INTERVIEW WITH ANTJE NIKOLA MÖNNING (NIKKI/ writer/music composer/ assistant to the director)

Tell us something about your character NIKKI.

For me NIKKI represents the tradition of the „naked fool“ who is uninhibited, sensual and exposes what other people try to hide. Her major freedom consists in not being bothered by what other people think. She is simply herself and is quite delighted about that, just how she takes life, with a lot of humour. I feel very connected to this positive attitude, because I made the experience that one’s own negative thoughts often are more destructive than the situation that caused them. You can either go round in circles with your fears and worries – what mostly doesn’t change anything about the situation – or you can use this energy to make the best out of a given situation. This is the same way in which NIKKI faces people, even if they are unhappy or telling her sad stories.

How was filminng for you?

Filming was very stressful, but I had much fun. It was stressful because we had a tight time schedule. Sometimes I had to record an actors voice as another voice of the male chorus and then jump directly in front of the camera and write my own texts during the entire shooting time. And it was lovely because I laughed a lot about some funny scenes. It was great to experience how every single actor breathed life into the lines and co-created them creatively. The extras, who, for example during „Janas Song“, had their first time in front of a camera (and that straightaway naked!) got themselves into our way of filmmaking with much joy of playing. All in all, everybody in front and behind the camera contributed a lot to make the film just how we wanted it to be in an unconventional way.

You also composed the soundtrack. How did the idea of putting music into the film come up?

Actually I compose all year long, even if we are not planning a film because I get so many ideas. For example the song BEAT ME was created over a year ago as my answer to FIFTY SHADES OF GREY. It upset me that the female protagonist seemed to be distressed and suffering during the whole film. So I decided to write from a woman’s perspective who freely and self-determined begs a man to whip her. In that case the song existed before the script and we integrated it. But of course I also composed music precisely for this film after we had a slight idea of what story we want to tell. If something inspires me the song or the melody comes very quickly into my mind. In „Janas Song“, where a woman moves from one man to another, I melodised existing lyrics from Roland after a scene came into Mira’s mind.

You have written your character yourself. How did the script come into being?

The script is a joint effort. In the beginning Roland requested to make a non-narrative film, one that doesn’t give any explanations. It was meant to be a film about life. So Roland, Mira, Marina and me started collecting lots of ideas during many car rides we went on together. I was interested in playing a character who isn’t searching for something any more and doesn’t need to discover herself like Lucy did in ANGELS WITH DIRTY WINGS, but who knows who she IS and enjoys life to the fullest. Besides I liked the idea of showing a woman who enjoys to suck dicks and swallow sperm and still has a relaxed relationship to Jesus without any feeling of guilt or shame. And of course I wanted to appear naked as often as possible since I’m an exhibitionist. That’s how NIKKI’s character was born. The best platform for emotional exhibitionism is the internet. So we thought that NIKKI should run a Video-Blog and interview people while driving around the country. When Mira went through all the plays, novel fragments and poems that Roland wrote from the seventies until today, we noticed how up to date many of those topics are again (or still are). Roland gave voice to so many people in his texts that we could imagine lots of different characters. NIKKI as an interviewer became the connecting link between the stories.
Roland guided us in finding the ideas and sorted them, Mira arranged the existing texts in a dramaturgically new way, I wrote my parts myself and Marina had the mammoth task to find about 45 actors and extras.