DeutschlandOnline|

Lights, camera, action! Millions of people all over the world are fascinated by cinema and films. Probably the most important location in Germany for the film industry is just outside the gates of Berlin: Potsdam-Babelsberg. The Babelsberg film studios qualify as German’s Hollywood and have a long tradition. Founded in 1911, they are the world’s oldest film studios, and Germany’s largest. About 80% of German feature films are made at these studios or reach the cinema screen with their support. National and international film and television producers find perfect conditions here. With 16 studios and outdoor sets covering an area of more than 150,000 square metres, plus a rich stock of over one million props and 250,000 costumes, Babelsberg is the largest integrated studio complex in Europe. This attracts film people from all over the world to Potsdam and Berlin. For 96 years, Babelsberg has been writing film history. Famous names such as Alfred Hitchcock, Roman Polanski, Kevin Spacey and Paul Verhoeven have come here to produce films or work on them. In recent years, cinema blockbusters like The Bourne Ultimatum and Flightplan with Hollywood stars Matt Damon and Jodie Foster have often been shot in Babelsberg. Currently work is in progress on ten international feature films. And above and beyond the film studios and their neighbouring film and television theme park, Babelsberg has an excellent reputation as a media location. Alongside a number of smaller production companies, the most important regional television and radio station, RBB (Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg), has its broadcasting centre here in the largest district of Potsdam. Then there are also institutions like the German Broadcasting Archives (DRA) and the Film and Television Academy (HFF), one of the best places in the country to train in the areas of scriptwriting, directing, camerawork or acting.