Berlin Alexanderplatz

At last year’s Berlinale, Burhan Qurbani’s adaptation of Alfred Döblin’s novel Berlin Alexanderplatz made waves, winning the Silver Bear, followed by five German film awards. The film streams in the Coolidge Virtual Screening Room on two weekends in March.

The book, considered one of the great masterworks of German prose from the very year of its first publication in 1929, had already been made into a groundbreaking television series by film giant Rainer Werner Fassbinder. It premiered on German Television in 1980, about 40 years ago. We are bringing it back now as a unique opportunity to compare the two versions, along with conversations with Fassbinder experts and a Q&A with director Burhan Qurbani.