{"id":210837,"date":"2020-02-16T12:48:26","date_gmt":"2020-02-16T11:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/berlin030.de\/?p=210837"},"modified":"2020-02-16T12:48:26","modified_gmt":"2020-02-16T11:48:26","slug":"auf-eine-reaktion-von-al-pacino-warten-wir-noch-interview-mit-tim-duenschede-zu-limbo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/berlin030.de\/en\/2020\/02\/16\/auf-eine-reaktion-von-al-pacino-warten-wir-noch-interview-mit-tim-duenschede-zu-limbo\/","title":{"rendered":"“We’re still waiting for a response from Al Pacino!” | Director Tim D\u00fcnschede on “Limbo”"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Three lives. 90 minutes. One take” is what it says on the film poster. Young filmmaker Tim D\u00fcnschede, 36, managed his university graduation film entirely without cuts. The thriller “Limbo” tells in real time the story of three characters whose paths cross. Then, by chance, a furious showdown erupts in a boxing ring. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

After its premiere at the Munich Film Festival, there followed an invitation to the prestigious Austin Film Festival. In addition to nominations for First Steps and the Michael Ballhaus Prize, “Limbo” was awarded the VGF Young Producer Prize.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr D\u00fcnschede, you thank Al Pacino in the credits. Has he got back to you yet?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We’re still waiting for a response from Al Pacino! (Laughs<\/em>) At festivals, people have been very eager to know how this dedication came about. The reason is that my screenwriter Anil Kizilbuga and I were largely inspired by “Donnie Brasco” for the character of the small-time crook Ozzy. We even put a photo of Pacino up on our office wall for inspiration.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, there’s no thank-you to Sebastian Schipper, whose “Victoria” was surely also an inspiration for a film without cuts…<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

That’s right, Sebastian Schipper certainly would have deserved that. After all, it was “Victoria” that gave us the idea for our project. But in the midst of all the madness, we simply forgot about a thank-you. We had so little time that we didn’t even get in touch to ask him for advice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those who are late are punished by the originality tribunal: Does it annoy you not to be the first whose film is made without<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Director D\u00fcnschede – Photo: Holger Jungnickel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

cuts?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

D\u00fcnschede<\/strong>: Not at all, just before us Dani Levy presented a “Tatort” without cuts. And “Russian Ark” by Sokurov was made twenty years ago. Just because there are already westerns doesn’t mean I can’t keep making westerns. What we mainly wanted was the adventure of trying something we could actually fail at \u2013 and film school provided a safe framework to do that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you have to be a bit nerdy to take on such a project?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I wouldn’t call it nerdy. Ideally, you should know your craft, because you really have to rely on it. This method doesn’t allow you to repeat scenes or try out different set-ups. You need to discuss everything with the team as thoroughly as possible beforehand, so that after the starting signal everyone knows where to go.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“When one goes down, the other goes to the corner!” says the referee in the film at one point. Was that your direction, too, when things threatened to go wrong? <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Our motto was: “There are no mishaps! We keep going no matter what! No stopping!” The actors only really understood what that meant during the run-through. At the beginning, Elisa Schlott gets into the lift \u2013 we had prepared that sequence meticulously. But, by chance, the second lift arrived. As Elisa set off, the cameraman whispered, “Wrong lift!” That sort of thing obviously unsettles an actor, and Elisa couldn’t get the thought “I’ve messed it up” out of her head after that run-through. We had to overcome this fear of failure. Even when there was a mistake, we had to simply carry on.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With that opening scene, you could at least go back to square one, couldn’t you?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

D\u00fcnschede<\/strong>: Unfortunately not, because of the light. The film begins at blue hour \u2014 if we’d started late, it would have been too dark on the street. Everything was so precisely planned that we absolutely could not stop. Filming started around 7.30pm, and 90 minutes later we had the film in the can.<\/span><\/p>\n