Interview with Anna Sofie Hartmann, nominated with LIMBO for EUROPEAN DISCOVERY 2015 – Prix FIPRESCI
![]() Anna Sofie Hartmann
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What is your film about and what makes it unique? LIMBO revolves around teen-aged Sara who gets fascinated by her teacher Karen. The film observes her, her friends, the discussions in her school, the sugar factory and the small town where they live. It’s a personal film about the state of youth and the uncertainty of being. |
You were born in Denmark and moved to Germany at age 20. And your film is a German production but shot in your birth town. What were the obstacles and the enrichments of this duality?
Having lived in Germany for so long and having been trained at a German film school probably gives me a different approach and perspective than had I been educated and lived all my life in Denmark. Shooting in my hometown gave me the natural advantage of speaking the language, knowing the area and being connected in a way that I am nowhere else. Professionally speaking, my entire network prior to the film was in Berlin, so I had to build that in Denmark almost from scratch. For Danes it’s unheard of to make a feature film as a film school project, contrary to Germany, but it doesn’t really take that long to explain and I can’t really claim it to be an obstacle.
Anyone who has ever lived in a foreign country can tell you the energy it takes when you don’t understand the language, when you’re trying to figure out the ins-and-outs of a new place, but also the enrichment of eventually knowing both. Nationality and identity are curious variables, but still they mean a lot. When I’m in the US I’m European, when I’m in Copenhagen I’m Lollik [from Lolland]. In Germany I’m Danish, in Denmark I’m an expatriate who speaks weirdly. These categories seem to help people in understanding you. That I can move so freely between the countries is a privilege I am keenly aware of, especially in the political landscape we live in today.
What was the most challenging aspect while shooting the film?
It was extremely challenging physically speaking. The film is made with hardly any money. We were a crew of roughly twelve people, some days only four, and shot for 20 days over a four-week period in a pretty cold and wet Danish November. That meant that everyone was doing more than one job at a time, while generously giving their energy to the film for free.
There is a lot of talk about low-budget cinema – and I have been in a couple of panel discussion about it, people being impressed and praising it, when you tell them for how little the film was made – but it’s easy to forget that low-budget/no-budget filmmaking isn’t sustainable. You are exploiting everyone, including yourself, and while I think that within a school project, in which LIMBO was made, it is natural to help each other and everyone is learning, it’s not a long-term model.
How did you find your cast, especially the main young actress and the other pupils? And how was working with them?
All actors except Sofía Nolsøe, who plays Karen, were non-professionals. We put a note on the high school’s virtual black board saying we were looking for people and curiously enough, Annika (who plays Sara) was the first person who contacted us. From the beginning on it was important that everyone who wanted to be part of the film, would also have a place in the film, so the school class is made up of people of variously different ages.
The search for Sara was the most complex, and in the end there were four girls in consideration.
We all went to Copenhagen to meet Sofía to act out a couple of scenes. It wasn’t so much a question of who was the best, as what turn and flavour the film would take on with this or that person. On the third day of shooting I knew that I had been extremely lucky with Annika, she was a natural in improvising, very much at ease in front of the camera and with the energy for the long shooting days while also going to school as usual.
It was really gratifying to work with the teenagers; they were generous with their energy and plain fun. In the class scenes I was interested in what they were thinking, not using them as outlets of my opinions. I believe they felt comfortable, partly being in familiar surroundings, partly having to play themselves and partly because of an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect.
After this first feature film experience: What do you most love / most hate about
filmmaking?
I really enjoy how making a film brings me in contact with people and places that I had no way of encountering before, even with LIMBO being made in the place where I grew up, I met people and went to places I didn’t know before. That applies to all stages of the process, both working with new people, and returning to work with previous collaborators. I also really appreciate that as a filmmaker I have a great influence on how to organise my work and my daily life.
I do wish there was a way to find a balance between making films more frequently and doing so in an economically sustainable way. The financing system of Europe is luxurious compared to the market-governed industry of the US – where I think my films would never be made – and still here we have our rules and systems, it’s a big machine that moves at a relatively slow pace.
Who do you consider your cinematographic influences?
Claire Denis, Miguel Gomes, Apichatpong Werasethakul, Carl Th. Dreyer, Agnès Varda, Angela Schanelec, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Douglas Sirk.
How important is the EFA Discovery Award for you as a young filmmaker and what do you expect from the nomination?
I feel very honoured and lucky that LIMBO has received the EFA Nomination. LIMBO has been received quite generously on the festival circuit, and I feel happy that the EFA has included among the nominees a film that for some is unusual in its narrative. It is an encouragement to the way I work and the kind of cinema I am interested in. Hopefully it means that more people will see or hear about the film, and that people knowing about your work, possibly liking your work, may be interested in seeing what you do next.
How do you see your future as a filmmaker? What’s next?
Right now I am focusing on making my second feature, which I am currently writing, and together with my producers looking to finance. I am also acutely aware that being a filmmaker in today’s world is not a given for anyone and comes with a responsibility of what kind of stories we tell and of whom we tell them to.