In The Eye Of The Storm: Six Days: Six Women: One Outcome
During the pandemic independent producers and directors around the world have being inventive, with the realisation that films with an experienced crew can be made within very limited budgets. One such writer-director is Brigitte Drodtloff of Triarte International based in Munich and Bucharest. Her story, like many independents’ journey to producing a project, has a familiarity. But Brigitte goes further and confronts the prejudices that exist in the film industry not only between the hierarchy between men and women but the inability for women in the workplace to sometimes see that together they are their greatest ‘comrades.’
Los(Ge)Lassen (Released), directed by Brigitte Drodtloff and cowritten with Jörg Schnitger, is a dramedy. Set in an upscale apartment in Friedrich Altewische, a beautiful village on a Bavarian lake, not far from Munich, the film, stars (pictured l-front) Josefina Vilsmaier, Silke Popp, Salber Williams (back) Ute Bronder, Mirijam Verena Jeremic, and Valentina Sauca. Frank Glencairn, who worked with Brigitte on her successful short film Human, was the DOP. The feature film centres around six women, some of who literally hate each other, are forced by an unpredictable weather catastrophe to stay locked down in an apartment – and exactly at this point one of them is about to give birth to a baby. All the conflicts, the fighting, the disputes between them must vanish – confronted by the existentiality of a new life, that must be saved.
Brigitte Drodtloff says: “I wrote the treatment a few years ago, and went the usual path to look for a producer to finance the development of the script. The feedback was: too many women. Here I was sitting twiddling my thumbs in lockdown, so I started to write the script without financial help. My script-colleague, Jörg Schnitger, helped me and the script was finished in a few weeks. Discussing the project, I realized that I must make this film NOW, independently, not wait for producers to ‘filter’ the content. Great friends funded the tiny budget and a wonderful friend gave his apartment for the location, with the six actresses receiving minimum fee. Against tremendous odds we started shooting the film. We tested everybody before, to be sure that nobody had the virus. On set we had a health-supervisor, we wore masks, and kept the needed distance. We all lived in the small Bavarian village for the whole week, and we had very safe catering on location, so we didn’t have to walk around. With just two days before shooting we had intensive rehearsals with the actresses and crew.”
Reflecting on her career and trying to get projects funded, Brigitte Drodtloff says: “Maybe this film is not only about women and their conflicts. But also, about the power of women when they have a goal and find the self confidence to make their dreams come through. Even when nobody believes in them, because they are „only“ women… We often forget that we make it easy to men, to suppress us – in this „western, civilized world. We accept that men have the power – not only in our film business. Filmmaking is not only about talent and skill – but the most important task is networking. And men are much better at ‘networking’ to make money and further their careers. Women are better when it comes to organizing the housekeeping and the complicated school programs for their children (I proudly raised two daughters on my own). But when it comes to the career, in this tough film and television business, most women prefer to work with men, believing that they are better skilled and a guarantee to be successful! It’s absurd! I have often seen it here in Germany: At TV-stations and at bigger production companies the decision to work with men as scriptwriters and directors was in the hands of women! Yes – they trusted men more than women! How can that be?”
In Los(Ge)Lassen (Released), Brigitte has put a focus on the self-destruction of women. Not in an educational way, but dressed it up in an entertaining way. The film revolves around the women taunting each other, by analyzing their past and the failures in their lives – until it comes to the existential crisis: The birth of a child, at home with no help from the outside. Los(Ge)Lassen (Released) was shot in six days. The shoot was fortunate to find a week of peace in the midst of the pandemic, and Brigitte contemplated calling the movie: „In the eye of the storm.“ Drodtloff concluded: “The next step is to find the right co-producer to finance the postproduction. Then we will aim for international film festivals. It’s a universal theme: If women learn to stick together, they can overcome any crises. I wrote and made this film not only about women and for women. It’s about human nature. This is what makes mankind great: sticking together, helping each other. It’s a film about new life, about hope and about believing. I am an optimist. I am a believer. I am a woman who doesn’t give up!”
In The Eye Of The Storm: Six Days: Six Women: One Outcome
Image ©Triarte International 2020. Article written by Elspeth Tavares
(Quelle: The Business of Film)