INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR, CHRISTOPH SCHAUB

Christoph Schaub, a film on growing older. What fascinates you about this subject? You yourself are over 50 years old....
You can defy it, you can pout - or you can throw a roaring party. I decided to celebrate... although I always attempted to ignore my birthdays before my 50th came about.

I’ve always been personally interested in how we age, in our mortality, and in the different phases of life. In 1988, I directed my first feature length movie „Dreissig Jahre“ (“Thirty Years“). It’s the story of three friends who turn thirty and attempt to escape from the onset of the serious part of life - in different manners. It’s a movie about the bitter-sweet farewell to youth. So it cannot be by pure coincidence that, 20 years later, T&C Film offered me this screenplay that has to do with a 50th birthday. I wrote the screenplay to „Dreissig Jahre“ together with Martin Witz and it was based on very personal experiences. The present screenplay was written by Martin Suter, an author whose books and columns I always enjoy reading tremendously.

What do you want your audience to take home with them?
I hope that the audience will leave the movie theater with the same feeling that Giulia has when she leaves her birthday party at the end of the film. She’s pleasantly surprised about the unexpected turn of events and thus somehow reconciled with her own existence. In addition to this, the audience - at least I hope so - will enjoy the clever and witty dialogues on a universal topic with which everyone is confronted in the one or the other form. Three generations deal very differently with their feelings on growing older - with the generation of 50-year-olds being the focus of the movie. Growing old also means realizing, for the first time, that you are leaving behind youth, attractiveness, vigor, and sexual vitality. Surprisingly enough, the positive aspects of aging, such as experience and possibly wisdom, serenity, or charisma are considered to be less important and play only a secondary role on the value scale.

You often work with the same team (editing; score; set and costume design; make-up). In your opinion, which are the advantages of this?
I believe that trust in the people with whom you work is very important. I’ve worked regularly with T&C Film and Marcel Hoehn for 10 years now. Common experiences help you to progress and give you the necessary security. This is important, in particular in the film industry, where there is only a very fine line between failure and success.
Simultaneously, I also try to integrate actively into the work process elements unknown to me - and thus risky. Otherwise, I would run the risk of being too sure of my work and of myself.

Your cooperation with Filip Zumbrunn could be described as such a new element. How did you approach your cooperation with him?
The screenplay is structured unconventionally. There are very long scenes (up to 9 minutes long) with many different characters. The dialogues play a decisive role during these intimate takes. Filip and I asked ourselves which working method would be best to capture the energy and dynamics of this as well as ensuring intense film moments at the same time. We thus decided in favor of an HD format that would allow us to avoid cost pressure with regard to film material as well as being able to play through long scenes with as little interruption as possible. I wanted to ensure that the actors have as much freedom as possible. We also decided to use two cameras in order to generate sufficient editing options on the one hand and to film in a more risky and experimental manner on the other. Camera A was used for narrative scenes; whereas we filmed additional and extraordinary takes with camera B. We referred to these takes as „bonus material“ - that proved to be highly valuable for the montage. It was the first time that I used this method; whereas Filip had already used it with „Grounding“.


Having directed several films in Swiss-German dialect, you made this movie in High German and with famous German actors. What is particularly memorable about this process and which differences could you make out?
A director’s work remains the same, no matter whether you film in dialect, High German or French. The impact of the dialogues, however, differs. For us Swiss-Germans, a movie in our dialect is simply different than a movie in High German. When we read Martin Suter’s screenplay, we all agreed immediately that it would have to be filmed in High German. This made it possible for us to cast actors throughout the German-language area. The cast consists of actors and actresses from Germany and Switzerland. I could not make out any differences at all with regard to their work. Everyone appreciated being able to rehearse intensively for a long time prior to filming and I discussed extensively with all of the actors the characters they played. I realized how Suter’s dialogues motivated them; how positive a work experience it was for them to work with two cameras; and how they finally all challenged one another in their performances.

To put it in a nutshell: In my career to date, this was the most intense, wonderful, and unconventional work with actors that I have ever experienced.



CHRISTOPH SCHAUB (Director)

The last film of the director of the popular successes, Sternenberg, Jeune Homme, and Happy New Year, received 4 nominations for the Swiss Film Prize and was, amongst others, shown at the International Film Festival in Moscow in 2009. (Will be shown within the scope of the “Appellations Suisse” selection in Locarno on August 10 & 11, 2009).

Christoph Schaub, born in Zurich in 1958, is an autodidact who has been realizing movies and documentaries for theaters and television since 1984. Since 1988, he has focused on his work as a director and less so on his activities as a screenplay writer and producer. In the field of documentaries, he has specialized on films on architectural themes. He has been invited to show his films at festivals throughout the world and has won national and international awards.

1981 Entrance into the media cooperative “Videoladen” in Zurich (leaves in 1991)
1988 Member of the production company Dschoint Ventschr AG (resigns 1994)
1991 Initiator and co-founder of the Morgental movie theater in Zurich (shut down in 2002)
1998 Initiator and co-founder of the movie theater, bar and bistro RiffRaff in Zurich as well as the movie theater and restaurant Bourbaki in Lucerne (2005)
2002 Artistic Film Director for the ONOMA exhibition at the Swiss National Exhibition, EXPO 02
1996-2004 Freelance teaching assignment in the field of study ”Film/Video” at the Zurich University of the Arts and the F + F Zurich / Zurich.
Since 2005 Member of the board of trustees and member of the committee of the Zurich 
Film Foundation


FILMOGRAPHY (EXCERPT)

2009 Giulias Verschwinden (feature film), in Swiss theatres starting October 2009
2008 Happy New Year (feature film) 94’
2008 Bird’s Nest – Herzog & De Meuron In China (full feature documentary) 88’
2007 Brasilia – Utopie Der Moderne (TV film) 26’
2006 Jeune Homme (feature film) 98’
2004 Sternenberg (feature film) 88’
2002 Der Zweite Horizont (documentary) Video, 48’
2001 Stille Liebe (feature film) 92'
1999 Die Reisen des Santiago Calatrava (full feature documentary) 35mm, 77‘
Das Vrin-Projekt (documentary) video, 48‘
1997 Einfach So (short movie) 35mm, 13‘ 
Cotgla Alva - Weisse Kohle (documentary) video, 24‘
1996 Lieu, Funcziun e Furma - L‘Architectura da P. Zumthor E
Gion Caminada (documentary) video, 24‘
1995 Rendez-Vous im Zoo (documentary essay) 35mm, 82‘ 
Il Girasole - Una Casa Vicino a Verona (documentary short film) 35mm, 17‘
1992 Am Ende Der Nacht (feature film), 35mm, 88‘
1989 Dreissig Jahre (feature film) 35mm, 88‘
1987 Wendel (feature film) 16mm, 58‘
1982 Nachwuchs - Zürcher Teddyszene (documentary) video, 45‘, with Marcel Müller


www.schaubfilm.ch

Portrait on
www.swissfilms.ch