Helena Wittmann

Sandra: I’d like to talk a little bit about Drift and your collaboration with Theresa George; I understand that you co-wrote the film?

Helena: Actually, there was never a script. We wrote together a lot, but it was never a script. It developed over time, and the shooting process took us about 1.5 years. We had no money for this film. With a small grant that I received, we could make the trip that was meant to be the main part of the film - to Antigua, crossing the Atlantic Ocean to the Azores and back to Germany. Drift was filmed in blocks. Theresa did not plan to appear in the film in the beginning. I had asked her to help me with research because she’s an anthropologist. We were friends already, and we knew that there were similarities in our work approaches, Theresa’s as an anthropologist and mine as a filmmaker, so during the process she became a protagonist.

Sandra: Do you think in the collaborative process of making this film, this friendship between you and Theresa is reflected in the relationship portrayed in this film?

Helena: Yes, definitely. Drift is very special; I watch it now and it still moves me. It is 3 years of our lives together. Friendship plays a big role in this film, absolutely.

Sandra: I could feel a sense of isolation in this film, but also a strong connection at the same time, it is really interesting. Drift feels like a voyage in a way, especially because of all the ocean shots; did you feel that “adventure” in the process of the making of this film? Did you enjoy this long process?

Helena: Yes, I definitely enjoyed the process. It is something that is really important to me, whenever I make a film. I need to enjoy it, so I collaborate with people who really interest me. Many of them are close friends. It is so exhausting to get a film like this done, but it is the best way for me to live like this, so it is important to collaborate with the right people, so that you can enjoy the process.

Sandra: Moving on to Ada Kaleh - this film, on the contrary, seems like it was made primarily by you without much collaboration, is that correct? Why?

Helena: It’s interesting that you say that. I shot this material a few years ago actually. I lived in this place, with most people who appear in the film, aside from one woman who I casted. We had to move out, and I edited this film so many years later, and so much has changed in our relationship with these people I lived with, maybe that change is reflected in the film? I felt very focused while filming Ada Kaleh, and I definitely was more of an observer, rather than a participant. I just asked them all to do what you see them doing in the film now, while I listened to music to keep rhythm with the camera movements. I was definitely more isolated in the process, for sure.

Sandra: So you listen to music to give the cinematography a rhythm?

Helena: In case of Ada Kaleh - yes. I don’t usually do it, but it was clear that I needed something for the timing.

Sandra: There is a voiceover at the beginning of Ada Kaleh; what is the language and why did you choose that specific language?

Helena: It’s Mandarin. That was quite a late decision. I wrote the text myself in English, don’t ask me why. I wanted a sense of disorientation in this film. I didn’t want it to be set in any specific place and time. I really wanted to leave that open, and obviously the people we see are white European middle-class people. I don’t understand Mandarin, you know? So I had no chance of correcting it, and it was a little loss of control that I was looking to experience. I wanted to let that go in a way. To get that away from this European set.

Sandra: That is really interesting, I admire that idea of loss of control while making a film. Most people usually get obsessed with gaining control; nobody I’ve worked with is ever looking to lose it, really. That’s great.

So what does the name Ada Kaleh signify?

Helena: Ada Kaleh was a very small island on the Danube river. The name translates to “fortress island”. Geographically it was Romania, and then the Soviet Union decided to build a plant. So they had to flood the island in order for that water plant to exist; this was in 1971. Ada Kaleh doesn’t exist anymore. And it used to be this sort of paradise island in a way, casino-style, sort of.

That title was the very last thing that came on.

Sandra: It is interesting how Ada Kaleh seems to be lost in time - it could be now, or 30 years ago - was that intentional?

Helena: Yes, very much so. The movement of the camera is also related to that. (In the film the camera pans back and forth almost in every shot). The panning of the camera and not being able to define when this is happening has to do with the general experience of time, especially in cinema. You never have a still moment, you know? Just like the ocean in Drift. You always expect something to come. I don't really see anything as stable, everything is always in this state of transformation.

Sandra: I want to put the two films into conversation: you shot Drift digitally, and Ada Kaleh was 16mm — why?

Helena: So in Ada Kaleh only the first images of the wall are shot on 16mm; the rest is digital, just like Drift. I really wanted to shoot Drift on film too, partially because it is so much about the ocean, and for me, the ocean is so “matter”, there’s something so chemical about it, you know? So shooting on film, and having to go through that chemical process would have made so much sense, but I didn’t have money, basically. And in the end shooting digital actually turned out to be really helpful, because I could film it and then come back and watch it, and then film more, without having to worry about running out of space.

With Ada Kaleh, someone visited me once at the place I used to live, and saw those walls and said “they are so beautiful, have you ever filmed them? Because they look like maps.” I didn’t even think about Ada Kaleh back then. Being flat but haptic, I felt the need to shoot the walls on 16mm.

The next film I will definitely shoot on 16mm, for the reasons I told you before. It has to do with the subject of the film and the chemical process that working with film material involves.