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killer.berlin.doc combines a documentary realism focussing on Berlin with a fictional narrative about ten people playing a game of 'killer'. In the game, no-one knows the others' identify and each is both perpetrator and victim. This cyclical element and the seemingly random exploration of different characters is reminiscent of the non-linear pathways of interactives.
The film uses video art, documentary and dramatised events to build a narrative that draws the viewer into a voyeuristic desire to discover what it's like to kill or be killed. At the same time, the bricks and mortar of Berlin and pseudo murder tools (like plastic poisonous spiders) subvert the traditional thriller genre.
Directors Ellerkamp and Heitmann invited various people to participate in the 'killer' game such as video artist Akiko Hada, cartoonist Max Andersson and Super-8 filmmaker Dagie Brundert. They then used subjective diary-like Super 8 footage, video sequences and blue tinted video footage of Berlin to create the world of the participants. The artists themselves took control of the deveiopmenl of the game. Some of the players didn't want to cease their murderous activities and continued as ghosts, whereas others withdrew from the game. One challenged her murderer to a duel and one gave up his commission to 'kill' out of respect for his victim. Thus the documentary/feature took on a life of its own.
While working for a German television magazine, the five members of killer.berlin.doc production company Dogfilm developed a style that shifts between video art and documentary, compilation and arrangement. This film uniquely reflects Ihe inner landscape of the participating artists and the filmmakers and the outer landscape of the contemporary architecture of Berlin.