SchspIN

An Actress's Thoughts

13. February 2026
by SchspIN
0 comments

Berlinale Competition 2026: Centre Piece and Calling-Card

The Competition of the Berlin International Film Festival 2026

The Berlinale has just begun, and many of you will be watching films, standing in lines, talking shop, hanging out at receptions, and networking. It’s not easy to talk about the competition without having seen all 22 films. But so that you don’t have to talk about the tight housing market, snow, carnival, curling, or terriers instead—although the last two topics are really fine—I’m publishing a few facts and figures today that will help you shine wherever you go:

2026 will be the second Berlinale under the direction of Tricia Tuttle. I analyzed her first competition here: The first Tuttle Berlinale, February 25.

The Six Main Departments

Similar to last year, the share of women in directing and screenwriting in the competition is again between 36 and 40%, with female editors also falling into this range (still below 30% in 2025). And what is remarkable is that a good quarter of the films had a female cinematographer, compared to a meagre 5.3% in last year’s competition. This year, female composers have the lowest share of women at 11.1% – although I was only able to find data for 18 films for this profession.

Sound is listed on the Berlinale website and in press materials as sound design, not as film sound engineers / sound mixers, so I have adopted this term and supplemented the positions with additional research where necessary.

A quick word or two about the directors: in 2025, two-thirds of them were born in 1976 or later, meaning they were 49 years old or younger on 1 January 2025. In the 2026 competition, two-thirds were born in 1975 or earlier, meaning they were 51 or older on 1 January 2026. (I was unable to find the year of birth for two female directors and two male directors, all four from the United States).

Speaking of directors: ten of the 22 films are “auteur films”, meaning that one person was responsible for both directing and writing the screenplay. In another six films, the director was also involved in writing the screenplay. That leaves six films with no overlap between directing and screenwriting. These include WOLFRAM (which I will mention again later), where director Warwick Thornton was also responsible for the cinematography.

#2of6

As the 6-Departments-Check suggests, a good 60% of films meet criterion #2of6, meaning that women were involved in at least two of the six departments examined, which are directing, scirpts, cinematography, sound, editing and music. Ideally, every production should reach this small threshold, but there is still some way to go.

Looking back at the 2023 Berlinale, only 36.8% of the 19 films in competition achieved #2of6. The number of zero films (no women in the six film professions) has also declined, from 7 out of 19 films in 2023 to 4 out of 22 in this year’s competition. 

It would be interesting to consider the possible reasons for this. #2of6 is probably not something that was on Tricia Tuttle’s list when she invited entries for the competition. But there seems to be something that is important to her – content? Form? Visual language? – and this may also be linked to the composition of the six core departments. Or there may be a completely different reason. What do you think? (Click to contact me!)

Opening the Berlinale

Last year’s opening film was also chosen by Ms Tuttle and her team. It turned out to be a bitter-pink disappointment, DAS LICHT by Tom Tykwer (= only men in all six key positions), and its content was not really convincing either (I refer to the review by film critic Sophie Charlotte Rieger / Filmlöwin Berlinale 2025: Motherhood on and beyond the screen – in German only). The opening film for 2026 is pretty much the opposite in every respect: NO GOOD MEN by Shahrbanoo Sadat. I haven’t seen the film yet, but I’m already very excited about this romantic comedy, set shortly before the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan, directed by Sadat, an Afghan director who was evacuated to Hamburg in 2021, whose core team consists almost exclusively of women in film:

So what is NO GOOD MEN about – a film classified as both a romantic comedy and a drama? The Berlinale programme states: 

Afghanistan, 2021, shortly before the Taliban’s return to power. Naru, the only camerawoman at Kabul’s main TV station, is struggling to retain custody of her three-year-old son. After leaving her serially cheating husband, she has become convinced that no good men exist in her country. Naru is therefore caught off guard when Qodrat, Kabul TV’s most important journalist, offers her a career opportunity. As the two criss-cross the city reporting on its last days of freedom, sparks fly between them and Naru starts to doubt her conviction. Could there be a good man out there after all?

And I should also mention that Shahrbanoo Sadat played the lead role (Naru).

There is also a huge difference between the German film funding received by NO GOOD MEN (€1.48 million) and DAS LICHT (€5.84 million). Why is that? Yes, film funding is also a good starting point for discussions about the film industry.

Participating production countries

As you know, the Berlinale is actually called the International Film Festival, so I can also offer you a few facts about the participating production countries:

Singapore is represented in the Berlinale competition for the first time with a film: WO MEN BU SHI MO SHENG REN / WE ARE ALL STRANGERS, written and directed by Anthony Chen. Four African countries are co-producers on three films – Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Chad and Tunisia, after none were in competition in 2025.

