The Goethe-Institut presents the North American premiere of Precious Ivie, which just won a German Film Award, at the EUFF 2021 for 48h only, Canada-wide, starting 25 November!
"Racial profiling is a fact of life." ... and therefore has to be in the film, thinks director Sarah Blaßkiewitz. An interview about her debut "Precious Ivie" -- the first German film with two Afro-German women in the leading roles:
Ivie, the protagonist in Sarah Blaßkiewitz's film "Precious Ivie," is just trying to gain a foothold as a young teacher in Leipzig. But suddenly her half-sister Naomi appears on her doorstep -- about whom she knew nothing until then. The more time she spends with Naomi, the more Ivie begins to question not only her identity as an Afro-German woman, but also her entire environment: her friends, her job, her family.
fluter.de: Your film is about friendship, family, identity - and everyday racism. Why did you choose these topics for your first feature film?
Sarah Blaßkiewitz: I knew from the beginning what I wanted to talk about: a protagonist who grows up with very good friends who are like a family to her -- with all the ups and downs. Everyday racism was automatically part of this narrative because I'm telling the story of two Afro-German women whose reality unfortunately includes experiencing racism. I wanted to show a world that I myself had not seen before in this way in the media. And in fact there have never before been two Afro-German women as protagonists in a German film.
fluter.de: To what extent does the film reflect the reality of your own life?
SB: I drew on a lot on my own experiences as a Black woman in Germany. But I am neither Ivie nor Naomi. However, I have been through a similar journey as Ivie. As a young woman, I too asked myself, "Who am I, and how do others see me?" I doubted a lot of things. Other things are inspired by experiences and stories in my circle. You don't have to have an Afro-German history to do that. My desire was for all people to feel addressed.
fluter.de: Ivie's best friend Anne calls Ivie "Schoko." Both of them have never questioned this term -- until Naomi shows up. Can a friendship withstand such racial overtones in the long run?
SB: I certainly hope that something like this can be worked through. After all, Anne didn't mean it maliciously, but used culturally anchored mechanisms that she just never questioned. In good friendships, it can be possible to endure and overcome such conflicts -- and that also includes reflecting on one's own racist ways of thinking and actions and talking about them openly.
fluter.de: You wrote the script between 2016 and 2017. Has anything changed in awareness about everyday racism since then?
SB: I think so. The topic of racism has received much more social attention in recent months. Especially the debates in the U.S. and the Black Lives Matter movement had a big impact on that. This has given many Black people --also in Germany-- more self-confidence and has changed the public presentation and perception of Afro-Germans for the better. In the media, for example, there are now many more positively connoted portrayals of Black women in which they wear their hair naturally.
fluter.de: Did Black Lives Matter have a direct influence on the film production?
SB: Because I had already written the script in 2017, basically not. When the demonstrations started in the summer of 2020, I was in a real crisis: It all hit me so hard, and I was so sad. I turned over every word in the script again. We discussed things in the team, especially with the two leading actresses: What do we feel good about, what do we feel not good about? In that sense, Black Lives Matter empowered me and all of us to pull it off.
fluter.de: There are some very uncomfortable scenes in the film, such as when Ivie is asked about her "background" during a job interview. Do people who are themselves affected by everyday racism react differently to the film than those who aren't?
SB: There are people in the audience, especially from the Afro-German community, who have to compose themselves afterwards because they've seen things they've already experienced themselves. But there are also those who then say, "Finally, I see my life depicted in a German film." Of course, as a narrator, that's exactly what I want: for people to empathize with the protagonist. And such feelings of shame or anger testify to the fact that one can put oneself in the protagonist's place, even as a white person. In many scenes, such as the job interview, it's about simply enduring this situation, feeling how uncomfortable it is.
fluter.de: Is there a scene that viewers have been discussing particularly hotly?
SB: There is a scene in which police officers appear and behave in an overtly racist manner. That might come across to some as me suggesting that all police are racist. Of course, that's not what I'm saying. But racial profiling does exist, and if I had left that out just because I was afraid of stepping on someone's toes, I would have made a big mistake.
fluter.de: At the same time, some scenes that also feature racist language reproduce hurtful terms. Why did you decide to present it so concretely anyway?
SB: There were already moments of pain when I wrote these scenes, and then also when I shot them. I have also been called such words myself, which hurt me. But there's no point in sugarcoating it: Racist attacks happen. And it makes no sense to keep quiet about it. Because ideally, a film like this can also encourage people to get more involved with racism and people who are affected by it.
interview: Mirjam Ratmann for
Fluter.de, 17 September 2021, published under the license CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0-DE.
image: "Ivie wie Ivie" poster, courtesy Weydemann Bros.
