Cinema for me is…
Clara in 23 frames
1. Describe yourself in ten words.
Curious, silly, euphoric, pensive, embarrassed, distracted, moody, caring, open-minded, unspontaneous.
2. Your best quality? Your worst habit?
Best quality: I’m a good observer.
Worst habit: I regularly go to sleep when others get up.
3. Your dream job?
Making films!
4. What do you like most about your country?
Everybody gets confused when they are asked this question here.
5. Your favourite dish in your country?
Grüne Soße with asparagus and potatoes. You’ve got to eat it somewhere in nature on a sunny day.
6. Which word or phrase in your native language do you like the most and what does it mean?
Fingerspitzengefühl – A skill you have when you are especially sensitive and therefore know exactly how to act in sticky situations.
7. What European capital have you visited lately?
I visited a good friend in Berlin last month.
8. Other than your own, which European country would you love to live in?
Denmark.
9. What does Europe mean to you? 3 values.
Freedom, Culture, Solidarity.
10. What film made you fall in love with cinema?
J’ai tué ma mère (Xavier Dolan, 2009, CA).
11. Your favourite film theatre? What do you like about it?
In my hometown in Bad Soden there is a film theater where the bar is in the same room as the screen. You can basically hang around there and order drinks while watching. I love that. I should go there more often.
12. Who is your movie hero?
Mia Wallace from Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994, US) because of the way she tells that Fox-Force-Five joke.
13. Which movie director would you like to be?
The master of intuition, David Lynch.
14. Briefly describe your favourite scene
Adèle is wearing a bright blue dress as she enters the gallery. It is crowded, there is people hugging everywhere, champagne is being served. Chatter, laughter. Emma looks proud. Adèle wanders around the room by herself. Compliments, small talk, her eyes fill with tears. An acquaintance comes up to her, makes her laugh. As he gets distracted, Adèle puts down her glass and walks out the door. Music starts playing and she strolls down the street, her blue dress now matching with the gloomy evening light. Final, tranquil.
15. What are the 3 best European films you have seen in the last year?
Dasatskisi (Dea Kulumbegashvili, 2020, GE)
Berlin Alexanderplatz (Burhan Qurbani, 2020, DE)
Druk (Thomas Vinterberg, 2020, DK)
16. Which film character do you most identify with?
Charlotte from Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003, US).
17. Your favourite soundtrack or song?
The choir version of Dwa serduszka from Pawel Pawlikowski’s Zimna wojna (2018, PL).
18. If you had to live in a movie, which one would you like it to be?
I’m having an identity crisis over this question.
19. Your life becomes a bio-pic. Who plays the role of you?
Kirsten Dunst. I like her teeth.
20. Which talent would you most like to have?
I’d love to speak French fluently.
21. What is your most treasured possession?
My grandma recently gifted me her old Rolleiflex she used back when she went to photography school in Munich in the 50s. This was also where she met my grandpa. I’m currently teaching myself to take pictures with it.
22. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Not having lost my faith in humanity. I honestly like the homo sapiens with all its little, sometimes big flaws.
23. What is your motto?
Die Widersprüche sind die Hoffnungen – In the contradiction lies the hope.