A brief digression: I would like to take this opportunity to mention the A wie Atlas (A as in Atlas) project, ‘the largest German-language website on the subject of geography. A wie Atlas is about regional studies, special places and lots of helpful tips on maps, landscapes and books. Have fun discovering the world!’
I ended up there because I didn’t know Guinea-Bissau and wasn’t entirely sure where the other three countries on their continent were located. It’s a very informative site, and not just about African countries! Some things are still missing, such as an overview of Asian countries, but there is already a lot of information, and I found it more enjoyable to browse this site than Wikipedia. The creator is Simon Rucker, and he wrote to me that he runs A wie Atlas on his own, motivated by his interest in geography and discovering beautiful landscapes.

Back to the Berlinale and the countries represented in the competition. This time there are no South American films or co-productions, but instead WOLFRAM, a film by Australian filmmaker Warwick Thornton, who is of Aboriginal descent. You can see how this compares to last year in this table:

This time there were no films from China (last year there were two), and what I don’t understand most of all is that once again there were no Indian productions! If I understood correctly, 1,500 films were produced in India last year. But were none of them were ‘good enough’ for the Berlinale competition? Hard to believe. Another good question to start a debate with! 

I have already mentioned co-productions. Of the 22 films in competition, seven were financed in only one country (in 2025, there were nine), including the above-mentioned film from Singapore and the German entry ETWAS GANZ BESONDERS / HOME STORIES by Eva Trobisch (German film funding: €2.3 million). Are these low-budget films that are only produced in one country? Or are films with five or more co-producing countries more likely to be low-budget, and do they have to piece the money together? I’m not actually very familiar with film funding, especially at the international level, but it’s interesting that international co-productions seem to be on the rise everywhere. (And once again, you have an icebreaker topic for the Nordmedia reception or if you meet someone from the FFA German Film Funders at a buffet).

And the “most international” co-production, KURTULUş, involved six countries: Turkey, France, the Netherlands, Greece, Sweden, and Saudi Arabia (seven countries in 2025).

Just to add: the countries involved in most films were France (7) and Germany (5) – last year it were the same two countries, with 5 and 4 films each.

A Word about Data

I’ll keep this brief, although I could say a lot more on this subject. How did I go about this competitive analysis? Most of the information on the cast and crew of the six films came from the official Berlinale website. In a few cases, I had to fill in the gaps using other sites (primarily IMDB, but also crew united for German productions, where I also researched and added up the funding amounts mentioned). Once I had the names, I then researched the filmmakers, specifically why they were men or women (or whether they might call themselves something else). I searched across the board, looking at interviews, other databases, photos from other film premieres, and so on. And that’s where I sometimes ended up with small errors or inconsistencies. For example, the sound designer for QUEEN AT SEA is Kent Sparling. However, he was initially listed as Kent Starling on the Berlinale website, which meant that I couldn’t find any further information about him. But after some cross-referencing, it became clear that his name is indeed Kent Sparling, and this has now been changed on the Berlinale website.

And then there is also the phenomenon of different information given for a position depending on the source. An example: NO GOOD MEN, where crew united (and Wikipedia, but that is not a reputable source) only mention Therese Aune for the music, while the Berlinale website states Harpreet Bansal, Therese Aune and Kristian Eidnes. And those three names ended up in my analysis table. Incidentally, many sources name Anwar Hashimi as co-screenwriter for NO GOOD MEN. But not so on the Berlinale website, so he’s not in my table either.

I actually wanted to analyse the leading roles as well, but I didn’t manage to do that in the end. But there were problems there too! Let’s take QUEEN AT SEA again. These are the leading roles mentioned on the Berlinale website, with Juliette Binoche topping the list (here’s a screenshot):


But if you consult IMDB, someone completely different is listed as the lead role – Noah Hunt Basden, and the four listed on Berlinale.de, including the actual lead actress Juliette Binoche and Tom Courtenay, don’t even get a character name. And the cast list is longer, of course. Here’s an excerpt:

I am also familiar with this issue of role ranking from crew united, another database where actors can register themselves and mark their roles as leading or supporting roles.
Basically, it’s not that important, and film statistics don’t really have any scientific basis. But it is still surprising.

Incidentally, IMDB also states that ‘Anna Fitch is known for his work on’…

The Bears 2026

I hope I have been able to provide you with some understandable statistics on this year’s Berlinale competition and also suggest a few ideas for further exploration of the questions that arise from them.

