BONN. On Friday night, scenes for the musical film ‘Annette’ were shot at the Kunstmuseum on Helmut-Kohl-Allee. Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard (who played Edith Piaf in the film La vie en rose) and stars Adam Driver (who played Kylo Ren in Star Wars) and Simon Helberg (famous for his role as Howard Wolowitz in the The Big Bang Theory) were all on the set, along with 100 members of the crew.

The film tells the story of Henry McHenry (Adam Driver) and Ann DelGreco (Marion Cotilard), a stand-up comedian and an opera star, whose daughter reveals a mysterious talent following a tragic accident. The filming was supposed to take place in Cologne; however, the production company did not get permission from Cologne city council to shoot film at night time. The Kunstmuseum in Bonn was chosen because the film makers were looking for particularly unusual architecture for the scene. The film is also being supported with over 500,000 euros from the NRW Film and Media Foundation. Shooting for films and TV often takes place in Bonn but international film productions are quite rare. After the film crew has dismantled their Bonn set, filming will continue in the next few days at the MMC studios in Cologne. ‘Annette’ will be in cinemas in 2020.

(Original text: Maximilian Mühlens)

BONN. This weekend twenty studios in the Südstadt are open to the public between Poppelsdorfer Allee, Kaiser- and Reuterstraße. The ‘Open Ateliers’ organised by the artist community SüdstART traditionally takes place on the second weekend in November. Over 40 artists, both established and new artists, are presenting their works to art and architecture lovers and curious visitors at different locations in the Südstadt. Some studios are hidden in backyards, some are located in old shops directly on the street or in one of the private Wilhelminian apartments. The ateliers are still open this Sunday from 2pm until 7pm. More information (in German) can be found at: www.suedstart.de. A flyer is available with the names of the participating artists and a map of the ateliers. As always, unique paintings, object art pieces, installations, graphic prints, jewellery and photography can be purchased directly from the studios.

(Original text: Daniela Vogt)

BAD GODESBERG. The famous Swiss circus Charles Knie will be pitching its tents on Rigal'sche Wiese from 9^th to 20^th July 2020. Originally the plan had been for the circus to stay for twelve days but this met with opposition in the political arena due to the damage caused by the Christmas Circus of 2017 as well as concerns about the use of wild animals in the show. It took a long time for the decision to be made, but on Wednesday evening with a large majority - against one vote each from the Left, the Greens, the Bund Bonn (BBB) and the CDU - the district council voted in favour of making the Rigal'sche Wiese available to the circus next July.

(Original text: Ayla Jacob)

BONN-DOTTERSDORF. On Saturday morning a gas supply line to a residential building in the Damaschkestrasse in Bonn-Dottendorf was damaged during excavation works. The digger operator alerted the fire brigade and stopped the works immediately. Residents of the apartment block and the adjacent building were evacuated for safety reasons. The fire brigade measured the concentrations of gas in the buildings and the sealed off area on the Damaschkestrasse. At the same time, the on-call service of Stadtwerke Bonn was informed and the supply line was shut off to prevent further gas leakage. After the apartments had been ventilated and checked, they were released by the municipal utilities and the residents were allowed to return. No-one was harmed.

(Original text: GA)

(Translations: Caroline Kusch)