If you want to make a statement, make it trashy, make it bizarre, make it the Berlin Music Video Awards!

What a great month June was.

The Queen was in town, I did a documentary and ended up on German TV.

Wow!

You couldn’t make it up.

But having said that, I’m not in the least surprised as this fascinating city of Berlin is just so brilliant.

It’s brilliant because there is so much to do and sometimes one simply cannot choose. One must do everything and all!

May is the beginning of such a season.

The merry season.

The oh-my-god-the-sun-is-shining-what shall we do next season!

One of such amazing events is that of the Berlin Music Video Awards.

If you recall, last year I wrote a brilliant post about the first time I attended the Berlin Music Video Awards and

It.

Was.

Epic.

In fact, it was such a great event and a well-written post that it in my opinion, it was THE post that actually turned my blog into a completely different direction!

Yes, it was the post that changed The British Berliner from being just another blog, to a post that opened the door to amazing things and fabulous opportunities coupled with hard work, a huge pile of enthusiasm and plenty of good old-fashioned gumption!

This year, I was able to attend quite a bit of the three (3) day and four (night) long event. Not only that but my husband – The Music Producer – was also in attendance AND our friends – Sticky Biscuits – were nominated for “best trash” category. Sadly, they didn’t win, but it was a great experience anyway and all part of the fun!

So let’s start with the nitty-gritty.

WHAT IS THE BERLIN MUSIC VIDEO AWARDS?

The Berlin Music Video Awards or BMVA is a four-day music video festival for local and international film-makers, producers, musicians and directors passionate about the art of music videos.

The festival includes full-length screenings, award ceremonies, live shows, workshops and after parties gathering a hip crowd from all over the world and is a great opportunity for independent artists and film-makers to get national and international exposure and to showcase their creativity while networking with emerging and established industry professionals.

Created by Aviel Silook in 2013, the logo of the Berlin Music Video Awards has turned into three (3) bears standing tall and operating a video camera instead of two (2). One (1) bear for each and every year that the Berlin Music Video Awards has been in existence!

WHAT’S THE BERLIN MUSIC VIDEO AWARDS REALLY ALL ABOUT?

Well, the Berlin Music Video Awards (BMVA) is an annual festival that puts filmmakers and the art behind music videos in the spotlight. It provides a platform for talented film-makers who are both unknown or who are famous and is a primary networking event for the video and music industry in Europe.

Filled with a vast selection of music video marathons, professional judges, live performances, camera workshops, 3D animation/VFX and editing, filmmakers and directors forums, and networking with fans, other musicians or film makers, and the industry. The BMVA is a platform for everyone, including people who direct, produce, edit or perform, to people who are simply truly interested in the art.

Absolutely anyone can participate.

Budget, label and names are not a determining factor.

Regardless of the language, genre or popularity of the work, the BMVA rewards and supports the inventiveness of video creators on items such as quality, originality and diversity.

This year, the third (3rd) annual Berlin Music Video Awards exciting event took place between May 27th – 30th, 2015 and attracted:

• 150,000 views within a fortnight or two (2) weeks.
• 60,350 fan votes.
• 3,600 visitors.
• 350 delegates.
• 120 nominees.
• 109 production companies from 25 countries.
• 60 film production companies.
• 21 international jury members.
• 16 music performances.
• 7 fantastic votes.
• 2 after-party parties.

What a performance!

Being a press person, I made it my business to poke my nose here and there and to talk to random people about why and what they were doing at the BMVA, and I met a hell of a lot of interesting people such as:

Torsten – one of the V.I.P. co-ordinators who was awfully nice and told me that I should have been given a bracelet so that I could go backstage as “press.” I only actually got that bracelet pretty much on the last night but it was all good. Yours truly always tries to make it happen no matter the circumstance. And seriously, when has the little matter of not having a “members” or “backstage” bracelet, not having an invitation, or not even having a ticket, ever been an issue?!

It never has LOL!

I met David Hawkins one of the hosts and an American. Of course, being that it’s Berlin, the man is a hotshot of talent such as being a published author, a photographer, an actor and a co-owner of a radio station known as Liquid Radio.

