This is an exceptional case – two German directors are in the running for the Oscar “International Feature Film” category. Wim Wenders for Japan, Ilker Çatak for Germany. No trace of competition.
Wim Wenders is in the Oscar final spurt. For the third time in two months, the German director is in Los Angeles with interviews and screenings for his poetic film “Perfect Days.”
But now the 78-year-old filmmaker can take it easy. “The election is already over. Someone already knows everything, but not us. Not you and not me. And that’s why it’s exciting,” says Wenders in the dpa interview shortly before the Oscar gala.
German Oscar hopes
He has already been nominated for a documentary Oscar three times, but has always come away empty-handed. With “Perfect Days” he is in the running for an Oscar for Japan in the “Best International Film” category. There he meets, among other things, the German contribution “The Teacher’s Room” by the director Ilker Çatak (40), who was born in Berlin and partly grew up in Turkey, and the British drama “The Zone of Interest” by director Jonathan Glazer with the German actors Christian Friedel and Sandra Hülser.
Wenders and Çatak do not see themselves as competitors, on the contrary. “Ilker is a great guy and a great director and I really like the film. I’m happy that they’ve come this far, they’re happy that we’ve come this far and we’re keeping our fingers crossed for each other, I would say ” says Wenders.
“He deserved it”
Çatak agrees in the dpa interview. “Filmmaking is not a competition. Wim has always been one of my teachers through his films. As a young person, they inspired me and encouraged me to make films. I would really like him to finally win after three nominations. Plus, he’s such a fine person Man. He deserved it.”
“Four is a good number! Three was still crooked,” jokes Wenders about his current Oscar chance, after coming away empty-handed three times: in 2000 with the musician documentary “Buena Vista Social Club”, in 2012 with the 3D dance film “Pina ” about Pina Bausch and in 2015 with the documentary “The Salt of the Earth” about the Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado.
In the meditative, touching film “Perfect Days” he tells the story of a man named Hirayama (Koji Yakusho), who cleans particularly beautifully designed toilets in Tokyo and is satisfied with his simple life. The fact that Japan chose the work of a German director as an Oscar candidate is unusual, but not entirely unexpected for Wenders. “I’ve already filmed there three times, been there a lot and have always viewed Japan as my second home. At least in terms of film culture. And my declared great master is the Japanese Yasujiro Ozu,” says the director.
Wenders welcomes new structures and election procedures at the film academy, with efforts for greater diversity. “We may have an American Indigenous actress for the first time, which I would be very, very happy about. I had the pleasure of sitting at the table with Lily Gladstone at the Governors Dinner. We got along really well. And then she did too I had already won the Golden Globes and I was already scratching my fingers.
So it could be that things will be more balanced overall, as far as the entire spectrum of human possibilities is concerned,” says Wenders. Gladstone is nominated for the historical drama “Killers of the Flower Moon” and would be the first indigenous leading actress if she wins with an Oscar.
“Maybe we’re the underdogs”
In the “Best International Feature Film” category, US trade publications see the British drama “The Zone of Interest” as the front runner in their forecasts. But in the end, a good 9,000 members of the film academy vote on the winners in the 23 Oscar categories. Wenders sees this as an opportunity. “Sometimes there are big surprises and then outsiders also win. What’s very good is that this is possible. Maybe we are the outsiders,” says the director.
Ilker Çatak and his team won five Lolas at the German Film Awards last May with “The Teacher’s Room”, including the Golden Lola for the best feature film and for directing. At the Oscars they wanted to celebrate the end of a long and beautiful journey, says Çatak. “I’m going into the award ceremony with exactly ZERO expectations. Being there is really crazy when you realize where we started from.”
The school drama revolves around a young teacher (Leonie Benesch) who wants to solve a series of thefts. The gripping film deals with prejudices, debate culture and the pressure on teachers.
Çatak recently criticized German media for ignorance and exclusion, for example his name was hardly mentioned or was misspelled. “I received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback, very moving emails and messages from people with a migration background who have experienced similar and much worse exclusions. But of course also from many people without a migration background who wrote to me to express their encouragement.
“That was very encouraging, even if there are of course those who now think that I’m just ‘crying’ and want to reduce the whole thing to an insulted vanity,” the director describes the response to his criticism. “Again: it was about everything for me those who do not have the privilege of being able to raise their voices in public.”
It continues seamlessly
Çatak doesn’t allow himself a break. “One day after the Oscars I come back to Germany and find myself directly in the pre-production of ‘Yellow Letters’. So things continue seamlessly, which I’m really looking forward to.” The feature film is about an artist couple in Turkey. Both suddenly lose their jobs and go into exile in Germany with their daughter.
Wenders is planning to spend a few days with friends in Los Angeles – “and then I’ll take a break in the country, in the Uckermark.” He will then continue filming a film he has already started about the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. He has also been working on the concept of a feature film for years. “It will then gradually enter the hot phase of writing. But first, rest,” emphasizes the 78-year-old star director.