07/03/2007 Through a London friend's introduction, I had dinner with two German filmmakers. Although both do their own documentary art works, one is also an established film editor and is at present working on a film for Wim Wenders, shot in the Congo, and her partner works in production of blockbuster Hollywood films like ‘Gladiator'. Going back and forth pays the way for their own work. They rent a marvellous glass and wood attic conversion on top of a solidly heavy De Stijl building. Eighty percent or more of Berliners rent, it is the norm unless they are part of a cooperative that buys a shared building. Six flights up with no lift gave me time to admire the elaborately carved doors on each landing and must keep them very fit. It was breathtaking once I reached the spacious flat both in the sense of the view and my lungs' intake. But terrific. They are in their thirties and intensely intelligent. She is small featured, with dark shorthair, slender like a fine spring, winding and unwinding concepts as they come into the conversation. He is fairer, calmer, speaks with a quiet assurance. Both sophisticated food and a wide assortment of drinks flowed, as we discussed semantics, classic films, subject matter and form in art, backgrounds, children-parent neuroses, and other subjects. I felt as if I were breathing pure oxygen on Thomas Mann's mountain.
