Filmmaker Interview with Alexander Ratter

Filmmaker Interview by Chris Olson

Hi Alexander, lovely to be speaking with you. Where in the world do we find you right now?

Hi Chris, thank you for the opportunity to take part in your filmmakers showcase. We are preparing right now everything for summer 2024, to be ready to shoot our first feature film, “The Heart of Darkness“ (WT), write the script in our writer’s room at Picco-Studio (Comment: see www.picco-studio.com), negotiate with the team and cast and take care of the funding. It is an exciting process we are going through!

Since we founded Picco-Studio in 2021 we are growing and growing. We work on two mainstream series based on real stories, and hope to shoot one of them in 2024, the other end of 2025. Our big second feature “Caligula“, a political satire influenced by the Roman emperor and situated in the political landscape in 2028 Vienna is also in the writers room. So far I can say: we are proud to have internatianal aritsts involved we did not imagine to attract and be successfully engaged in our projects before! We feel seen in our contemporary approach to developing projects with soul, unique qualities artistically and in its relevance in its discourse, and as well made to attract a wide and reasonably high amount of viewers.

I am personally a bit proud as a filmmaker that especially my previous short films seem to gain interest to work with Picco-Studio and myself in a group of far more extraordinary artists than the “just” (in my opinion) good performing partners. The artists who search for the “little bit more“ to reach in process and result, as I get more and more often as feedback, seems to share a vision of resonance and aesthetical as well as a performance-focussed way to work and – as it is my personal need to transport my own capacity of being vibrant and challenged by my works – achieve that TV or mainstream – basically expressed: the normal production approach you learn in film school to apply or fulfil in the industry – is almost never able to enrich a project with.

Long story short: we are on our way, involved this year even two private investors and are open to involving even one more in the beginning of 2024, as a unique film production company with the highest standards on every level. My partners Wolfgang Schlögl (conception, music producer – I-Wolf, Sofasurfers), Andres Jauernick (line producer and strategic consultation – Star Wars, Domink Graf) and as well Jan-Stephan Schmieding (dramaturge – Berliner Ensemble, currently Schauspielhaus Köln) build with me and our creative producers and authors, everyone in his tailor-made environment, supported from our, fair paid and valuated, internship programme participants – a strong team on eye-level embracing low power structures and living passionated the development of unique projects with strong core and enriching resolution.

Wow, it sounds like an exciting group. You have (co)written a short film, Flight Into Darkness, which you also directed. You mentioned the film, what’s it about?

The film was for me a huge milestone in my personal process from a skilled young director – trying to suit the audience and as well often the artistic director’s expectations to please them and become fast recognised or “successful “ business-wise (I basically tried to make it all right) to an artistic empowerment of trusting and following my own resonance as a key messurement and the start of a self-esteem in trusting my very own over years advanced and before as assistant in theatre soaked up capacities being deeply digging and searching to match the resonance of my own understanding of the core in its quality with the journey of – sometimes manifesting or developing, sometimes discovering or just catching when sensed to be around – manufacturing the final piece of work.

But to the point: “Flight Into Darkness“ was along my way for several years. Planned as a theatre project in Vienna, involving a male solo-performer and short film clips projected in the stage design showing a mirror of the character performed by an actress, that got – still not knowing the real reason – cancelled at the impressively successful construction robe by the artistic director with an unexpectable implosion at the main stage of the well-known theatre with rename, it took me two years and an incident in Argentina to finally realize this 27min short film, based on Arthur Schnitzler’s novel from 1931. Schnitzler, is one of Austria’s most important authors described – even before Freud became for it world-known – the deconstruction of a personality.

The story – in my short film a young woman – follows in my interpretation a young woman with a certain problem of instability from Argentina back to her brother in Vienna to get rid of old but for existentially important matters of her past. She gets influenced by her brother and (psychiatrical) physicist who fluctuating plays a double role being her stabilisator as well as her questionable – even sadistically manipulating opponent.

She goes through heavy and breathtaking challenging moments of psychological extremes, outstandingly intense and sensitive performed by Martina Greiner and in contrary impressively performing brother Wojo van Brouwer, shown in the short film in 9 scenes and further starring internationally recognised actress Marie-Luise Stockinger as well as Vicente Santos, enriched with outstanding photography and solo-cello performance by Anna Starzinger who composed the score.

So it is a discourse about use and abuse between siblings, focussing on a strong woman to fight for her freedom against all odds. The film is full of widening details and invites the audience to dig deeper into the psyche of the character and to judge from moment to moment news about the constellation and the story hidden in each character to be discovered and opening up the motivations of their actions and relationship.