The closing gala with the presentation of the Golden and Silver Bears will take place next Saturday, 21 February. And the next picture shows how these are cast:

The Casting of the Berlinale Bears, 2019. Photo: Berlinale.de

 

2. February 2026
by SchspIN
0 comments

Sorgearbeit und Konsens im Film

  • „Arbeiten am Film mit Familie gut verbinden”
  • Zum Nachhören und -sehen: Impulsvortrag Familienfreundliches Drehen
  • Es geht um Vielfalt
  • Die Sache mit dem Konsens
  • Die Konsens-Filmproduktion

„Arbeiten am Film mit Familie gut verbinden”

Im Januar 20 25 lud mich Julia Mack vom Filmhaus Frankfurt (am Main) ein, an der Auftaktveranstaltung von „Konsens im Film“ im Oktober mitzuwirken. Ziel des Projekts sei es „Barrieren in der Filmbranche abzubauen und die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Filmliebhaber*innen und Profis inklusiver und nachhaltiger zu gestalten.“ Weiter hieß es:

Im Rahmen eines Veranstaltungswochenendes möchten wir mit Expert*innen und Betroffenen zentrale Herausforderungen wie Sprachbarrieren, Vereinbarkeit von Familie und Beruf sowie Inklusion diskutieren und gemeinsam Lösungsansätze erarbeiten. Ihre Perspektiven und Ihre langjährige Erfahrung in der Filmbranche wären eine große Bereicherung für unsere Veranstaltung. 

Vielen Dank! Natürlich habe ich sehr gerne zugesagt. Julia Mack ging im Laufe des Jahres in Elternzeit, die Veranstaltung fand natürlich trotzdem statt, unter Federführung von Felix Fischl, Philipp Mehler und Katrin Wollnik. Nicht an einem Wochenende sondern an einem Tag, dem 25. Oktober von 11 bis 17 Uhr im Frankfurter Salon.

Vom Filmhaus Frankfurt wurde die Ankündigung übrigens zusätzlich in „einfacher Sprache“ veröffentlicht, als Beispiel Fachfrau statt Expertin, das klingt doch gut? Ich habe gleich die einfache Sprache-Fassung in den Vortragstitel übernommen: Arbeiten am Film mit Familie gut verbinden – Familienfreundliches Drehen. Darin gab ich einen Einstieg in das Thema Familienfreundliches Drehen und stellte u.a. zwei von mir erstellte Informationsseiten zum Thema vor: 

Zum Nachhören und -sehen: Impulsvortrag Familienfreundliches Drehen

Hier mein Vortrag als Audio:

Continue Reading →

11. September 2025
by SchspIN
Comments Off on We Need More Role Models

We Need More Role Models

Last weekend marked the start of the new Bundesliga season. Perhaps you heard about it through your preferred media, whether radio, television, newspapers, social media or other digital channels? Did you hear or read the countdown to the start of the season, the predictions and previews, then the match reports, results and league tables? – No? Hmm. That could be because it wasn’t about the men’s Bundesliga.

Role models in Sport

Today I’m writing about sport, or more precisely about sports news in the media. And since my aim is not just to point out problems – because that’s always rather frustrating – I’ve come up with something that could change the current status quo, which is worthy of criticism, and possibly improve the situation. More on that later.

I am primarily concerned with those short sports news items at the end of “normal” news programmes, or in between segments of a magazine programme or similar. You know the ones: “Now we turn to sport” or “Rob Rickards has the latest sports news”. And also the online (short) reports and sports pages of daily newspapers, wherever there is current sports information outside of pure sports programmes or broadcasts.

Are they important? Well, apart from the obvious (= information), sports news provides a source of small talk or icebreaker conversation starters, draws attention to achievements, people (= athletes) and inequalities, can inspire, provoke head-shaking and controversial discussions, and more.

Sports in Media

Sport is a good umbrella term, as it refers to both separate competitions for women and men and joint competitions. These are rather rare, but they do exist: mixed doubles in tennis and badminton, for example, or mixed beach volleyball, the sport with one of the most ridiculous dress codes for women, but that’s another topic, and in recurve archery. Everyone runs the marathon together, but they are judged separately; even in amateur runs, athletes are usually judged by gender and overall performance (see also my report on the half marathon in Riga, May 2017).

Then there are competitions in which women and men take turns on the same court / field and/or play simultaneously on different courts / fields / pitces, for example in athletics and in most tennis tournaments – although the last final is always reserved for the men (‘It’s always been that way,’ oh really).

