Recorded Sunday July 6th, 2025, live at Mobile Kino’s Lakeside Film Festival. On this episode of Radio Spaetkauf hosts Izzy, Dan and Joel discuss recent Berlin headlines, watching movies in the wilderness and interview Valentina Zalevska of the Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin.
The “Görli bleibt offen” campaign is intensifying as construction of the controversial fence around Görlitzer Park moves forward. The Berlin Senate has begun installing the fence, which will close the park nightly; between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. in summer, and 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. in winter, as part of a broader €30 million “security package”. The police have pledged to “neutrally accompany” these protests as long as they remain non-violent. Meanwhile, local initiatives like “Görli zaunfrei” LINK are proposing alternative safety concepts that don’t involve fencing off public space.
Progress is being made to curb Berlin’s sky-high rents. Neukölln, which is fast becoming the city’s unlikely housing policy hero, has banned the temporary rental of furnished apartments in its Milieuschutzgebiete; neighborhoods protected from gentrification. The legal foundation for the ban comes from a 2023 court ruling that deemed such conversions unlawful in protected areas. Neukölln is now enforcing that decision, even ordering landlords to reverse co-living setups and restore original apartment layouts. The city-state’s Senate and other districts are watching closely, with some already exploring similar measures.
Berlin’s most explosive New Year’s tradition has fizzled—not with a bang, but with a budget cut. The iconic Silvester-Party at the Brandenburg Gate, a staple since reunification, has been cancelled for 2025. The event’s organizer, Berlin feiert Silvester GmbH, announced it won’t go forward without a confirmed subsidy from the city, typically between 500,000 and one million euros from public tourism agencies like Visit Berlin and Berlin Partner. The state of Brandenburg, like Berlin, is in the middle of a budget slashorama. Money is being cut from everything. But one thing that is staying free is access to Park Sanssoci, the beautiful collection of palaces in Potsdam sometimes called the Versaille of Germany. Dan shares his thoughts on this choice.
We have an update on the case of the three EU citizens and one American threatened with deportation from Germany. The four activists, Shane O’Brien and Roberta Murray (Ireland), Kasia Wlaszczyk (Poland), and Cooper Longbottom (USA), were initially targeted for deportation following their participation in a pro-Palestinian sit-in protest at Berlin’s Free University in late 2024. The Berlin Administrative Court ruled in favor of the activists, halting their deportations. The court found the legal grounds for expulsion insufficient and emphasized the importance of protecting political expression.
Valentina Zalevska, a film curator, distributor, and researcher based in Berlin joined us to talk about Founding the Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin and the state of the Ukrainian film industry during a time of invasion. We also chat with her about the amazing film U Are The Universe which screened at the Lakeside Film Festival and will be on screen in Berlin in September. The 2025 Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin runs October 22nd to the 26th. https://www.uffberlin.de/
Izzy isn’t just a podcaster, she’s also a tour guide. She tells us about her upcoming tour on July 20th, tickets can be found at this link: The Berliner on Eventbrite
Izzy’s not just a podcaster/tour guide, by day she is also an environmental policy wonk and concludes the episode with updates on how Berlin is doing in meeting its ambitious climate targets. The city aims to become climate-neutral by 2045, with key milestones along the way: a 70% reduction in CO₂ emissions by 2030 and at least 90% by 2040, compared to 1990 levels. But as of today, Berlin is not yet on track to meet its 2030 target. Meanwhile Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) has halted plans to build wind turbines in the Grunewald forest, and argued that “Berlin should be a solar engine, not a wind site,” and has called on the federal government to reconsider mandates requiring city-states to allocate land for wind energy. Izzy points out that a grid is most resilient when both solar and wind are deployed, and also that wind delivers a higher energy capacity figure meaning that it is a better resource for industrial off-takers. Listeners will recall that Berlin managed to buy back its district heating system from Vattenfall last year. Unfortunately, due to financial difficulties and a lack of political pressure, there is little being done to push for decarbonisation efforts of the district heating. Dan chimes in with his own inimitably uniformed solutions as well before we end the show with plugs and a fond farewell to our lovely weekend of outdoor cinema, lake swimming and camaraderie.
Check out Joel’s travels and documentary work here: http://www.joeldullroy.com
Subscribe here to Dan’s new podcast: CERTAIN FUTURES
Support Radio Spaetkauf with a Steady membership or one time donation: DONATE
Theme Music by Ducks!
