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?
Katrin Gebbe: 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?
Katrin Gebbe: 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?
Katrin Gebbe: 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.