“Absurdistan” director Veit Helmer explains some of the unique challenges and joys of making a Babylonian allegorical comedy:In a report on the shooting of “Absurdistan” the film is called a “silent film in esperanto”. In what genre do you categorize your third film?
For me, the charm of movie-making lies in the filmic narration, in finding images that convey emotions rather than putting words in the mouths of actors. The film thus becomes a universal art form.
What was the biggest challenge in the production process?
Azerbaijan hasn´t had a film infrastructure since the collapse of the Soviet Union. One year before the start of the shoot I gave workshops in order to teach Azerbaijan film students about how to work on set. The catering truck, stocked with 30,000 meters of film, took a week to get here from Germany. The team came from Ukraine, Georgia, Turkey, Iran, France, Germany. There was a Babylonian confusion of tongues on set.
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Let's talk about literature for a moment. "Lila, Lila" with Daniel Brühl before he became an international star, and the always impressive Hannah Herzsprung --both young actors have rightly been honoured with the "Shooting Star Award", which we featured in our GOETHE FILMS series two years ago-- is based on a popular novel by Swiss writer Martin Suter. 
Mark your calendars for our next series of GOETHE FILMS @ TIFF Bell Lightbox, which will have you laugh right to the box office.
Last night I told a Canadian professional comedian about our upcoming "Germany laughs" series of arthouse comedies. His comeback: "I didn't know there was a word for funny in German...haha." Well, we'll see about that, & thanks, Diane Kruger, for having my back in this photo.
