15/08/2024 - We met with the German director whose feature film follows a group of young people drifting through a hot summer’s day

(© Massimo Piccoli/Locarno Film Festival/Ti-Press)

Willy Hans has presented his first feature within the Cineasti del Presente competition of this year's Locarno Film Festival. Skill Issue [+see also:
film review
interview: Willy Hans
film profile] follows a young man as he wanders along a riverbank observing and reacting to his friends. We talked to the German director about the approach he took to his young protagonists, as well as how he developed the film’s dialogue, and his ideas for the soundtrack.

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Cineuropa: Was there a particular image or scene that you’d describe as the starting point for the film?
Willy Hans: The starting point for the film was a character whose impulse was to escape. I was inspired by the wandering motif you often find in romantic literature. I imagined a character who sets off into the unknown and allows himself to drift. Two novels in particular came to mind: Memoirs of a Good-for-Nothing by Joseph von Eichendorff and The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger. In the latter, a boy escapes from the internat [boarding school] and wanders through the big city.

How did you develop the main character from this basis?
I wanted a character who didn’t have any aspirations or goals., initially I also have characters in my short films who primarily react rather than being active. In Skill Issue, there’s an initial active impulse, namely the decision to leave school. After that, it's about "letting yourself drift". That's what appeals to me about watching this character. In my mind, he definitely has a desire for contact and connection, not necessarily with other people, but definitely with the world.

Why did you focus on this particular age group?
It’s the classic age for stories about growing up. But I also still feel quite close to that age. I find it quite difficult to write about things that aren’t close enough to me. That doesn't mean it has to be autobiographical material, but subjects I can identify with. I like working with actors in this age group because their approach is very intuitive. They haven't had any acting training yet.

How did the cast of actors come together?
We didn't cast according to appearance, specifically. But for the main character, I wanted someone who could embody sensitivity, on the one hand, and aloofness, on the other. Leo Kuhn also won me over because he had something uninhibited about him during the audition. The particular constellation of the other roles needed to be just right and balanced. We were looking for people who had something a little quirky and original about them. They were all experienced professional actors, more or less.

When we don't know what to say, we tend to talk about the weather. How did you develop the film’s dialogue?
I'm a big fan of jabbering, of empty phrases. I think that's the best way to reveal a film’s subtext. I prefer it when a film plot isn’t only conveyed through the spoken word. The film should also express something between the lines. This allows for a humorous approach, and I’ve also tried to take it to absurd and extreme levels. For example, there’s a monologue by a character that makes no sense to the audience. Or things are said that seem incredibly philosophical but are actually pretty banal. In addition to the chatter, I also wanted to leave space for viewers to simply watch people.

At a certain point, we see experimental nature shots. How did that come about?
We shot the film on 16 mm. These images are a lab accident: the roll broke. Instead of destroying the images, I kept them.

Can you tell us something about the film’s soundtrack?
It was really important to create a rich summer sound for the atmosphere, a sound that sometimes grows louder and sometimes quieter. It needed some sort of mystical component, with the rippling of the water, the sound of crickets, or the rustling of leaves. Then it should suddenly go quiet. The music provides a contrast in the dance scene, for example, which is meant to remind us of techno parties in the village and is more experimental at certain points, thus creating a distance from the natural atmosphere.