12. Berlin Music Video Awards – 5 Questions for Aviel Silook

Zum 12. Mal finden dieses Jahr vom 12. bis 14. Juni die Berlin Music Video Awards statt. BFF-Autorin Michaela Grouls hat Aviel Silook, dem Gründer des Festivals, dazu ein paar Fragen gestellt.

The BMVAs take place for the 12th time this year. A long time in which a lot of transformations can occur. As a regular festival goer, I do nonetheless appreciate the consistency of your festival. What do you think makes the festival so unique?
Aviel Silook: I think that the main thing that makes people like the festival is the fact that it is independent. People in Berlin and also the filmmakers, they are very good when it comes to smelling a commercial production. They can see that it is a passion project by the selection of the videos or the laid-back atmosphere, it’s easy to see that we have no sponsors to please or government funds that dictate our policies. That’s part of the concept of originality, the freedom of art and expression can’t exist with restrictions that these entities impose.

What were your personal highlights from the past years?
Every year we have very special guests who are coming to the event. Forget about all the influencers and celebrities, the most interesting people are usually the people who stand behind the concept. As well, you get to meet bands early in their career before they become famous. We have a good record when it comes to recognizing future talents. That’s my thrill, to inspire, motivate, and to be part of their journey to the top.

What can visitors look forward to this year?
This year, we will pay more attention to the networking aspect. Our event is a learning event, last year we had a survey and this survey indicated that their main reason to show up is the networking opportunities that we bring. In the previous year we had one or two networking hosts, but this year we will have five or six people to manage this department. Some of the best creatives in the world are going to be there and we don’t want people to miss the chance to get connected, just because they were shy or because the event was too full to find the people that they wanted to meet. We conceptualized a new networking activity called the Elevator Pitch, where people will get to introduce themselves to the crowd for one minute, I am curious to see how it will go (many people subscribed).

Other than that, I am personally excited about the stage talks at our event, one of which will be the AI Summit, over there we will discuss AI in videos that are nominated, as well as the future of AI in music videos. The stage talk will be hosted by Noemi Berkowitz and the guest speakers are Jonathan Dor, Lorenzo Gianni (The Dor Brothers), Temple Cache (French Production Company), Christian Fleischer, and Martin Hearlin.

You have also invited special guests, music acts and filmmakers every year. Can you tease who will be there this year?
This year at the Berlin Music Video Awards, we will have fantastic live shows and DJs like CLAUDIA SANTOSO (winner of The Voice), SIIE (nominated for the Best Performer category), JACQUES (Nominated for Best Concept), ADAN CRUZ (from Mexico). We usually also like to book bands who are nominated for the Best Song category, a few that we will have this year are GENNRE, THUNDER BAE, and SUPERMODEL. and of course, as always, we will have some more provocative performers like MALINA SCAR and The Kamasutra Ninja who will also host the after party at the KitKat club on the 13th (Psycho), guests who will be dressed up accordingly (Fetish, Kinky, Latex) on that day will get invited.

An unusual category is „Most Trashy / Most Bizarre“, which challenges viewing habits and pushes them to the limits. Are there any videos or program aspects from the past that you would perhaps no longer show today?
It’s more like the other way around! We would like to show more crazy stuff but people don’t dare to produce the stuff that we will dare to screen. Unfortunately, since social media platforms and video channels have more and more restrictions, this scene is getting castrated. This year, what you’ll see mostly is silly/ absurd videos in this category, I love them all, it is still one of my favorite categories, but in the past, I have to admit, filmmakers took it further when it came to being sexual positivity or provocation. You know, just to push the boundaries of art and freedom.