In dialogue with Marieke Schroeder

Marieke Schroeder makes films – and she does it pretty well. We talked to her about how it all started, what drives her, and which projects she still dreams of bringing to life. A conversation about career, creativity, and the little (and big) adventures of filmmaking.

You initially planned to become a foreign correspondent. What made you change direction and pursue a career in the film industry?

During my studies I worked a lot for television and that was the heyday of TV magazines, but slowly commercial television started to spread, initially great but then more and more subject to the dictates of advertising. And I remember the day when I could only sell the stupidest of 3 topics. I thought if I would become a foreign language correspondent; you have to be damn good to do that and do you really want to keep doing what you're doing? No, then I went straight to my professor at university and registered my master's thesis there, which was a combination of history, film history, film psychology et cetera and ticked off okay, that's just me wanting to tell long stories and not delve into anything small for myself and actually write a master's thesis for the rest of my life. And documentary film was the right thing for me.

Your first independent project was a documentary about Sinai for ARD. What challenges did you face working on this project?

It wasn't my first independent project, it was a commission from ARD and a huge opportunity for me. I was young and was alone in Jordan, in Egypt, in Israel - I was far too naïve, swallowed far too many things and somehow accepted them and made a story out of it that I'm a bit ashamed of in parts today, but that was just a lot of fun and gave me a tremendous amount of self-confidence that I was able to accomplish things.

Why did you decided to make documentary? Would you like to make feature films?

I would love to go into fiction. In documentaries, I love dealing with a topic and being able to understand everything about it and tell a story, but that's becoming less and less. Maybe I'm just not that curious anymore. I used to think, Ah, save all the stories in your head and then you can use them later to tell movies, write short stories, etc. Now I rummage through my documents and remember that I didn't take enough notes. Now I have to develop my imagination more again. But it's working.

What’s most important to you when creating portraits of people? How do you approach revealing their character?

Sergiu Celibidache says in Jan Schmidt Garre's film that you don't want anything, you let it happen, and that's how I see my portraits. I try to draw as few conclusions as possible, to tell the story as pointedly as necessary and, above all, never to lose my sense of humor. I'm glad that I rarely do portraits or actually never do portraits about people as an investigative journalist. I don't have to put anyone to the test and find out the truth behind them or convict them of lying, but I can get involved with people and understand them in their complexity and try to convey this without it becoming boring and disjointed. I think my role is sometimes like a psychiatrist who is the white wall onto which the interviewee can play his balls and I play them back as well as I can so that they can be played back to me and a real game of question and answer emerges. Or even better, a conversation.

Your films often feature strong female characters or remarkable female figures. Is this a deliberate choice to highlight the image of strong women? Or do you see it as part of a broader feminist focus in your work?

 The answer to this is quite banal I'm incredibly interested in women - the rest is coincidence

Which of your projects has been the most personal or memorable for you, and why? What themes or stories would you like to explore in the future?

I would like to deal with topics such as dying - I would like to return to topics such as love - big topics that determine life. What has impressed me the most - I don't think I can say. Every film has impressed me the most in the time I've made it - it's like the question of favorite children - I always have favorite children, but they alternate.

What motivates you to continue making films?

Immer wieder die Suche nach dem perfekten Dreh oder Schnittmoment:  der Augenblick entweder am Set oder am Schneidetisch, in dem man merkt- diese Szene  wird hängen bleiben das hat pathetisch ausgedrückt eine tiefere Wahrheit- ein Stück Ewigkeit.

Again and again the search for the perfect shot or editing moment: the moment either on set or at the editing table when you realise - this scene will stick - that has, to put it pathetically, a deeper truth - a piece of eternity.