"I feel at home in Hamburg"

I was there for the third time and was really looking forward to it. I've already had two really great premieres at the Piazza Grande. This time, an incredible number of people from the film and friends were there - eleven actors alone and finally my Director of Photography Michael Bertl! Unfortunately, it started raining so heavily just before the screening that we had to move indoors. That made my heart bleed, especially because of all the people who were there for the first time - and to whom I had of course raved about my other screenings in the Piazza. But we all had a great time anyway. Locarno is and remains my favourite festival, it's just wonderful there.

I think you can add to this saying as much as you like. What doesn't kill us sometimes makes us smarter, more generous or more empathetic. Some of the characters experience the loss of loved ones or the end of a relationship. But I think it's not so much the events themselves as how they deal with them that makes them stronger in the end - strong enough to go on living. Whether they are able to dare to do something, or not to avoid pain but to experience it. That's what matters. I believe that it is above all the painful experiences that make us the people we are. I've had a few of them and I know how much they have shaped me and how much they have ultimately defined and enriched my perception today.

Fantastic. And very funny. We almost all knew each other from other films, we were familiar with each other and we all knew what was important to us. Others were new to the film, such as Christian Berkel. I had written the role for him. Or Bjarne Mädel, who has become an integral part of the film. It was simply a delight to watch everyone bring the characters to life. Victoria Mayer was the biggest (and most beautiful) surprise in the film - she's a wonderful comedian and actress, and just a great woman. I'm still so happy that I discovered her by chance on another actress's casting tape. I could never have found a better Henriette. I could fill pages about this wonderful ensemble: Oliver Broumis, Jenny Schily, Deborah Kaufmann, Mark Waschke, I hope I haven't forgotten anyone, because they were all just great to work with. I am unashamedly proud of my instinct at castings.

It's quite simple: it's mine. Write about what you know, Howard Hawks used to say. So I did.

Hamburg is my hometown, even though I've lived in Berlin for almost 25 years now. I definitely believe that these stories could have been told somewhere else. But I feel at home in Hamburg, and I find that extremely important when I'm filming - after all, my film "Bella Martha" was also made there. There is a certain tranquillity in Hamburg, a private atmosphere, but at the same time the city has something generous about it. The psychologist Max belongs there, more so than in Berlin or Munich. And the other characters, sometimes also in their secretiveness, perhaps shine through more in the Nordic harbour city than elsewhere.

They are the colours of the film and the stories. Michael Bertl and I have always worked like this: the stories dictate form and colour. This time we also shot a lot more with a handheld camera than in our other films because we wanted to feel the restlessness of the characters. But any form or colour always comes from the stories we want to tell. The climate comes from the book, we don't impose anything on the film that it doesn't demand or tolerate. We've always agreed on that, and that's why we've been working together so well for so long. And it's getting better and better. Thomas Freudenthal, the set designer who also made Martha with us, also implements this principle with great precision and sensitivity, without any vanity - nothing is in the picture just because it's interesting or chic. But only because it belongs.