Berlin, December 16, 2015.
Ten years after the last part of the “Star Wars” prequels, the saga continues with “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”. For weeks everyone was talking of the new “Star Wars” movie, not least due to the large-scale marketing campaign and the secret storyline. Hardly any other movie was so eagerly awaited last year , especially by the fans.
The German movie première in Berlin at the Zoo Palast cinema, was celebrated simultaneously with the European première in London on December 16, 2015. Unfortunately, the who’s who of the “Star Wars” universe was invited to the party in London, but a live broadcast from the red carpet at Leicester Square brought some Hollywood glamour to Berlin as well. No “Star Wars” premiere without Stormtroopers…
Disney invited German celebrities to the première, but the real stars of the red carpet were the many costumed fans from the German fan clubs. Under enthusiastic cheers, the costumed members of the German Garrison, Rebel Legion and Saberproject (a German lightsaber fighting team) marched onto the red carpet. They were welcomed by the droids of the R2 Builders, a 7m tall TIE fighter model and a Stormtrooper-themed Fiat 500e show car.
Saberproject entertained with terrific lightsaber duels, the German Garrison overwhelmed the crowd with an impressive number of costumed people (including a huge Wampa, many well-known “Star Wars” characters, the brand new TFA-troopers and the young hero characters of the new movie series), the R2 Builders brought not only the familiar R2 droids, but surprised with a cute BB-8, and the Rebel Legion brought royal glamour to the red car pet. And even the hostesses were dressed up with super-cute R2-D2-themed Moon Boots.
Watching the new “Star Wars” movie in a cinema hall full of passionate “Star Wars” fans is quite an impressive experience. As the famous opening crawl appeared, the whole crowd cheered and I had tears in my eyes – and I was not the only one. We have jointly laughed, cheered, cried and enjoyed the movie until the last minute. Last but not least, we partied high above the rooftops of Berlin at the Puro Sky Lounge far into the night and discussed the new “Star Wars” movie.
The Force is definitely awoken.
(Special thanks to Daniel Dornhöfer (http://dornhoefer-photography.de/) for providing the pictures for this article.)
Mohmoh is a research chemist with a passion for costume design. She’s a science fiction and fantasy fan as long as she can remember and visits conventions since schooldays. Her costuming journey began in 2002 when she decided to attend a ‘Lord of the Rings’ convention in an appropriate garment; an elven gown. Beside historical garments, her costuming focus is on movie costumes (especially ‘Star Wars’, ‘Lord of the Rings’ and various historicist movies). Find her at: COSPLAY.COM