I met Sarah O’Neill from Not Your Girlfriend DJ Set who was the resident DJ for one of the nights and is an Irish-Canadian lady who was born in Cork and grew up in Canada. She has been living in Berlin for five (5) years and was previously a designer.

I met the very mad but extremely funny Roc Roc It. He’s not only a comedian and one of the stage act performers for the BMVA but also one of the judges too! Roc Roc It is one of the performing acts from a collection of freaks weirdos and circus performers called The Squidling Brothers Circus Side Show and is a travelling German human curiosity and freak show performer. A really weird but lovable funny guy who is literally covered all over with tattoos and can swallow balloons and pull and lift things with his ear lobes! In fact, Roc Roc It made a brilliant performance by hanging an iron anchor by his ears LOL!

Paul Salamone: One of the hosts and also one of our personal friends. He’s one of Berlin’s best comedians and is one of the leading founders of Berlin’s underground comedy scene. The man is a genius and I’ve known him for about eight (8) years when our various circle of friends were still trying to source-out what they reeeeeeally wanted to do in life and all the shows at that time were free, the price of you making a fool of yourself and doing a free-style-I-don’t-know-what-the-hell-I’m-doing-but-my-friends-made-me-do-it-stand-up-open-mic comedy thing or a few shots of cheap whisky to motivate the crowd!

Berlin is good for that as you can take your time and experiment on the various possibilities that this city has to offer.

I met Martina who was a member of the production team, a Stage Manager and was from Italy. Her job was to take care of the script, the running order of affairs, what’s happening, what is supposed to happen, and to work and build a team. She is an actor by profession and an opera singer!

I also met Evgeniya representing the Ukrainian band Brunettes Shoot Blondes. They have become extremely successful and even managed to make a commercial for Opel the car company which brought them seven (7) million views on YouTube which is an amazing feat! Going viral was so unexpected that they had to have help in dealing with the media and the attention of the video. And isn’t that what many people who work with some form of social media want?

But to be honest, do you really want to go viral and if you do go viral, how would you handle it? Would you break the internet? Would you freak out? Or would you ask for help?

In fact, one of my posts went viral too: Gosh! Riga in Latvia is gorgeous. 10 reasons to go there right now! It was a shock as it was so unexpected but the people of Latvia didn’t think so. They loved it and they showed it by clicking and sharing. I ended up with 22,000 shares and likes!

On one post!

For that, I’m eternally grateful. Thank you so much people from Riga in Latvia!

I met Fisal Campbell a New Yorker, a King Fu Master, singer, songwriter, entrepreneur and creative thinker. I found him of interest as he was wearing an English man’s top hat in the throng of the Berlin madness and was guarded by Pablo a video and web design expert of Uruguayan and German heritage, who lived in Bavaria and once upon a time use to be a real estate agent! His mission in life was to make Fisal and his band Somebody Else a popular house-hold name!

It’s so funny how this world is such a small place. Did I tell you that during my GAP YEAR days, I met a rather interesting couple in Hong Kong and then met the very same couple in Singapore!

I mean.

Really?!

Gosh!

In this case, in talking to Fisal who I have never in my life met before, I discovered that I actually knew his sister – Tamika Campbell – who I know as one of the funniest female comedians in Berlin and who is a bellyfull of laughs!

The venue of the BMVA this year was in the K17 club. Based in the student-land suburb of Friedrichshain, the K17 club had an intimate space where artists and performers could either hang out at the bar or learn some new talent and skills of how the brilliant videos were made or evolved. The outside yard was turned into an open-air party with a live D.J. and food hall outlets such as La Cuina, Gourmet Food, Crepes Mama and KlubGrill.

It had a very nice vibe. Natalia Kirby and Moises Richart the owners of La Cuina Gourmet Food in particular, were nice enough to give me various samples of their gooey seafood dishes that kept me warm and drove away the pangs of hunger. They are master rice-makers and make the most amazing paella with black rice, squid and a type of risotto along with a gazpacho manchego made with game and “pebrella” a herb grown only within the Valencia community!

On the last day, the venue moved to Neue Heimat in the suburb of Friedrichshain and where a complete bevy of clubs, bars, village markets, food and art happens to be located.

