Simone Baumann, Managing Director of German Film Service and Marketing, and producer hails from Zchopau, Germany. She studied philosophy in Rostov Upon the Don and worked in Moscow in the early 1990’s. Baumann was a lecturer at Berlin’s prestigious Humboldt University and later she began a successful career in documentary film with Leipzig based broadcaster MDR. In 1997 she joined Le Vision an independent film company where she spent 10 years overseeing the Russian operations. In 2011 she worked as an executive producer for Saxonia Entertainment responsible for the documentary sector and later joined German Films Service and Marketing or Eastern Europe where she rose to her current position as Managing Director since 2019.
She sat down with The Film Verdict just prior to Berlin and shared her own unique perspectives on current affairs and German Films.
TFV: Thank you for taking the time to make this chat with us before you travel to Berlin. I first wish to start with you and your background. Your leadership at German Films started almost four years ago and before that you had 25 years’ experience as a producer with a very unique background as one of the foremost experts on Russia, the former Eastern Bloc and their audiovisual markets – all of this brings such a major advantage to German Films. But what is the one major part of your experience in the industry that has become such an asset for you leading German Films?
I think that my producers background is really an advantage. I better understand the process and also the difficulties of financing and realizing theatrical projects. On the other hand the marketing of films has more and more shifted to earlier stages of production. Today it is too late to start promoting the film after it is finished. You have to start in a rough cut stage or even earlier with pitching sessions, works in progress, upcoming projects, etc. This is the place where festival programmers and world sales are looking for new projects.
Also, having previously worked for Eastern Europa as a foreign representative for more than 15 years, when taking the job at German Films, the activities weren’t completely new for me.
TFV: With your unique insight into Russia and with Russia dominating the news and headlines these days, looking past those headlines and the television news, what do you think Russian filmmakers and audiovisual professionals are deeply feeling? Some festivals have declared a boycott or a suspension of showing Russian made films now, or at least until Ukraine war is over, do you feel that is the correct approach? And if so, what does it achieve?
I think that the situation of Russian filmmakers is very different. Many of them who are against the war in Ukraine have left the country. As immigrants, they are struggling with the new situation, having to adapt to a new country, a new language and a different system of financing new projects. Because their creative future is now outside of Russia, this will take some time.
But there are also many filmmakers who are staying in Russia and supporting the system and the war – and getting financed by State money etc. I don´t think that these are the people we are going to be working with in the future.
In fact, the red line is not the Russian passport, but the type of project and the financing behind it. From this point of view, state financing of an aggressor state is unacceptable, since it is a part of the propaganda. The same with private money from oligarchs who are not independent from the Russian state.
Of course we now have a bunch of Russian films by known filmmakers that were financed and realized with state money before the war and have a certain artistic quality. But now, with the war going on, is not the time to promote them. Russia is using any kind of culture for its propaganda – also this film. Not a satisfying situation for this filmmaker, but the reality.
TFV: Since you took over the reins at German Films, the organization seems to be much more forward looking, many more incentives, and much more open in general, tell us your vision, goals and ambitions for German Films?
As I already mentioned we should start the promotion at an earlier stage. So now we have a couple of cooperations with institutions like ACE, Torino Filmlab, the European Producers Club and Rotterdam Lab, but we also support German projects who make it to the selection of Works in Progress in Les Arcs for example. So we try to be more present at the Industry part of festivals.
Another important part is the talent promotion. We extended our Face to Face talent campaign from only directors and actors to writers, editors, composers etc. Film is teamwork and Germany has a lot of great talent in all areas of film production. Despite the IP of a film today the talent behind it is one of the biggest values.
TFV: You are on your way to Berlin with many initiatives; what is your focus in Berlin?
We have a huge lineup of German Films at Berlinale – more than 30 majority German films, 4 of them in competition – so there is a lot to promote. Then we are starting our new 2023 Face to Face campaign in Berlin – with great new talents.
And we also have a lot of meetings with our partners, festivals and other organisations.
One thing I want to admit is that we are supporting the Ukrainian filmmakers – so we co-financed the Ukrainian stand at EFM and we will be a part of some events with Ukrainian filmmakers.
TFV: How is German Films success measured by its Board and by you?
This is not an easy question. Of course there are the classical success elements like festival participation and international awards, but also the box office of German films outside of Germany. The box office didn’t look so bad even in Covid times, thanks to our Animation and titles like “Spencer”. For the competition in A festivals there are always complaints that we never have a film in the Cannes competition – which we haven’t had very often – the last one being “Toni Erdmann” by Marion Ade. But on the other hand we always have good films in other A competitions like Karlovy Vary or Locarno. For example, the film “Piaffe” by Ann Oren in 2022 was in the Locarno competition and later in 80 other festivals.
Of course the Oscars are another story – last year we had “I am your Man” by Maria Schrader on the short list and this year we have 9 nominations for “All Quiet on the Western front” by Edward Berger.
But success today is much broader than this. We should also look at the number of successful coproductions like “Holy Spider,” and also realize that German filmmakers today are working worldwide in many international projects. So Germany is really a global player in that sense.
TFV: Over your 25-year career, you witnessed, as many did, significant changes in Germany, how did those changes affect German filmmakers of today?
I think that German films today are much more diverse by the choice of subject, but also by the people who are making these films. It is not only about the Second World War, but also about the younger German history – like the GDR, the reunification and more contemporary subjects. In recent years we have more films dealing with the life of people with a different cultural background in Germany, like “Elaha” by Milena Aboyan in the Berlinale Perspektive section.
Today the more established filmmakers like Christian Petzold or Margarete von Trotta present their films at Berlinale as well as the younger generation like Ayse Polat or Ilker Catak.
Other big differences are changes which came with the series boom and projects like “Dark” by Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese or “Babylon Berlin” by Tom Tykwer, Achim von Borries and Hendrik Handlogten.
Then we have filmmakers like Robert Schwentke, who are working mainly in the US, but also shooting German films. Schwentke is now at Berlinale with “Seneca”.
TFV: Is it true that this year’s German Academy Award selection committee was all women? If this is so, was that a conscious choice to have an all-women selection committee? And they chose All Quiet on the Western Front, a remarkable film with 9 nominations – what does this selection tell you by a committee made up of all women?
It is true that it was an all women committee with Maria Furtwängler as the Chair woman. This happened by chance, since the committee members are selected by the Unions and the German Film Academy, who have the seats in the committee. At the end it turned out that we had 9 women selecting the film which would represent Germany for the Best International Feature. It was also a surprise for us. But I have to say that is was a very professional process choosing the film during a very interesting discussion.
It was clear that they would select the film that had the best chances for an Oscar in a competition for an American film award.
TFV: Since we know your time is limited; Who will take home the Oscar statue this year?
I think that “All Quiet on the Western Front” will take at least one Oscar – hopefully more.
TFV: Simone, thank you very much for your time, in closing, is there anything else you would like to add before you rush off to Berlin…
I really hope that Berlinale is going to be a very successful festival, a fest celebrating cinema with old and new talents. My Berlinale colleagues had a hard time with 2 difficult Covid editions – so hopefully they will be back with new energy and good films.
