and an annual Academy Awards party.

I am from Kirksville, Missouri, USA, and have lived in Hamburg permanently since 1964. I have a degree for teaching English and German and have been a substitute teacher in these and other subjects at the International School of Hamburg for 23 years. Writing has been my interest for a long time, or at least I like to think so since I can’t draw, paint, carry a tune or play an instrument (in spite of eight years of training), cook, garden, or pilot a plane. I would hate to admit that I have no talent at all. Serious reading improves writing, as does practice, and the opportunity to attend eight to ten film press screenings a week gives ample opportunity.

I believe that cinema is an all encompassing art form, to be enjoyed as a good painting, play, book, and concert all in one. I would love to have more critics critique my work. I think that I can take criticism, since I’m more than willing to dish it out. See you at the movies.

Mary Wienke

While practicing as a lawyer for over ten years, the best day of the week was Friday. Not because I didn’t have to work over the weekend, but because Friday night was always The Movie Night. Having already read the Washington Post or New York Times reviews, tough days would be forgotten in those few hours during which I could lose myself in someone else’s dreams – or nightmares. How envious I was of all those film critics! And now, since 1997 I have been delighted to be the envy of all my former colleagues. I began writing reviews for Currents but then became a bit bolder and participated in interviews with celebrities like Jim Carrey, George Clooney, Samuel Jackson, Jeff Goldblum and Hugh Grant.

In 1997 I began attending the Hamburg Film Festival where I would watch as many as six films a day. The informality of the festival made it easy to meet and speak with directors, actors and producers. We began writing for Top Info and occasionally other publications, which helped with accreditation for one of the best film festivals in Europe – the Berlinale Internationale Filmfestspiele. What a challenge! There are so many films and press conferences with so little time. Standing up with a microphone to question celebrities like legends Sir Anthony Hopkins, Sir Sean Connery and Kirk Douglas with dozens of cameras turned on me for a change was and is quite a thrill. This was my fourth year at the Berlinale and the excitement is undiminished. Working in the movie industry is full of surprises and entertainment and challenges, and I look forward to screening more films and interviewing more creative and talented people.

Kirsten Greco

I have always loved movies. When I was a kid I used to make up my own stories and act them out with my friends (with me as the director and lead actress, of course!). I even considered dou-ble majoring in film pro-duction in college but ended up only taking a Basics of Media course that introduced me to the world of film. We saw Citizen Kane, Psycho, All That Jazz, and even Pink Floyd: The Wall; I was hooked!

But I never had the opportunity to be more than just a film fan until I moved to Hamburg with my husband in 2000. I wrote my first review in April 2001 and never looked back. Now, more than 50 reviews and two Berlinales later, I’ve learned a lot about film but can always discover more. Belonging to a Toastmasters public speaking club helped me feel comfortable asking questions of celebrities like Nicole Kidman, George Clooney, Steven Soderbergh, Ron Howard, and Diane Keaton at Berlinale press conferences, and writing for Currents, Top Info, www.awchamburg.org, and www.jk-productions.com, has really honed my writing skills. Plus, being a layout editor for Currents and webmaster for www.awchamburg.org has given me the opportunity to read the many other super film reviews submitted by our Hamburg film critics. I’m grateful for the opportunities afforded me here as a reviewer, and I look forward to another great year of film.