UN CERTAIN REGARD RENDEZ-VOUS: Katrin Gebbe, in the mood for Nan Goldin

Young German director, Katrin Gebbe, is in the running for the Caméra d’or with Tore Tanzt (Nothing Bad Can Happen) about the face-off between Tore, a youth who belongs to a Christian punk movement called the Jesus Freaks and Benno, who sets out to undermine his beliefs.
 

How did your film come about?
Tore Tanzt is based on a true story I came across in the media. I don’t know why, but something about it grabbed me. Because it was so brutal, poetic pictures immediately popped up in my head. I felt there was a big story to tell, but the way to the shooting script took its time. At the beginning it felt like a scientific research project about guilt and the development of relationships. I was interested in modern slavery, in bondage, dependence. But that changed when I started to think about good and bad, about love and ideals. And all the other characters became part of these questions. What if Tore is more than just a victim?

Do you have a particular memory or story from the shoot?
The idea in the script was that the seasons would change from spring to late autumn. Actually we shot May/ June and because of the acting performances we wanted to shoot chronologically. The weather in the script was really important, but there was no money for SFX and I thought we’d have to abandon the idea. When shooting started something amazing happened: summer came to Hamburg in May. June was full of rain and darkness. For one sequence in the movie we wanted a storm. I was fighting for a wind-machine even though we didn’t have much money. When this tiny little thing was finally standing in front of our bungalow that particular day, Hamburg got stormy.
 

What kind of cinema influences you?
When I go back to my childhood there were fairy tales: Beauty And The Beast, and The NeverEnding Story. Later I remember films like A Clockwork Orange and Lost Highway as the first really eye-opening movies I saw. But I never thought I would become a filmmaker. Some years later I went to art school and while enrolled on a film course I went to see Pasolini’s Saló. It was very disturbing and I physically freaked out. I think that was the moment when I really got interested in filmmaking itself. Later I followed the work of Haneke, Dogme… The anti-beautiful, the broken souls, the tragic developments, that is what interests me most. I also find that in contemporary art, photography and literature… For example I love the work of Nan Goldin and used some of her photographs for mood when I was writing Tore Tanzt.

SCREENINGS

Thursday 23 May / Debussy Theatre / 4.30pm

Saturday 25 May / Debussy Theatre/ 4.30pm

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