Here’s a little anecdote related to this: the US Open tennis tournament was just taking place in New York. After my favourite (female) player was unfortunately eliminated in the semi-finals, I didn’t follow it any further, but now I wanted to know who actually won. So I entered ‘US Open ladies‘ final’ into my trusted search engine on Monday morning, two days after the final was played on the Saturday. The top search result was a link to a German sports newspaper, followed by three links with videos/preview images side by side. All three referred to the men‘s final, which took place on Sunday. I could have understood that if I had searched for ‘US Open final’, as that was the last one. But I had specifically typed ‘ladies’ into the search. Strange.

A few weeks ago, the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU Summer World University Games took place, a kind of Olympic Games for students, but held every two years. The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris had rekindled my former enthusiasm for (apparatus) gymnastics, and that was also on display here. It is now aptly called artistic gymnastics, and, as in my childhood, it is a “television sport” and really very exciting and impressive! It’s also great how friendly and supportive many of the participants were, but that’s just a side note. 

I watched the last day of competition (26 July) on the FISU stream, where the men’s and women’s individual medal competitions were held. They alternated between the two, which was great. That meant you automatically got to see both, even if you had only tuned in or come to the hall to watch one of them. Incidentally, Japan cleaned up in this sport with a total of 17 medals, including 5 gold medals for the women and 3 gold medals for the men. Japan ended up leading the medal table at the end of the Universiade, but that’s really another topic; I just wanted to mention it in passing.

Let’s get back to ‘We now come to sport.’ In theory, anything could happen. But unfortunately, that’s not the case, because most of the time it’s about male athletes and men’s sports: men’s football, men’s basketball, men’s ice hockey, men’s motor racing, men’s cycling, men’s handball… and not just from Germany. I was able (had?) to find out from radio news who won the men’s basketball and American football championships in the USA, and I am also constantly and involuntarily informed about men’s Bundesliga football player transfers and coach dismissals.

4. June 2025
by SchspIN
Comments Off on TATORTE Sommer 2025 – Erstes Zwischenziel erreicht

TATORTE Sommer 2025 – Erstes Zwischenziel erreicht

 

TATORTE Sommer 2025: Der letzte Fall vor der Sommerpause wird am 15. Juni ausgestrahlt, und er kommt aus Zürich: RAPUNZEL liefert eine glatte Null im 6-Gewerke-Check und ist damit bis jetzt der dritte TATORT 2025, an dessen Produktion keine Regisseurin, Autorin, Kamerafrau, Tonmeisterin, Editorin oder Komponistin beteiligt war. Die anderen beiden waren VIER LEBEN (Berlin, 16.2.25) und WIR SIND NICHT ZU FASSEN! (Wien, 1.6.25). Drei TATORTE, das sind 15 Prozent.

Umgekehrt hat kein TATORT eine Null bei männlicher Beteiligung an den sechs Gewerken, das höchste an Frauenmacht ist hier der vorletzte Kieler Fall BOROWSKI UND DAS HUNGRIGE HERZ: Regie Maria Sólrún, Drehbuch Katrin Bühlig, Kamera Birgit Guðjónsdóttir, Ton Corinna Zink, Montage Uta Schmidt und Musik Haraldur Thrastarson.

TATORTE Sommer 2025

TATORTE Sommer 2025: #2von6

Immerhin, es gab bei den TATORTEN noch nie einen so hohen Wert für #2von6 (egal ob Halbjahre oder ganze); neben den drei Nullern sind es nur drei weitere Fälle, die #2von6 nicht erfüllen, d.h. bei denen weniger als zwei der sechs Kerngewerke eine Frauenbeteiligung aufweisen: CHARLIE (München, 2.3.25), BOROWSKI UND DAS HAUPT DER MEDUSA (Kiel, 16.3.25) und ABSTELLGLEIS (Dortmund, 30.3.25). Also insgesamt sechs von 20 Filmen (= 30 %):

Zum Vergleich als nächstes die erstausgestrahlten TATORTE der letzten sieben Jahre, gezeigt wird der prozentuale Anteile an TATORTEN, die #2von6 erfüllen bzw. nicht erfüllen. Continue Reading →

21. March 2025
by SchspIN
Comments Off on The First Tuttle-Berlinale, February 2025

The First Tuttle-Berlinale, February 2025

Berlinale Feb. 3-23, 2025

In the past, I have occasionally examined and commented on the Berlin International Film Festival, most recently the year before last: Berlinale 2023, the fourth year under Chatrian & Rissenbeek.

