When making a movie, the first thing I think about is the "place". "Light of Hope" Director Thomas Stuber [Director's Interview Vol.25]

A huge supermarket in the former East Germany. The forklifts working inside the store after closing are adorable and beautiful. "Beam of Hope" is a film that gently looks at the gentle and warm connections between the people who work there. The director of this film is Thomas Stuber, 38 years old, who was born in the former East Germany. We spoke to the director, who has beautifully spun a small but happy story, even though the main setting is the limited space of a supermarket aisle.

Index

• I wanted to capture the magical atmosphere of the original in a film.
• Franz Rogowski's face on the screen
• A new relationship between machines and humans

I wanted to capture the magical atmosphere of the original in a film.

Q: This film is based on a novel, but what was it that attracted you to it and made you want to turn it into a film?

Thomas: The original story was very short, about 30 pages. Considering the length of the movie I made, I wonder if it was really that short, but when I first read it, there was something about it that captured my heart. I really liked the unique atmosphere of this short story, and I especially felt the magical atmosphere that was happening in the supermarket aisles, and I wanted to make a movie out of that.

Originally, the author Clemens Meyer's writing style was very cinematic, but in order to make it into a movie, it was necessary to add more to the original short story. However, I didn't want to add unnecessary lines or explanations. For that reason, I focused a lot on making the atmosphere of the original into a movie.

Q: You mentioned the atmosphere of the supermarket aisle, but watching this film I felt that the location was very important. In your everyday life, do you pay attention to "places" such as in cities, towns, nature, or buildings?

Thomas: When I make a movie, the first thing I think about is the place. I think about the characters and the place where the story takes place. As you said, I am very conscious of the place.

In my previous film, "Heavyweight Heart" (2015), I started by thinking about where the protagonist lives. I imagined even the smallest details, such as how the characters I portray would decorate their homes. I'm also very interested in the concept of "workplaces." After this film, I shot "Kruso" (2018), which is set in a restaurant kitchen on an isolated island in the Baltic Sea. Just like this film, the setting is a "workplace."

I am also very interested in architecture, in the sense of a "box" that people live in. I think about how my camera can capture places where people are present, places that can tell us something about people, so "place" is a very important point for me.

By the way, in French, "direction" is called "mise en scène," which also means "the people present in the scene." This is also exactly about depicting the "scene."

Franz Rogowski's face on the screen