Simone Baumann Discusses Current Affairs

Oligarchs, Oscars, German Films and Berlin

Simone Baumann, Managing Director of German Film Service and Marketing, and producer hails from Zchopau, Germany. She studied philosophy in Rostov Upon the Don and worked in Moscow in the early 1990’s. Baumann was a lecturer at Berlin’s prestigious Humboldt University and later she began a successful career in documentary film with Leipzig based broadcaster MDR. In 1997 she joined Le Vision an independent film company where she spent 10 years overseeing the Russian operations. In 2011 she worked as an executive producer for Saxonia Entertainment responsible for the documentary sector and later joined German Films Service and Marketing or Eastern Europe where she rose to her current position as Managing Director since 2019. She sat down with The Film Verdict just prior to Berlin and shared her own unique perspectives on current affairs and German Films.

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CARLO CHATRIAN INTERVIEW (Continued)

TFV: There’s also a twofold tribute to Disney: a short film program in Berlinale Special, and the restored version of Cinderella, which played at the very first Berlinale, in Generation. Even though some of the shorts are a bit obscure, you can see most of these films on Disney+. Do you trust audiences to come out and (re)watch them in the cinema?

CC: I do. Before I became the Artistic Director of Locarno, I was in charge of that festival’s retrospectives, and it was always the better-known films that drew the largest crowds. In a festival context, there’s always something special about seeing these films with an audience. Yes, you can see Cinderella at home, but it’s not going to be the new restoration, introduced by the President of Walt Disney Animation Studios

We first discussed this last April, in Los Angeles, to have a tribute for the 100th anniversary of the animation studio, as part of a festival that has screened many of their films over the years. The short film program is an overview of the evolution of animation, from 1923 to the present day, with some lesser-known titles and more room for technical experimentation. Besides, it’s not going to be the same experience as when one first saw these films, because we change over time and so do they.

TFV: There are, of course, multiple films dealing with the situation in Ukraine. Are there any other recurring thematic threads in this year’s selection?

CC: Certainly, and I hope that, aside from those I’m about to mention, the audience and the most animated films we’ve ever press will identify even more of them. Youth is a very important theme, ranging from the retrospective about coming-ofage films to there being three directorial debuts in Competition.

In terms of narrative forms, this might be the edition with the (Continues page 17)

SIMONE BAUMANN INTERVIEW (Continued)

TFV: Thank you for taking the time to make this chat with us before you travel to Berlin. I first wish to start with you and your background. Your leadership at German Films started almost four years ago and before that you had 25 years’ experience as a producer with a very unique background as one of the foremost experts on Russia, the former Eastern Bloc and their audiovisual markets – all of this brings such a major advantage to German Films. But what is the one major part of your experience in the industry that has become such an asset for you leading German Films?

SB: I think that my producers background is really an advantage. I better understand the process and also the difficulties of financing and realizing theatrical projects. On the other hand the marketing of films has more and more shifted to earlier stages of production. Today it is too late to start promoting the film after it is finished. You have to start in a rough cut stage or even earlier with pitching sessions, works in progress, upcoming projects, etc. This is the place where festival programmers and world sales are looking for new projects.

Also, having previously worked for Eastern Europa as a foreign representative for more than 15 years, when taking the job at German Films, the activities weren’t completely new for me.

AFIRE – In Competition

TFV: With your unique insight into Russia and with Russia dominating the news and headlines these days, looking past those headlines and the television news, what do you think Russian filmmakers and audiovisual professionals are deeply feeling? Some festivals have declared a boycott or a suspension of showing Russian made films now, or

INGEBORG BACHMANN - REISE IN DIE WÜSTE – In Competition at least until Ukraine war is over, do you feel that is the correct approach? And if so, what does it achieve?

SB: I think that the situation of Russian filmmakers is very different. Many of them who are against the war in Ukraine have left the country. As immigrants, they are struggling with the new situation, having to adapt to a new country, a new language and a different system of financing new projects. Because their creative future is now outside of Russia, this will take some time.

But there are also many filmmakers who are staying in Russia and supporting the system and the war –and getting financed by State money etc. I don´t think that these are the people we are going to be working with in the future.

In fact, the red line is not the Russian passport, but the type of project and the financing behind it. From this point of view, state financing of an aggressor state is unacceptable, since it is a part of the propaganda. The same with private money from oligarchs who are not independent from the Russian state.

Of course we now have a bunch of Russian films by known filmmakers that were financed and realized with state money before the war and have a certain artistic quality.

But now, with the war going on, is not the time to promote them. Russia is using any kind of culture for its propaganda – also this film. Not a satisfying situation for this filmmaker, but the reality.

TFV: Since you took over the reins at German Films, the organization seems to be much more forward looking, many more incentives, and much more open in general, tell us your vision, goals and ambitions for German Films?

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