Two or three weeks ago, the 75th edition of the Berlinale ended, which was also the first with Tricia Tuttle as director. Tuttle, whose name made me think of the 1985 film BRAZIL, directed the London Film Festival from 2018-22. She is US-American, but has lived in Europe for over twenty-five years now.

Opening of the Berlinale 2025. f.l. Presenter Desirée Nosbusch und Berlinale head Tricia Tuttle. Photo Berlin Int. Filmfestival / Sandra Weller.

The Berlinale Competition 2025

Prologue: The opening film

One of the first messages I received about the 2025 festival – this was last December – was about the opening film THE LIGHT, which screened out of competition at the Berlinale. Tricia Tuttle (source Berlinale.de) said:

“When we saw THE LIGHT, we knew immediately that we wanted to open the 75th Berlinale with it Tom Tykwer finds beauty and joy in our often fragile and challenging world. He magically captures the essence of our lives today on screen. We look forward to welcoming Tom Tykwer back to the festival with THE LIGHT.”

I wrote about this on Insta on December 5: Continue Reading →

22. December 2024
by SchspIN
Comments Off on TATORT: The Remains of the Year

TATORT: The Remains of the Year

Vor ein paar Monaten hatte ich die TATORTE 2024 zur „Sommerpause“ statistisch aufbereitet (TATORTE: Halbzeit 2024). Am 2. Weihnachtsfeiertag wird der 32. und letzte neue Fall in diesem Jahr ausgestrahlt (MADE IN CHINA – Dortmund). Heute hat die geschätzte Kollegin und Nochdresdentatortkommissarin Karin Hanczewski Geburtstag, sie wird 39 (siehe auch: Karin Hanczewski – eine Inside-Story), das nehme ich zum Anlass, meine Jahresstatistiken schon heute zu veröffentlichen. So könnt Ihr falls Ihr heute Abend den Zürich-Fall FÄHRMANN in munterer Runde seht mit SchspIN-Zitaten auftrumpfen. Oder Ihr könnt Euch mit den bunten Bildern, die am Ende auf den diesmal bemerkenswert kurzen Text folgen, die Wartezeit bis Heiligabend verkürzen.

Die beiden genannten Filme aus Dortmund und Zürich erreichen übrigens die Geschlechtergerechtigkeitsmeßlatte #2von6 nicht, aber ich will nicht vorgreifen.

2024: wie war dieser TATORT-Jahrgang?

Nun, was die Frauenbeteiligung in den sechs wichtigsten Gewerken betrifft ein deutlicher Rückschritt gegenüber dem Vorjahr. Aber um nicht so negativ zu klingen hier

Gute Nachrichten:

  • Zweistellig: 13 der 32 TATORTE 2024 erfüllen oder übertreffen die Forderung #2von6, das sind 40 %! (es müssten 100 % sein, aber immerhin).
  • (Mit meiner Prognose, dass die Frauenanteil-Jahresendwerte schlechter sein würden als die zur Sommerpause lag ich richtig, aber geschenkt. Bzw. richtige Prognosen sind doch auch gute Nachrichten?)
  • Fünf TATORTE erreichten 2024 sogar 3von6 – DEIN VERLUST / Wien,  UNTER GÄRTNERN / Münster, ANGST IM DUNKELN / Bremen, AM TAG DER WANDERNDEN SEELEN / Berlin und BOROWSKI UND DAS EWIGE MEER / Kiel.
  • Und der Bremer Tatort STILLE NACHT (8.12.24) schafft 4von6! Für Drehbuch (Daniela Baumgärtl, Kim Zimmermann), Ton (Tina Dobbertin), Montage (Dora Vaida) und Musik (Jessica de Roj, Hendrik Nölle).
  • Es geschah auch in Bremen, dass eine Kamerafrau – Leah Striker – die Chance bekam, einen Tatort zu inszenieren. ANGST IM DUNKELN ist erst ihre zweite größere Regiearbeit, nach der Kika-Miniserie WECKSCHRECK.
  • Sechs Fälle die nur Autorinnen geschrieben hatten wurden ausgestrahlt.
  • An zehn der 32 Drehbücher waren Autorinnen beteiligt, das ist fast schon ein Drittel!
  • Der Frauenanteil im Drehbuchbereich insgesamt lag mit 25 % deutlich höher als beispielsweise 2018 (5,5 %). 2023 waren es indes 42,3 %. Sagt ja niemand, dass der Vergleich mit dem Vorjahr sein muss.
  • Der Regisseurinnenanteil beträgt mit 28,1 % immerhin noch mehr als die Hälfte des 2023-Werts (45,7 %).
  • TATORTE sind nicht wirklich altersdiskriminierend im Regiefach (sofern es die Männer betrifft).
  • Kameramänner mit Vornamen Michael kamen 2024 nicht mehr häufiger vor als Kamerafrauen insgesamt (siehe auch The Michael Gaze). Es waren je drei Filme.
  • Editoren kommen zum ersten Mal seit ich die TATORTE analysiere (2011) über 50 %!
  • Der Komponistinnenanteil überquert erstmals (2011-24) die 15 %-Linie.
  • Und die Tonfrauen schaffen im gleichen Zeitraum ihren bisherigen Spitzenwert: 12,5 %! 28 Filmtonmeister und 4 Filmtonmeisterinnen saßen 2024 an den TATORT-Reglern.

