"More than ever" by Emily Atef

It took around ten years to finance the film. During this time, Berlin-based Nicole Gerhards and her company NiKo Film came on board as German co-producer. "Emily and I had already worked together on two other projects in the past. And I was immediately captivated by the story of More Than Ever. I think the theme of 'self-determination in the face of death' is something that drives all of us at some point," says Gerhards.

When filming was finally able to start in summer 2020, coronavirus threw a spanner in the works for the film crew. Even a postponement to autumn 2020 did not bring any improvement and filming had to be postponed again. "In the end, we shot from April to June 2021. It was a really big challenge to make a film at this time. In Norway in particular, the coronavirus restrictions were extremely strict. We were only allowed to enter the country with seven people from our team - and we had to write a separate letter of motivation for the authorities for each team member," Atef recalls the hardships. Hamburg production designer Silke Fischer, for example, had to coordinate her work from Hamburg with Norwegian colleagues on location. A crazy endeavour, but one for which there was no other solution at the time. Before the team was allowed to move freely in Norway, all members had to go into quarantine for seven days. "We made the best of the situation. It was actually like a little holiday during filming," says the Director with a laugh.

Emily Atef was very worried about the availability of her actors after filming had to be postponed twice. With Vicky Krieps, Gaspard Ulliel and Björn Floberg, Atef has cast her drama with internationally sought-after actors who are fully booked for a large part of their time. But they all wanted to be part of the project - and remained loyal to it in 2021. Hélène, who moves from Bordeaux to Norway, is played by Luxembourg-born Vicky Krieps, who now lives in Berlin. "We're practically neighbours and our daughters are friends and go to the same nursery. Vicky already had a cameo role in '3 Days in Quiberon' and I really wanted her to play the lead in my new film," reveals Atef. She pitched the idea to Vicky Krieps in a Berlin café not far from her flat in 2018 - and without even having read the script, Krieps agreed straight away. During filming, it quickly became clear that she was the right choice: "Vicky doesn't act, she IS her role. I should have always had a second camera in scenes where the camera is on one of her colleagues - to capture their reactions. There were many great moments," says Atef.

After the film had long since been shot and was in post production, the team received tragic news: lead actor Gaspard Ulliel, who plays Hélène's husband Mathieu in the film, had been killed in a skiing accident. "We were devastated and just couldn't believe it. The news was terrible for us, especially as we saw him so alive in front of us every day while we were editing the film," says Atef. Ulliel was already a big film star in France and Hollywood had also become aware of him through films such as "Hannibal Rising" and most recently the Marvel series "Moon Knight". "More Than Ever" will be his last feature film.

Even though the shock was still deep-seated, the team went to Hamburg for colour grading at the end of February. The team led by Emily Atef, Director of Photography Yves Cape and colour grader Richard Deusy spent almost a week working on the film at Harvest Digital Agriculture in the Speicherstadt warehouse district. One of the aims was to highlight the difference in colour between Hélène's time in Bordeaux and Norway. In the city she feels uncomfortable and claustrophobic, in Norway she blossoms again despite her illness. The finished film will show exactly how this contrast is later reflected in the colours of the film.

So will "More Than Ever" be a sad film about the end of a young woman's life? "One of Emily's qualities is that her films don't leave the audience feeling hopeless despite the serious subject matter. And "More Than Ever" primarily tells a strong love story that has gained even more power from the already promising script thanks to the acting performances of Vicky and Gaspard", says Executive Producer Nicole Gerhards. And Emily Atef adds: "It's a film that Gaspard would certainly have been happy with too."