The various categories and nominated artists and videos were of very high quality and films with great artistic value. Great cinematography short videos on the silver screen with 20% of the nominations coming from the online voting of the public and 80% of the nominations coming from experts in the field of established producers, film-makers, musicians and the music video industry from all around the world.

You know how much I like independent films. I like Hollywood blockbusters too and I’m certainly not averse to the likes of the apocalypse film – 2012, nutty films like Seven Psychopaths or silly films like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels which I thought was hilarious LOL!

Yep! I’m weird like that.

For its 3rd edition, the BMVA festival was bigger, stronger and louder than ever before!

Over 4000 visitors from all around the world rushed to K17 and Neue Heimat to attend the event and enjoyed 130 music videos, live shows, workshops and mad after-parties. The glittering carpet and grand finale took place in the presence of Paul Cless, August Schram, Beissoul & Einius, Steril and Chris Craft.

The 13 category-winners this year are:

• Best Editor: Wolfgang Schröder | We Make Movies for “F**k That Sh*t” by The Synchronizers ft. The Evil Twin of Paul Cless.
• Best Narrative: Christian Alsan & Carlo Oppermann | Ambitious Films for “Wie Ich” by Kraftklub.

• Best Concept: Andrew Kovaliov | SYT-X for “Knock Knock” by Brunettes Shoot Blondes.
• Best Director: French directors MEGAFORCE for “Can’t Help Myself” by Brodinski ft. SD.
• Best Song: Chefhain Weltrekords | Fungayi Lange for “Millimaxi” by Pilskills.
• Best Cinematography: Stian Andersen | Creo K4 for “Skulls” by Röyksopp.
• Best Art Director: Loïc Andrieu | Emael Films for “Rouge” by Keffer.

• Best Animation: Mascha Halberstad | Superfelix for “Wild Frontier” by The Prodigy.
• Best Visual Effects (VFX): Factory Fifteen | Nexus for “Function / Void” by The Bug.
• Best Experimental: SHINY for “Volta” by Andrew Reynolds.
• Best Lo-Fi: Marek Partyš for “Nipomo” by DVA.
• Most Trashy: Rio Grande | Aufderlichtung for “Iron Man” by Babyman.
• Most Bizarre: Torsten Lang & Larissa Blau for “Time In-Depth” by Excessive Visage.
• The Final Awards Ceremony:

• Best Music Video 2015: The French directors MEGAFORCE. They were awarded a €2000 cash prize and 20 hours at Dailymotion’s studio in Paris.

The live performers were:

• Dong Kong
• Weaponised
• Pilskills
• Austrian Apparel
• Mr. Bruce
• Marc-Allen Gray
• Kat Vinter

• Sticky Biscuits
• V
• Lunakid
• Yuki Matsumara
• Not Your Girlfriend
• Mopsey Meyers

• Musk Ming
• RocRocIt
• Chris Craft
• Steril
• Audio Ballerinas
• August Schram
• Paul Cless
• Babyman

• Beissoul & Einius
• Ed Ed
• The Blaze

Hosted by:

• Daniel Stern
• David Hawkins

• Mr. Bruce
• Paul Salamone
• Roc Roc It
• Julietta la Doll
• Evilyn Frantic

The quality of the nominated films were just astounding coming from such a young organisation. It makes me proud that we too have such an event that can rival cities such as LA and New York. I mean, if performers can come as far away as Australia and New Zealand, I think Berlin is onto a good thing!

See you next week!

Berlin Fashion Week will be taking place right now from 06.07.15 – 10.07.15 so I’ll be out and about and trying to look fabulous. I’m also going to be participating in loads of fashion shows and networking events at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin (MBFWB) too! It’s going to be so exciting.

There will also be lots of free and open-to-the-public events such as Etwas Magazine Fashion Event: Catwalk Under the Stars II on 10.07.15. Take a look at the Berlin Fashion Week website and join in!

As usual, you can also follow me via daily tweets and pictures on Twitter & FB!

If you’re not in Berlin, you’re missing the point!

July is going to be quite exciting!

Watch this space!

Have you ever made a music video? Can you imagine making a contribution or nomination? Would you swing an iron bar by your ears?

If you like this post or if you have any questions send me a tweet, talk to me on Facebook, find me on Linkedin, make a comment below, look for me on Google+ or send me an Email: victoria@thebritishberliner.com