Continue Reading →

16. December 2024
by SchspIN
Comments Off on … and Baby makes Three

… and Baby makes Three

Compatibility in the film industry: Testimonials

Before my next blog text with a TATORT analysis appears before the end of the year, I would like to return to another topic – the compatibility of film career and family – and in this context point to another website of mine: After developing a guide and information portal on family-friendly filming on behalf of Pro Quote Film (launch February 2024, German only), I launched the website All For the Film Family to find answers to the question ‘How do we want to work?’.

My third interview with a filmmaker about her personal work-life balance story is now available in the testimonials section. Cinematographer Christine Buchmann talked about how she and her husband are juggling their film industry careers with two children. Previously, Nadja Radojevic, CEO of the International Film School Cologne, and director Charlotte Rolfes shared their respective experiences.

You can read all three very interesting interviews here: filmfamily.stieve.com/testimonials. More are in preparation.

A smiling face, a fireplace, a cozy room
A little nest that’s nestled where the roses bloom
Just Molly and me, and baby makes three
We’re happy in my blue heaven
Gene Austin: My Blue Heaven

25. October 2024
by SchspIN
Comments Off on Wer hat’s erfunden? First Case Scenario

Wer hat’s erfunden? First Case Scenario

Im letzten Artikel TATORTE: Halbzeit 2024 lieferte ich am Rande auch die 6-Gewerke-Checks für die TAT-Orte Wiesbaden, Köln, Hannover / Göttingen, München, Münster, Kiel, Dortmund und Frankfurt. Sehr pink, sehr männerlastig. Die Drehbücher mit 85 % fest in Männerhand. Ja, es gibt beim TATORT mehr Regisseurinnen als vor zehn Jahren. 2011 machten sie bloße 2,8 % aus, zur Sommerpause 2024 bereits 35,3 %. Aber was nützt das, wenn die Fälle Woche für Woche von Männern geschrieben wurden, die Verbrechen, die Verbrecher, die Opfer, die Dialoge und alles weitere mehrheitlich der Fantasie von Männern entstammen. Eingegrenzt durch die vorgegebene Ausgangskonstellation des jeweiligen TAT-Orts, wer die Ermittler:innen sind, was ihr Hintergrund ist, ihre Eigenarten und Lebensumstände, ihre Macken und Stärken, ihre Art zu ermitteln, kurz:

Die erste Folge gibt den Ton vor

Continue Reading →

25. September 2024
by SchspIN
Comments Off on TATORTE: Halbzeit 2024

TATORTE: Halbzeit 2024

Am Sonntagabend 15. September lief der erste ,neue’ TATORT nach der Sommerpause. Er kam aus Wien und ich habe ihn nicht gesehen. Aber er erinnerte mi ch daran, dass ich normalerweise zur Sommerpause eine statistische Aufarbeitung der ersten TATORTE des Jahres anfertige. Diesmal machte ich mir einen Spaß und veröffentlichte den 6-Gewerke-Check ohne Gewerkenennung (Im 6-Gewerke-Check wird der Frauenanteil, meistens für Regie, Drehbuch, Kamera, Ton, Schnitt und Musik ermittelt). Und so sah der aus – wollt Ihr mal raten?

Ich wurde mehrfach gefragt, ob ich noch einen ausführlicheren Blogeintrag dazu mache. „Klar doch, ist schon fast fertig!“ antwortete ich. Haha. Stimmte gar nicht. Aber jetzt:
 Continue Reading →

6. August 2024
by SchspIN
Comments Off on “The Truth is that the Goal was to write myself the Role of a Lifetime.“

“The Truth is that the Goal was to write myself the Role of a Lifetime.“

Talking with Stav Idisis (BLOODY MURRAY)

A few weeks ago, I was invited by gleichgestellt.de to recommend five films or series for their weekly watchlist on Instagram. A nice idea, but not an easy task. This Thursday, my five tips – five series – will appear as the watchlist. And some day, I’ll discuss my five selected series and a few more in greater detail here on the blog.

