Exotic north

When Saskia Rosendahl drives her car along country roads for what seems like an eternity in one scene of "No One's with the Calves", every North German will immediately feel at home. The side window reveals endless expanses of farmland, flat, a little green, wind turbines, hardly any oncoming traffic - plus a car radio and some sunshine. Directors Sabrina Sarabi spent a total of 16 days filming her drama in Schleswig-Holstein. Based on a novel by Alina Herbing, the film shows the monotony of rural life from the perspective of a 24-year-old. Executive Producer is the Hamburg-based company Weydemann Bros, which was recently very successful with the film "Systemsprenger".

Three months before filming began, production designer Susanna Haneder was already out and about as a location scout, looking at suitable filming locations. She found what she was looking for to the east of Eutin. Numerous field scenes with agricultural equipment and wind turbines were filmed here. There is a barn here that will become important in the film - the exterior shots of the main protagonists' farm and several street shots were filmed here.

"I had already done a bit of research on Google Maps in advance during the lockdown. In May 2020, I then went to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein in search of locations, which is where the film was ultimately made," says Haneder. For her Schleswig-Holstein tour, she enlisted the help of a friend's father, who is also a farmer: "If I liked a location, he made the initial contact for me, from farmer to farmer, so to speak," she reveals and laughs. It was possible to work with a lot of what was already on site. Only an old GDR bus stop, which she had discovered in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, was brought to the northernmost federal state for the filming.

The team was mostly undisturbed during filming in the countryside. This meant that few local residents were involved as extras - only the volunteer fire brigade played themselves during a fire in the film. "This almost holiday-like atmosphere made us feel very comfortable during filming. Schleswig-Holstein flatters the soul," says Susanna Haneder with a twinkle in her eye.

Vampire world on the Ostee

Things get a little bloodier in Julian Radlmaier's vampire comedy "Bloodsuckers", which celebrated its premiere at this year's Berlinale. The Director and Script Writer from Berlin searched for suitable locations on the Baltic coast in the footsteps of Nosferatu and ended up spending 25 days filming in Schleswig-Holstein. "Together with Director of Photography Markus Koop, I travelled up and down the coast in the summer of 2018 - and we found our main motif, a manor house with a courtyard, near Eckernförde. That was a total stroke of luck!" says Radlmaier. The team was able to incorporate much of the interior design into the film, which is set in 1928. "We deliberately brought a few more modern Props into the house to break up the perfect historical backdrop a little," adds the Director and laughs. The family that owns the estate was very enthusiastic about film and continued to live on site during filming. "In contrast to big cities like Berlin, it was very easy to get permits for shooting in our locations - there's really no comparison," says Executive Producer Kirill Krasovski, who produced the film with his company Faktura Film. And the team didn't just shoot on the estate. The film also features small bays and cliffs on the Baltic Sea, as well as a dune landscape in St. Peter-Ording.

In the film, the Baltic Sea, the manor house and St. Peter-Ording merge into a single landscape. "I thought it was great that there are lots of small bays on the Baltic Sea instead of long beaches. That fitted in well with our concept. And the dunes in St. Peter-Ording had something eerie about them, which we were able to use very well for a vampire hunt in the film. It was almost like a theatre stage," says Radlmaier. But it was always the inconspicuous places that fascinated the Directors. For example, the path through a field at the end of which you could see the sea. He found the location near Schwedeneck by chance. "I love it when something small suddenly becomes big. It's a magical moment," says Radlmaier.

Incidentally, numerous local residents and location owners made it into the film - around 40 extras from Eckernförde and the surrounding area can be seen. For example, the location owner of the estate plays a golfer in one scene.

Are the clichés about the somewhat cool and unapproachable fish heads from the north actually true? "All the people we dealt with on site were very talkative and open. So I definitely can't confirm that," says Radlmaier. For him, Schleswig-Holstein with its landscape and coasts even had a slightly exotic flavour. However, you have to realise that the Directors was born in Nuremberg. Still, a nice thought.