The “Nothing new in the West” director Edward Berger (53) has sharply criticized the public broadcaster. In an interview with the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”, the filmmaker revealed that he had also offered his war drama, which won four Oscars, to ARD and ZDF – but without success. “It’s not that I didn’t want to. We spoke to both public broadcasters,” explained Berger.
Accordingly, there were even offers to finance the project, which, however, were too low. “In the end, this film could only be realized the way we did it” and the Netflix streaming service, which was ultimately responsible for the production, “had much less influence on the content,” Berger continued.
For the 53-year-old it was “a huge scandal”. ARD and ZDF are irresponsible towards the cinema. “In the case of public broadcasters, cinema promotion consists of cultivating talent so that they can later supply the program for them. That’s the only goal.”
“Bringing innovative and radical films from Germany out into the world” is not of interest to the broadcasters, “because such films don’t run at 8:15 p.m.”. The filmmaker himself can now name a few directors for whom “a German broadcaster is the last option” as a production partner.
The broadcasters would thus promote a cinema that “lags behind internationally,” says Berger. “Personally, television stations and film funding agencies rely too much on the tried and tested. Unconsciously, this also influences the filmmakers. If you don’t get three courageous films financed, you will automatically be more accommodating with the fourth.” And in his opinion that applies in particular to ARD and ZDF: “The public broadcasters are the most shirking of their responsibility. They work with public funds, but no longer support cinema films.”
“Nothing New in the West” was nominated for an Oscar in nine categories this year and won four awards: for “Best International Film”, “Best Cinematography”, “Best Production Design” and “Best Film Music”.