Number One on the list is the Israeli series בלאדי מורי BLOODY MORI (German: DANA & MURRAY, YES Studios). Here’s the Trailer.
Today I am pleased to publish my interview with Israeli actress and writer Stav Idisis, creator, writer and showrunner of the series. Ahead of the five series recommendation blog text, because it’s getting long as it is.

Ten questions for Stav Idisis סתיו אידיסיס

Intro

Can you give me your logline for the series?

It’s not the offical logline, which I can’t find. But here’s something similar:
Bloody Murray is an 8-episode romantic comedy, at the center of which is Mor – a 35-year-old single, film lecturer, controlled and cynical, who, against all odds, develops an obsession with the romantic comedy genre. The endless preoccupation with the principles of the genre, its laws and its rationale – take over her lifestyle, her consciousness, her decisions, and her way of thinking. As a result, Mor begins to be convinced: Lior (the new partner of her best friend – Dana) is actually meant for her.

“8-episode”? On arte channel there are 9?

Correct. It’s an old logline, and initially, the series was supposed to have 8 episodes. Only at the end of the writing process did I realize I needed one more episode, and the producers approved.

This is really good news and says a lot both for Stav’s convincing powers and the open-mind of the production company YES Studios. And finally, what about the title and the name of the main character? Mor? Murray?

True, the Israeli name is Mor and the nickname is Mori. YES Studios decided to change to Murray for the international audience.

So the original title is BLOODY MORI, internationally known as BLOODY MURRAY – which was already too much for the German version of IMDB, because they unceremoniously turned Mori / Murray into a man (sorry, can’t translate this into English, because the German „a film lecturer who“ grammatically reads ,a male film lecturer who (male form)‘. And someone at arte (?) decided to change BLOODY MURRAY to DANA & MURRAY. Why, actually, and why this order when Mori / Murray is clearly the main character? Perhaps a question for the What kind of title is THAT? section.

But now on to my ten questions and the answers from Stav Idisis – thank you very much! תודה רבה לך

Question 1: How did you become „an actress who also writes“ or „an actress turned writer“?

I grew up in Rishon Lezion, a city in central Israel, not very far from Tel Aviv. In high school, I studied at an arts high school in Tel Aviv, so I spent all my teenage years in Tel Aviv, and to this day I live in Tel Aviv.

I’ve always been drawn to theater and cinematic and television production. I can’t quite pinpoint where it comes from. It was the thing that interested me the most from a very young age. There’s a chance I caught the bug because my dad is a screenwriter, and I would go with him to work on the sets of series, watching actors, rehearsals, and how everything operates; it fascinated me. But I’m sure there’s also a strong natural attraction to the field within me—telling a story. Psychologically, I think my interest in acting stemmed from the need of a very shy girl who struggled to show the world who she was, her sense of humor, that she was cool… and acting, embodying a character, surprising, moving people helped my ego. I was good at it. Today, I can say that I’ve stepped away from acting. It’s a mentally challenging field, and in the end, I didn’t succeed as I wanted, and I got tired of trying. But I really got tired. Not out of despair. The enthusiasm just faded for me. A little enthusiasm isn’t enough. Maybe what I needed was recognition, and I achieved that. I’m happy with where I am. But if they offer me a really amazing role, it’s possible I wouldn’t be able to refuse.

Question 2: Are there parallels between your own life and the plot, and between you and Mori?

There are many parallel points between me and mory; we are both late single. We share the same professional passions and the same desires and dreams in our personal lives. We have similar ways of thinking, with shared critical views and cynicism. Mory is just more extreme—she says everything I only think. She does things that I sometimes only imagine I might want to do. By the way, Dana and mory together represent me. I’m also analytical, perfectionistic, ambitious, and organized like Dana. But I’m also lazy and a procrastinator like mory. It’s complicated 🙂

Question 3: When did you have the idea for the story and what was your motivation and ambition for it?

My motivation was to write a series that I created for adults. Until then, I had only written for children’s shows, and for years I wanted to create something from the heart. But for years, I didn’t have anything to write about and didn’t invest much thought into it because I was always busy with other things that took my attention and resources. The general idea for ‘Bloody Mori’ about a film professor teaching a seminar on romantic comedy and starting to blur the lines between genre rules and her own life just came to me one evening in 2018 when I was working with a production company that believed in me and asked me to make an effort and think of an idea for a series. Sometimes a person just needs a little push of belief from someone else.

von links: Rotem Sela (Dana) und Naomi Levov (Mori). Foto Ohad Romano

Question 4: When did you start pitching the series and how did you sell it, roughly how long did that take?

