02/10/2026 - The German director breaks down his new movie, which thematically continues his tragicomic, ironic and touching explorations of interpersonal relationships

(© Michael Bennett)

At the Zurich Film Festival, German actor and filmmaker Fabian Stumm world-premiered his third feature, The Ideas, which thematically continues his tragicomic, ironic and touching explorations of interpersonal relationships.

Cineuropa: Can you talk about the writing process on an anthology film like this? Did you start with the seed of an idea, or did all of the stories come together individually?
Fabian Stumm: It happened one by one. I make my living as an actor, but obviously, in the last few years, I've also focused on writing and directing a lot. I feel like my safe space is always to write on the side. I'm always nibbling at ideas, stories and characters, and sometimes, they're just little vignettes. But other times, these stories evolve into something bigger. All of my feature films have started like that before.

After a while, while I was finishing up the travelling for Sad Jokes, I realised I had all of these ideas – hence the title. I didn't really feel like turning them into a long story, and I also didn't want to choose between who I wanted to follow, so I thought it would be nice to turn it into an anthology movie. I really enjoy reading short fiction. It's always been my thing – it satiates my appetite. I kind of used the same approach to writing these stories. I was very committed to not connecting them. I really wanted them to be separate, instead finding a rhythm or a temperature that would connect them. Maybe it’s not the case for the outside world, but for me, like in a piece of music, I do see a rhythm that connects these stories.

Over your three features, you’ve crafted quite a unified style, also working with many of the same actors. You also have this very strong gesture of a hug – it appears in the main stills for your other films, and The Ideas also ends on a hug. It’s a beautiful image.
The three films felt like a trilogy, in a way. We also had discussions about whether the two women [in the last story of The Ideas] are going to stay together, and I said, “I don’t know, probably not in the long run” – but maybe that’s not so important. The most important thing is to try to connect and try to be together. It’s always about trying to look in the same direction. Everything else – you can’t really control it. But if you’re open to listening to each other, then [it all makes sense].

That’s why I’m happy when people leave the cinema with that feeling. When we were in Zurich for the premiere, people were so emotional, and that made me emotional, too. I keep getting messages from strangers who say things like, “Ah, that divorce episode, it’s what I would have loved with my ex-husband.” It’s so moving that people really see what I’m trying to do – to say that we should all try to move emotionally towards each other.

Were you looking at any other anthology films as inspiration for this rhythm or structure, or did you start from your own basis?
I do like a lot of anthology films. But when I work on something, I don't really go consciously looking for inspiration. It's more that I think all of these things are so ingrained in me that, without wanting to, I lean towards certain films more than others. It’s obvious that Robert Altman has been a big influence on me since I was very young. I discovered him very early. I think that the way he cinematically thinks about constellations [is something that influences me]. Even if the film is a long narrative work, it still tends to be quite episodic sometimes, right? That's an approach that I really admire.

There's a film called Roseland by James Ivory that I saw when I was very young. I don't even remember it that well, but these things are all still within me. It was interesting when I started working on it, as a lot of people from the industry gave me advice and said, “Oh, are you sure? Anthology films are very hard to programme and sell.” Whenever people give me advice like that, I'm always thinking that's even more of a reason for me to do it. For now, at least, I have the urge to go where I'm interested in and not where the market tells me to go. It was quite joyful to work in my own little niche there for a moment.

Maybe it’s a kind of creative challenge in its own right.
I love challenges, and I love restrictions. I love having a short amount of time – or even a smaller budget. Of course, it's wonderful to be able to pay people well. That's great, but I do think it can make you very creative. You have three sets, you have five people, you don't have a lot of money and you have two days: what can you do with it? I don't think it necessarily means that a story has to suffer because of it.