NPR Berlin

Maher Alsahen looks impeccable: Dress-shirt, tie, and a suit jacket. He is ready for a job interview. "For me, this is a little bit tough, because I used to work in Syria," says Alsahen.

Right in the middle of the bustling heart of Kreuzberg, a group of political stunt activists have set up their office in a loft-like, industrial brick building. They call themselves Peng! Collective, and just as playful as their name sounds, are the actions they take. Jean Peters is one of the founders of the group with the mission to change the art of political protest and civil disobedience.

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." These words from Shakespeare's Hamlet open "All Of A Sudden" by Asli Özge, a Turkish filmmaker based in Berlin. Özge's film premiered at Berlinale's Panorama section. "If you look generally in the world of politicians, the most antipathetic ones are the ones who have much power," the filmmaker comments.

"Stories don’t just tell themselves. Legacies don’t just get passed on. History isn’t preserved unless you take action, and do something with it." Director Aaron Brookner is talking about his uncle, Howard. After filmmaker Howard Brookner died of AIDS in 1989, his body of work was in danger of being lost. His nephew, Aaron Brookner, decided to preserve his uncle’s legacy and digitalize his first film, the cult classic, “Burroughs: The Movie.” Aaron then made a documentary about the process...

"I am Gina Abatemarco, and I am the director and producer of 'Kivalina.' It's a film about a culture that is going through extraordinary change." "It gets really eerie at night. All you can hear is the angry wind and the angry waves. They are really angry with us," utters one of Abatemarco's protagonists, an elderly woman from the small Alaskan island, Kivalina, located 80 miles from the Arctic Circle. She belongs to the Inupiaq Eskimo tribe that settled there.

“Putting yourself at risk makes you curious and makes you actually feel young,” says Danish director Thomas Vinterberg, who is backstage at the Berlinale Talents. We talk about how he tries to stay fresh as a filmmaker and the theme of family in his latest semi-autobiographical film, "The Commune."

The sound of the Mediterranean is captured by filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi. His documentary, "Fire At Sea," is set on the Sicilian Island of Lampedusa, which has become a symbol for migrant tragedies. Rosi's unusual portrayal of the island runs in this year's Berlinale competition.

"My first words were 'NO,'" reveals comedian Idil Baydar. She says it drove her dad crazy, but this rebellious attitude has made the Berlin-based artist a YouTube success. This really took off with her creation of Jilet Ayse - an alter ego.

2015 was a challenging year for the EU and German leadership. One challenge was the efforts of the U.S. and the EU to establish the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership: TTIP.

“I mean, people don’t come to my shop if they want something normal. If you want something normal, you go to a big department store.” Melinda Stokes is the owner and operator of Stokx Shop.

Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick has a big smile on his face when he talks about this year’s Berlinale posters. "They are really mad about the posters, that the bear is around Berlin on different stages and different locations.”

“I guess it's possible, still, to live off 1,000 Euro a month in Berlin – if you have cheap rent.” I'm talking about money with Berliner Michael Bohmeyer, a young entrepreneur who launched the campaign, "Mein Grundeinkommen" (My Basic Income), in the summer of 2014. "Three weeks later, the first 12,000 Euro were financed."

When I got to Berlin, I was excited to start my study abroad journey. I had expected that Berlin would run mostly on cash instead of credit. I expected to be a bit frazzled by the language difference, but after a couple of weeks of visiting my local grocery store, I noticed that dogs were always sitting outside, waiting for their owners.

Things are looking up for German Fashion with the creation of the new German Fashion Council.

Germany is not typically known for its international fashion scene like Milan, New York, or Paris - despite big names like Lagerfeld, Escada, and Hugo Boss – but Christiane Arp hopes this is changing.

Every Wednesday evening, the soul singer invites Berliners to join her choir at the famous Gedächtniskirche. It's not your typical choir. Everyone is welcome, regardless of singing experience. And, no one has to make any long term commitment.

"Jazz singing is about telling a story through the song and through the words, and so to me, the sadder the story, the better it is, because I like darkness of what life has to offer sometimes," says Bettina Pohle. Originally from Berlin, Bettina is a mother as well as a German and literature teacher by day, but a professional jazz singer by night. She was able to study and live in the United States for 12 years. During that time, she had become classically trained in music. She was always a...

It takes some power to operate the bellows of an old pump organ, but these kids manage just fine. They are from Afghanistan, Eritrea, and Syria. On this afternoon, they are visiting Berlin's Musical Instrument Museum.

“He [stood] behind me, many years when I was young, and now I’m older, more than 60 years,” says Klaus Rieken, a fan who has come to say goodbye to David Bowie at Hansa Studios' memorial service in Berlin.

The Berlin DJ known as T.Raumschmiere made his name with some of the dirtiest, deepest, “growliest,” hard-partying techno tracks of the Aughts, but late last year, that hard-partying, roof-blasting DJ, whose real name is Marco Haas, came out with a low-key, chilled out, ambient album.