As mentioned, I was already in contact with a production company that immediately loved the idea. So I received immediate positive feedback—and a boost to start writing the pilot. I didn’t receive any compensation, right? I just decided to do it because there’s nothing like a written dialogue to prove to the network that the product is special. Then I enrolled in a writing course that forced me to sit down and produce. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to do it. I had a deadline. There was a class where I had to submit the script to the class and receive feedback, which gave me the strength to sit down and write. By the way, the fact that I managed to take a moment to write something without money is thanks to a tiny inheritance I received from my grandmother who passed away. When I finished the course, I already had two episodes in hand. It happened really quickly, within three months, and soon after, they read it, loved it, and gave me development for the series.My process was extremely fast. Within a year, a season was already written, and I went into production.

Question 5: Why are you not in the series as an actress?

(I know of actors, esp. Women 40+, who start to write or develop scripts, because the roles on offer are not good or don’t exist – this goes for Germany. So they want to write the sort of story they would like to be in, and usually they are taking a bigger role when it’s filmed. But you are not in your series, neither with a short cameo, nor as a supporting or an episode character. How come?

The truth is that the goal was to write myself the role of a lifetime. I intended to play Mori. I even did an audition for the role. But in the end, I can say that I backed down. I felt it was a complex role and wasn’t sure I could handle the task. Additionally, I really struggled with whether I should direct to ensure that what I imagined comes to life. So it was definitely a challenging time during the casting process. It wasn’t an easy decision, and when I felt that those around me also preferred that I not act, it really broke me and made me retreat. I didn’t really fight for it. It was a combination of low self-confidence, lack of experience, harsh self-criticism, and a lack of encouragement from my work environment.

Stav Idisi und Naomi Levov, Series Mania Festival 2022, Beste Comedyserie

Question 6: What was your part in the project after you sold the script?

I was very involved in every stage of the project. I chose the director, whom I knew from my film studies at university. He’s also an actor-director, and we had good chemistry; I knew he was talented and very funny. I had the final say on the cast, of course, along with the producers (YES), and also on important crew members like the cinematographer. I was the showrunner on set and was present every shooting day. The actors consulted with me all the time, and there was a fruitful artistic dialogue between me and Yogev, the director. I also sat in the editing room every day, alongside the director and editor. In short… I did a great internship, and I will direct the next season myself.

Question 7: Where has the series been sold to so far?

The series has so far been sold to ARTE and, truthfully, I don’t remember but also to a few other countries… about more sales- I am not allowed to disclose at the moment, and the decision is solely up to YES. I can only hope to make as much money as possible from this. 🙂

Question 8: Has anybody approached you about a remake and what are your feelings about that?

I’m not allowed to talk about it beyond what I’ve already said. I can say that as long as it’s done well, I’m all for it – the opportunity to reach a wider audience is a dream, and of course, the financial reward doesn’t hurt.

Question 9: I was a bit surprised to read on arte that the friendship between Mori and Dana „is their guarantee of survival in a society in which women still suffer under the burden of tradition“. What are your thoughts on that?

I don’t remember writing this, but I do think and have written somewhere at some point that the fact that both girls are late singles makes it easier for them to cope with loneliness and the social pressure that definitely exists here in Israel to “normalize” and find a partner. Both Mori and Dana really want to find love, they just haven’t found it and haven’t compromised. Therefore, and not only because of the social issue, it’s a problem for them. A problem they would like to solve in their lives. By the way, late singleness is becoming more and more common, but the social stigma from the previous generation and even from my generation is still not easy to digest and sometimes disrupts the mind.

Question 10: Is there anything you can tell me about the second season – like e.g. which of the supporting characters will be in it, will we learn about Dana’s family. – or is this still a secret?

It’s a secret 🙂

Thank you very much for your time, Stav, and your personal answers! תודה על זמנך ועל התשובות הפתוחות, סתיו היקרה! אני ממש נרגש לראות מה יקרה אחר כך.
You can watch DANA & MURRAY / BLOODY MORI in the original Hebrew version with German or French subtitles in the arte Mediathek until 16.11.24.

I have shortened the questions for this text. The interview and parts of it can only be reprinted with my permission. Please contact me with any enquiries.