I am personally very happy about the performance of the cast in combination with the photography that creates a movie that deeply soaks up the audience and the experience to be emotionally vibrant and reached by this film no one leaves indifferent.

Why did you want to tell this story?

I was personally in an episode of my life I was searching to be soaked up by deep psychological involvement and found the novel by chance.

The idea of deconstructing a whole personality deeply caught me, the search to dig deeper and deeper in my own personality and analyse myself as deeply as possible was after some extreme personal moments of struggles found in the work on the adaption of Schnitzler’s novel. I was curious how early he found this topic that became one of the most influential ideas of the 20th century.

What has the reaction to the film been like?

The more I professionalized with Picco-Studio my projects and developed my own approach to filmmaking, the more resonance the film I shot already about 10 years ago had. It is not a mainstream movie so there is not to be expected to reach a big audience, but most viewers give me feedback to be deeply touched and vibrant with this film. As a short film starting essayist and developing further the narrative fiction film, becoming more and more cinematic, I can encourage to open up for the special pace of the film.

What were the challenges of making a film like Flight Into Darkness and getting it out there?

As further mentioned it was a really long process from novel to final result.

There were lots of setbacks lots of restarts and the editing took almost two years. It was totally worth it!

The film was produced with absolute 0 EUR budget and I believe to be aware it was shot mostly without any team I think all involved can be proud of the result.

How did making this film differ to some of the other shorts you worked on, such as T2NY1 and Escaping the past?

Coming from Burgtheater and being used to working with a professional team and all capacities of one of the biggest and best theatre in the world – the Burgtheater Vienna – the film, shot mostly solo just with the actors on set, independently and without any budget, and as my first serious short film, was completely different from all I experienced before.

So it challenged me to open up for improvisation, intuition and a fearless process of flow – luckily in a fantastically connected and sensitive as well as passionately engaged communication and appreciation with the main actress Martina Greiner and as well matched involvement of Wojo van Brouwer. The quality of sensitivity, intensity and minimalistic as well as deeply embracing athmosphare we were able to create as partners opened up performances I am still impressed woth watching the film again.

My later projects T2NY1 or other films were mostly involving film schools or other production partners like the New York Film Academy. The technical capacities are higher but overall my style is strongly influenced by the environment we were creating at the set of “Flight Into Darkness“. From now on the task is more to keep the special resonance that I feel unique with every project and I follow to achieve in each moment, to find this for each project.

Of course, we think and develop our bigger projects, making them more accessible to mainstream and industry demands. Involving the partners in coproduction, cast and crew, scaling in preparation, technical capacities and the skills of our partners, to merge these potentials is the step to take.

What’s next for you and your filmmaking?

Currently, we are writing the scripts for “The Heart of Darkness“ to be shot in summer 2024 and “Caligula“ to be shot in 2025. Both are feature films for cinema, from arthouse to mainstream. We are in negotiations to shoot in 2024 a series “Limassol – Day and Night“ for streaming and TV focussing clearly on high-quality mainstream appreciation.

Sounds busy and exciting! Why do you make movies?

There are some very simple reasons that give me no other choice: I want to build digetic as well as conceptual challenging and unique universes I am vibrant with, combined with outstanding sensitive and intense characters. But there is another very personal reason: I chose the job that is the most challenging I ever did, the one with the most changes, the most excitement, demanding fearlessness and pride to reach my own standard. I chose the future of the unknown, forcing me sometimes to move mountains.

Film is the art form with the most people involved and I love to connect, moderate, involve unique humans and creative people. I love my job. I can always develop and life is a never-ending adventure of development, growth and processing, intense and colourful.

But of course, there is a third reason: I am interested in relevant discourses. I try to understand the discussion as deeply as I can and reach the audience in their perspective, in their personal question so every viewer sees their own film. I want to make the viewer open up a discussion about what they saw and see this as my own little part to support perspective widening, allow more empathy for others, my own support of the empowerment of opinion building, enhancing discussion, culture and therefore support democracy and enlightenment.

What is your next big goal?

We are currently searching for a private investor to join our two Austrian and Swiss shareholders already involved besides me and my partner. We want to support our feature “The Heart of Darkness“ besides state funding with the investment the new partner gives the company to get the shares with full rights including dividends (prognosis: 12-18% from 2024/25 on). With the money, we can ensure the financial roadmap and we have the stability to keep on going on our path for the next years. Feel free to reach out to [email protected] if you are interested and want to get more information about us!

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