Friday, December 02, 2005

Time to make friends in Berlin

In a first for world football, the spectacular 2006 FIFA World Cup™ Gala Berlin will thrill the masses at the Olympic Stadium on 7 June 2006. The creative team behind the Gala unveiled some of the highlights in the German capital on Wednesday.

World-renowned Austrian artist Andre Heller was visibly buzzing with euphoria as he introduced his creative crew. "This really is a dream team. I'm what you might call the publisher, Philippe Decoufle is the chief editor, and the others are the section heads." Director Philippe Decoufle is in charge of the overall concept. He has won awards for previous productions, for music videos (with New Order, Fine Young Cannibals and others), short films and commercials (Dior). He has also choreographed mass events, including the opening and closing ceremonies for the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville. British pop legend Peter Gabriel is responsible for musical direction, and the Gala anthem will be composed by Brian Eno. The team also includes set designer Mark Fisher, one of the world's leaders in his craft. Fisher's credits include recent work for artists such as the Rolling Stones.

2006 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee Germany President Franz Beckenbauer was highly impressed by the artistic line-up and compared the "formation" to a football team. "It's as if you were able to field Maradona, Pele, Johan Cruyff and Di Stefano all in the same team. I believe we can look forward to a breathtaking festival."

Heller had his work cut out to pull together such a star-studded team. "I went on and on about it to Philippe Decoufle, but he initially said, 'No, no, I've already done that in my life'. So I said to him, just give me three weeks and I'll get back to you. So I got back to him with Peter Gabriel as my 'trophy', and he said yes."

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