What goes into “the making of” a film, from the idea to the screen? How do you frame and pitch your idea and convince partners to come onboard? What does the collaborative process of filmmaking look like, the interplay between writers, producers, cinematographers, composers? How do you stay true to your characters, whether real or fictional or fictionalized? How does an editor shape the final film, how does a composer support the director’s vision?
Over the next 12 months, we will give you an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at two very different projects, alternating bi-monthly and starting with an international feature film uncovering the true story of a 1980s German hockey club —featuring expensive Canadian NHL players– that dreamt of making it big … with the help of a dictator’s money.
Meet Berlin’s Konstantin Bock, who edited Oscar nominee Capernaum and is in development for his directorial feature debut THE ICE KING with his writing partner Stefanie Schmitz (Back for Good; The Pilot’s Wife).
To save his struggling hockey club, a small-town German property developer picks up the phone one night and makes a deal with no other than Libya’s Muammar al-Gaddafi, just to find himself on the dark side of international espionage and global oil interests, at a time when the first major Islamist terror attack shakes Berlin, Germany, and the world. Beyond private moral conflicts and high-stakes political intrigue that are as current now as 30 years ago, the film is also meant as a love story between a manager and his players.
Dear Konstantin, how did you come across the story behind THE ICE KING, or how did the story come to you?
Stefanie and I had been researching another idea set in the intelligence community and met and interviewed a lot of people from that world. One of those meetings was with a former German spy, who shared this unbelievable story with us -- as he was actually present at the meeting in Libya with Gaddafi. We filed it away at the back of our brains as 'curiously absurd anecdote’ because it didn’t directly relate to the story we were working on at the time.
It wasn’t until a few months later, when we hit a road block with our original idea and took a step back to remind us of the core themes we really wanted to talk about --the question if an end justifies the means, the relationship between global politics and intimate personal connections and passion driving someone to insanity-- that Stefanie pointed out: ‘Remember that incident in the Bedouin tent in Libya, with Gaddafi and the German real-estate developer? That story actually has everything we want to get across!’ We knew what we wanted to make a film about, we’d just been looking at the wrong story.
What struck you that made you realize you want to make this a fictional feature film?
I’m fascinated by characters who are trying to be more than what and where they come from, who want to be larger than life. In our story we have a real-estate developer from small-town Germany who’s trying to play in the big leagues and in the international arena --as a filmmaker, I can totally relate to that-- but he completely loses perspective on where the moral boundaries lie. That’s why our film is not a ‘sports film’; it’s a character portrait of the absurd rise and painful fall of one man, set in the aggressively masculine world of ice hockey. I’m also really interested in the inherent homoeroticism of that world, his deep affection for his players --we see THE ICE KING also as a love story-- and admiration of Gaddafi (who a famous journalist once described to me as the first bisexual Arab hippie she had ever met). What better set of characters could you wish for for a feature?
Unfortunately, our story is more timely than ever, in a world where moral boundaries are getting pushed further and further and our governments keep engaging in questionable deals. To me, our character’s loss of his moral compass and his subsequent downfall are an analogy of the current double standards in world politics -- and a way for us to show that the end never justifies the means.
Konstantin Bock is a director and editor, based between Berlin and Beirut. He was the editor of Nadine Labaki's Academy Award-nominated film CAPERNAUM, which won the Prix du Jury at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. He was selected to participate in the 2019 Berlinale Talents program.
Konstantin studied applied film, theatre and fine arts at the University of Hildesheim, and Jewish studies and the history and culture of the Middle East at the Free University Berlin. During his studies, he worked as an assistant director and stage manager for plays, opera, and dance and assisted on international feature and short films.
As a director and designer he has worked with Canadian performance company Mammalian Diving Reflex at theatres and festivals in London, Bern, Glasgow, Philadelphia, Copenhagen, Portland, Gwangju and at the Ruhrtriennale. Together with Toronto's Darren O'Donnell, he directed and designed the documentary theatre performance 'All the Sex I've Ever Had', where people over the age of 65 share intimate stories about their lives on stage. He has staged the production around the world, always featuring a local cast, among other at the Luminato Festival in Toronto, the Singapore Arts Festival, the National Theatre of Prague, and the Sydney Opera House.
His film work includes commercials, music videos, short films, and documentaries. His most recent documentary, HATTIE GOES CRUISING has toured to over 50 festivals worldwide (Hot Docs, BFI Flare, OutFest, Rooftop Films) after premiering at the 2015 New Orleans Film Festival, was nominated for the 2017 Iris Prize and won Best Documentary at Berlin Liberi Film Festival and La Paz International Film Festival. He has directed and edited award-winning commercials with agencies and production houses in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, London, Doha, Beirut, and New York. THE ICE KING will be his own feature film debut.
To be continued in November ...
And in October, meet filmmaker Stephanie Weimar and her new project.
interview by
Jutta Brendemühl
photo by: Fares Sokhn courtesy K. Bock
