The production house associated with the film, Studio Babelsberg, is also a main partner of the Shooting Stars Awards.

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They were shooting at Babelsberg, using the same actors, who shuttled between soundstages, but Tykwer had an unplanned day off.

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After the Nazis expelled the Jews, their homes were taken on in some cases by stars at the Babelsberg film studios.

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However, part of it is run by the German Resistance Memorial Centre and not the ministry, and Babelsberg Studios says it will shoot there.

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Some 300 small media firms have set up in or near the city since 1994, many of them clustered around the Babelsberg film studios, once Germany's biggest.

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The crew on Stage 9 at Babelsberg Studio, near Berlin, erupted in a din of professional efficacy, preparing for the next shot, while Hanks returned to his chair to sip coffee from an NPR cup.

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