I have many memories of the Berlin Film Festival that I can live off forever. Yet, one of the moments that made my heart sing happened in Berlin around this time, in summer (the festival is in February, when it's freezing). One day, my Berlinale colleague and friend Dorothee Wenner, said, "Come with me… it's a surprise," and took me to the thickly wooded banks of the Teltow Canal in Treptow, Berlin. It was twilight, and as we sat silently on a bench, a nightingale began to sing softly. Soon, we were treated to a nightingales' concert in full splendour. There were a number of them, boy nightingales singing to girl nightingales, imploring them for a date. Their songs were so sweet, persuasive, haunting and just heart-breaking. After I'd been listening for a while in the fading light, with my eyes closed, I found my cheeks wet with tears.