Synopsis
For Alan Berliner, the sound of his name is "the sweetest sound." It is strange that he doesn't have exclusive rights to it. After all, there are more men with that name. Then there's the question of who Alan Berliner is. It turns out to be a name - also spelled as Allen or Alain - that identifies different men with different lives. For New York-based documentary filmmaker Alan Berliner, this realisation is the beginning of a witty reflection on identity and ties through names. The film opens with a series of alternative film titles and anagrams of the director's name. To put his "classic symptoms of the same name syndrome" behind him, he writes to a few namesakes and suggests that they meet up. Berliner promises the participants a mention in the credits, and 12 namesakes appear on the designated Alan Berliner Day. They politely introduce themselves and realise that they have more in common than just their name. Berliner goes back to the origin of his surname (probably of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe), the etymology of his first name and associations other people have when they hear his name. He also includes President Kennedy's famous statement when he visited West Berlin.