Stefan Kolbe and
Chris Wright focus on the nature of documentary filmmaking itself. In this social study and portrait of a murderer, which premiered in the Forum section of this year's Berlinale, they reflect on their own approach to their protagonists and on how their own perception might differ from that of the viewer and from that of the protagonists themselves. We talked to the directors about professional distance and their commitment to filmmaking.
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Cineuropa: How did the project start?
Chris Wright: We always drag questions with us from one film to the next. The last one was about the documentary work itself. So far, we've been very close to the protagonists and wanted to tell about our encounters with them. But we felt people didn't always understand what a documentary was exactly. We were accused of not being objective, for example. What does it mean to us, to deal so intensively with our protagonists? Can we even follow the concept of professional distance? This question had to become the subject of the new film. To this end, we met with therapists who, we believe, suffer from the same problem.