Bringing the „We are more“ feeling to the stage of the German Film Awards is a concern of Samira El Ouassil, who is the artistic director of the event together with film director Lars Jessen. She talks about the ensemble moderation and the German film year.
Together with director Lars Jessen, you are the artistic director of this year’s German Film Awards. What exactly are your tasks?
Samira El Ouassil: Lars brings with him the incredible practical experience of more than 20 years as a director. At the same time, he has integrity and a clear opinion of the present, especially when it comes to ecological issues, which we also want to bring into the evening. I, on the other hand, have four years of writing experience for the German Film Awards because I was involved in the previous award ceremonies as an author. This work, my work as a publicist and the fact that there are intellectual overlaps with Lars, for example when it comes to telling the story of the climate crisis in artistic form, led to doing this together.
That also sounds a bit like trying to improve the world. But isn’t the entertainment value important at an event like this?
Samira El Ouassil: Absolutely. It’s very important to us that the show is entertaining. It shouldn’t be ‚preaching to the choir‘ or educational, because that would be boring. We want to have an evening where not only everyone feels appreciated and the film industry is honored, but we also simply have fun celebrating the art of film together. This is sometimes neglected when it comes to socio-political responsibility and ethics. It’s not just about fulfilling a mission, but also about appreciating the happiness that successful cinematic art can generate.
What does that mean in practice?
Samira El Ouassil: Above all, we want to convey a sense of community on stage, a sense of togetherness in the film industry. We know that film work is always teamwork. Something that is achieved by people who believe in something together. We want to recreate this specific feeling on stage, especially after the pandemic and in view of the crises we are currently experiencing. We hope that these emotions of benevolent community will be on display. One aspect of this is that we have a moderation ensemble this time. There are seven hosts who will be on stage representing the industry. The idea is that no one person alone has to carry the burden of responsibility throughout the evening.
„I think the current feeling is different.“
Samira El Ouassil
The Oscars also tried out ensemble moderation in previous years, which was criticized afterwards. It felt like there was a lack of proper guidance through the evening.
Samira El Ouassil: I think the current feeling is different. At the beginning of the year, we were inspired by the fact that so many people took to the streets in Germany to demonstrate. It was unusually large crowds for demonstrations, because people agreed: we have to take to the streets now to show our colors, to show our faces and to convey that we are a force to be reckoned with. We want to reflect this specific feeling at the German Film Awards with the help of the wonderful ensemble of presenters. There is a bar situation on stage, the atmosphere should be a little more relaxed, more late-night-like. We also have the fantastic six-piece band Gloria with Mark Tavassol as musical director on stage, the band from “Late Night Berlin“.
You are not only the artistic director of the German Film Awards, but also the winner of the Michael Althen Award for Criticism 2023. What do the six nominated works for Best Film say about Germany for you?
Samira El Ouassil: All the nominated films are characterized by a great seriousness, but also by a sense of socio-political responsibility. Urgent and existential themes are dealt with everywhere. Especially when you think of Matthias Glasner’s film „Dying”, which deals with the taboo of death that still is prevalent these days. We live in a self-optimizing society that only ever wants the glossy look and chases the perfect Instagram game. There seems to be an existential desire to penetrate the present, which in turn is reflected in the nominated films. It’s not just about entertainment in the classic sense and escapism, which have of course always been relevant to the film experience and cinematographic art. But it is also about understanding and depicting what holds us all together at our core. When we think of a documentary like „Seven Winters in Tehran“, which is a highly political film and sheds light on such injustice, then you understand that there is a need to draw attention to serious matters. All of this year’s filmmakers have taken their responsibility as artists and contemporary chroniclers seriously and implemented it in a variety of beautiful ways.
With this in mind, what do you think of the fact that two of the ten possible Best Picture slots at the Oscars are now virtually guaranteed to be kept free for the two best blockbusters of the season, such as „Oppenheimer“ and „Barbie“, so that TV audiences are more aware of the nominated projects?
Samira El Ouassil: This year, for the first time, there was a new voting procedure for the German Film Awards. This time, all Academy members had more than just a few votes at their disposal, which in the past sometimes led to strategic voting behavior. Now you could simply vote for any film you liked. What we have now is an honest result of what people think is good without strategic thinking – that’s the idea. I’m a big fan of well-made entertaining movies. I really like some Marvel movies like „Black Panther“. I found „Sun and Concrete“ („Sonne und Beton“) to be one of the most interesting German films of recent years. In the end, I hope that the best movie in all its facets wins.
At this point, I would like to emphasize once again that the title you and Friedemann Karig chose for your own podcast, „Piratensender Powerplay“, is meant ironically.
Samira El Ouassil: I naturally have a soft spot for this type of German film – I would also include „The Supernoses“ („Die Supernasen“) – which I grew up with, because they are part of my childhood. How could I want to badmouth them in retrospect? Nevertheless, they have aged extremely badly! If you look at „Piratensender Powerplay“ today: Two guys who invade a girls‘ boarding school and sexually harass all the 17-year-old high school graduates by dressing up as women themselves so they can get into the locker room to look at the naked students‘ breasts or butts – seriously?! Our podcast title is therefore, of course, an ironic appropriation.
Interview by Michael Müller