29-year-old filmmaker Antonia Lindner is currently based in Munich, but a lifetime of living in different places have led to her seeing herself as “belonging nowhere.”
We caught up with the filmmaker, whose T-Port Lighthouse-selected short film DON’T LET GO appears on T-Port courtesy of our partners at the Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis as well as the Next Generation Short Tiger. In the process she talks about how she prepared with actors to make her film, and what it meant to have it picked by our Guest Curator Kasia Karwan.
Hi Antonia! Could you introduce yourself?
I am 29 years old and grew up in south-western Germany close to the French border. I lived in Los Angeles for 3 years and one year in Vancouver to study. These experiences have influenced my filmmaking in the sense of what perspectives I am interested in telling.
I live in Munich now, but feel as if I belong nowhere. Having been gone during my early and mid twenties, a time in which I was searching for who I am, shaped me a lot. Most of the time I have the perspective of an outsider and rather identify with people who feel similar.
If you could watch one film forever on a loop – what would it be?
“All We Imagine as Light”
How many films have you made before this one, and what did each new film teach you?
I made three short films before and learned with each new project to be more precise in each part of the process until there is a finished film, to ask more questions and put more thought into the decisions I make beforehand. Also in terms of understanding the effects of decisions on the audience’s perception of the characters and the story. It is more fun each time.
How did you first start working on this film? What was the process like and what first sparked the idea to make it?
The idea for the film was sparked by an experience from real life and wanting to understand why we make decisions and what is human about it without moral judgement. So I began my process by talking to close creative collaborators and eventually I wrote an outline of the three scenes. Once I found (actors) Hassan Kello and Flavia Lefevre we began to talk about their characters and the situation they found themselves in.
We rehearsed the scenes in Berlin at the Ernst Busch acting school and improvised a lot together. This process allowed us to find their chemistry and authenticity which made it on the screen. Major ideas came out of these improvisations, like the phone call with Amir’s mother.
What would you like people to take away from your film?
I hope that people are moved and inspired by the film to reflect about their own privileges and assumptions about others.
Once you had the idea – how did you go about the production process?
We didn’t have much money to make the film, so we kept the crew small and only shot at three locations in three days. We kept the shots simple and clear and made sure all scenes were well rehearsed and prepared. That way we could move fast.
What were the biggest challenges you encountered during making your film?
The biggest challenge were the night shoots and the small amount of money we had. Every one involved had to do a lot and the three nights were quite exhausting.
How was it to collaborate with your cast and crew? Have you formed any particular meaningful connections?
I formed a close connection to my actors during our rehearsals and shoot and would love to work with them in the future again. Also my producer Rafael Kousz is a good friend of mine and always encourages me. We inspire each other and I love to exchange ideas with and roam festivals and film industry events. He is like a partner in crime for me. And then Xavier Fleming who did the production sound and sound design on my films. He is usually the one I like to discuss my film ideas with in a very early stage. We meet up to play Backgammon and talk about life.
Tell us about the sound choices in your film – what type of score did you use and why?
We used music by Barry Despenza who is the person who inspired me to study film. He is a fantastic experimental musician and filmmaker himself. Other than that we built a quite naturalistic sound design around the spaces the characters move in.
Tell us about the visual choices in your film
Our main goal was to stay close to the two main characters and transport a feeling of intimacy in order to be able to create the distance between the two in the end of the film. We also tried to create dreamy and romantic visuals for the first part of the film which is confronted with the dark, cold and uneasy visuality once the police appear in the second half.
What would you do differently if you could go back and do it again?
We didn’t have much time to shoot the scene with the police and if I could go back I would make sure we have a bit more time. We did the scene handheld as a one take first, then we did pick ups for the shots from the other angles and I had to rush somewhat through the last shots.
Did you have a specific strategy for promoting your film? If so, please tell us about it.
I didn’t prepare for the journey the film went on and was very positively surprised how well it was perceived.
What did you find (or still find) as especially lacking in the process of distributing and promoting your film?
It is challenging that I am mainly the only person handling the promotion of the film as it is a small student project and I wish I had someone on my side helping me with the distribution and the promotion of the film.
What do feel young film talents lack the most today, after graduating from film school?
I think the biggest gap is the first step into the professional world. It’s hard to figure out a way to get a foot in the door and to learn about how to make money with our profession.
If you were to have infinite resources – walk us through your fantasy film project
I have a story I want to tell about a young woman who grew up north of Los Angeles and has the dream to become an actor and model. When she was 16 she met a guy who promised her to fulfil her dreams if she comes to Los Angeles with him. She fell in love with him and moves to the city. There he takes advantage of her and begins to expose her to drugs and sex work. After some 3 years of drug abuse and exploitation of her body, she goes into rehab. She returns to LA and joins a flat share where she becomes friend with a German roommate and has to find a way to survive without the guy who handled all the money she made.
Having a criminal record in prostitution and drug abuse, she struggles to make ends meet as she is denied simple jobs that require a background check. Several times she relapses and ends up in situations of sexual abuse and exploitation. On her journey she falls in love with an illegal Filipino immigrant whom her parents love and support, despite their support for Trump.
She also begins a medical assistant degree and eventually leaves Los Angeles in order to move to Montana. Overall the film follows her on the way of recovery and to find her place in society again.
What’s next for you?
I finished my third short film in February and am developing my graduation project, a tragic-comic short and feature film that tells the story of a lonely Venetian man in his 30s who is running his family’s hotel in the sinking city and struggles with the slow extinction of the venetian culture and traditions while being surrounded by tourists whose problems are vastly different to his.
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