They love, live and work together. Mia Maariel Meyer (40) and Hanno Koffler (42) have just completed their second film together. BZ hooked up with them to talk.
In the film, directed by his fiancée Mia Maariel, Koffler plays a tiler who, as a result of gentrification, has to move his family from the big city to a needy house on the outskirts. He is plagued by money worries and his 13-year-old daughter is unhappy.
Born in Berlin, Koffler is himself the father of two daughters. The older one lives in the USA, the younger one was given to him by Mia Maariel Meyer. The three of them live in the small family in the middle of Berlin, but they are currently staying in Marseille. No vacation, but for their next joint project.
BZ: What was the intention of wanting to make this film?
Mia Maariel Meyer: We reflected on what surrounds us. The pressure to perform that is increasing in our society. Originally we wanted to make a film about how violence develops in a healthy family, but gradually we realized that the real issue is the pressure to perform, from which violence arises.
Do you feel this pressure to perform in our society yourself?
MMMM: Yes, very early on as a child I had the feeling that I shared the pressure that was on my parents. The feeling of having to function has strongly influenced me. Today I try to do it differently, but of course I don’t always succeed in protecting my family and especially my child from my pressure. Children generally have too much to bear, which is a central theme of the film.
Hanno Koffler: No matter in which industry, you can feel increasing, existential pressure. It was important to us to make a film about people who apparently do everything right, work hard, give everything for their dream and yet are always accompanied by the fear of falling. Even though I’m in a privileged situation as a working actor, I know this fear very well.
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Even though you’ve been a successful actor for years?
HK: But of course there were also phases when things didn’t go so well, when I had to wait for offers and nothing came. Besides, you never know how long things will go well, because there are no guarantees. Perhaps these fears are so present in me because as a child I had to experience how my father with four children dropped out of work after the reunification.
What was his occupation?
HK: He was a lawyer, had started his own business, health problems were added to that, and even if he really tried and struggled, it wasn’t enough. From successful lawyer to welfare recipient. That made a big impression on us children. In this respect, “Die Saat” is also a very personal film for me.
The film is also about gentrification in the big city. They live in Berlin. How much are you actually confronted with this problem?
MMMM: Gentrification is one of many issues associated with the pressure to perform. Ultimately, “Die Saat” is also a film about empathy, because I believe this is being lost more and more in our society. There is no compassion for one another.
HK: Yes, we were also concerned with the question of whether it is even possible to remain a good person in our competitive capitalist society. Being a good person would actually be a very desirable goal, which we should primarily pass on to our children.
In the film you have a 13-year-old daughter. Were you able to contribute your experience as a father?
HK: Sure, I’m the father of two daughters. Of course that comes into play. When Mia and I wrote the screenplay, our Doreen had aged with my first daughter over the years. She was eight in the first draft of the script. I believe that this gave us very good access to the language and the conflicts of this generation. Mia then staged it really well.
Be honest, do you still dream of owning your own home?
HK: Of course, we can understand the life concept of a house with a garden very well, especially with children. However, as is well known, it has become difficult or even impossible in Berlin to realize this dream.
“Die Saat” is your second film together after “Stairs Up”. That doesn’t work for every artist couple!
HK: Who says it worked well (laughs). Of course there are also the hard-won results, but I can only say that I admire and respect Mia as an artist, as a director.
MMMM: Hanno is a very good actor and I don’t think we’ve even seen ten percent of what he’s capable of.
