IN-PERSON London Heritages. Section A

Abstract

This research examines the evolving representation of Berlin in film and video, framing these works as dynamic forms of digital heritage. From the Weimar-era avant-garde to contemporary streaming platforms, Berlin’s cinematic portrayals reflect shifting socio-political realities while shaping collective memory. We analyse a diverse corpus, including Walter Ruttmann’s Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927), a seminal silent documentary capturing the city’s modernist energy; Roberto Rossellini’s Germany Year Zero (1948), a neorealist “rubble film” depicting post-war trauma; and recent productions like Netflix’s Dogs of Berlin (2018), which interrogates urban multiculturalism and far-right resurgence. Additionally, we consider grassroots YouTube videos documenting neighbourhood transformations, activist interventions, and DIY cultural narratives, which challenge institutional archives. Methodologically, we employ close visual analysis, archival research, and digital ethnography to interrogate how these works construct Berlin as a palimpsest of historical rupture and reinvention. Ruttmann’s montage aesthetic, for instance, mythologises industrial modernity, while Rossellini’s desolate landscapes materialise national guilt. Contemporary series and user-generated content, conversely, engage with gentrification, migration, and digital storytelling’s democratising potential. By situating these texts within debates on digital preservation, we argue that film and video function not merely as records but as active agents in heritage discourse—mediating between official historiography and lived experience. Our findings highlight tensions between nostalgia and critique, globalised streaming narratives and hyperlocal digital ephemera. Ultimately, this study underscores the urgency of preserving audiovisual representations of Berlin as fragile yet potent digital heritage, offering a model for analysing screen media as historical testimony in other urban contexts.