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Meaningful
Monikers

AUDREY BECKER
Special to the Jewish News

of the name "Berliner," and explores
its many possible variants.
"It could be that one of my ancestors
way back lived in Berlin and, in effect,
coming here is a miracle of returning
home," he says. "But the truth is that I
don't know, and I'll never know.
There's always that mystery."
The search for a concrete sense of
identity is elusive. "For many Jewish
people, it's complicated and mysteri-
ous and perhaps even frustrating," says
the filmmaker
Being Jewish is, for Berliner, a central
part of his vision as a filmmaker and
artist. "The fact is that my name and
the myriad issues that swirl around
identity are in many cases related to the
experience of being Jewish," he says.
In one segment of the film, he
explores the differences between
Ashkenazi and Sephardic traditions of
naming. "To the extent that I have a

ear the opening of The
Sweetest Sound — the latest
film by acclaimed writer-
director Alan Berliner —
white handwriting emerges across the
black screen, spelling out the name of
the filmmaker.
Then, the name is written again,
this time with discernibly different
penmanship. As the autograph is
repeatedly rewritten — sometimes in
neat script, sometimes in a nearly
illegible scrawl — the central question
of the film becomes graphically evi-
dent: What is the relationship between
name and identity?
The Sweetest Sound, which
premieres 10 p.m. Tuesday,
June 26, on PBS stations
nationwide, is the second
program in the 14th season
of P.O. V., public television's
showcase of independent
nonfiction films. It uncovers
Berliner's fascination and
curiosity with what he calls
the "compressed history that's
inside a name."
In the hour-long film,
Berliner turns the camera on
himself — and on 12 other
Alan Berliners from around
bit of a pedagogi-
the world, including noted
Filmmaker Alan Berliner:
cal mission in the
Belgian director Alain
"The fact is that my name
films — meaning
Berliner (Ma Vie en Rose,
and the myriad issues that
that I want to
1997) for whom he has often swirl around identity are in
share what I know
been mistaken. In a thought- many cases related to the
and relate some
ful, creative, and endearing
experience of being Jewish."
sense of the
exploration of the "same-
broader history —
name syndrome," he invites
there's
a
special
responsibility
to the
these alter egos to sit with him at din-
Jewish community that I take serious-
ner in his New York City home.
ly," he explains.
Recently, Berliner was in Germany
Berliner, who has a master's degree in
at the Berlin Jewish Film Festival,
art, approaches filmmaking in an uncon-
where The Sweetest Sound was pre-
ventional way. "I never studied so-called
miered among a special retrospective
documentary filmmaking. I never even
of his work.
studied narrative or dramatic filmmak-
"For obvious reasons," he says,
ing. I always came to it as a fine art.
"[Berlin] is one of my favorite places in
"When I was in college we were more
the world to go to. First of all, my
likely to look at Cezanne paintings or
name is all over the place. When peo-
listen to pieces of music than to look at
ple [there] meet me and they hear my
other pieces of film," he recalls. "And
name, it's a natural smile that I receive,
we never looked at Hollywood films."
whether it's from passport control at
Berliner concludes, "I'm not even
the airport or from the people at the
sure
my films are documentaries, for
front desk at the hotel. It's really nice."
that matter. The Sweetest Sound is
Although there aren't many with the
more like an essay film."
surname Berliner living in Berlin, The
Actually, it's much more than that.
Sweetest Sound probes into the origin

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