A brand-new short, DAY RELEASE, focuses on the trial and tribulations of a mother who is convicted and has to report on a daily basis back to her prison, despite trying to raise her child in complicated situations.
Film And TV Now spoke with the creative team behind it, Martin Winter and Sebastian Schmidl, as they reflected on the important issues within the film’s narrative.
FILM AND TV NOW: The film evokes memories of classic Ken Loach British dramas like CATHY COME HOME and some of his more recent works. In terms of Austrian cinema, are there any particular locally produced films you feel an affinity for?
Sebastian Schmidl: Of course, we’re admiring Ken Loach’s work, next to other British film-makers like Mike Leigh, Andrea Arnold, Lynne Ramsey or many others. In general, our goal is to incorporate international cinema, which we are passionate about through decades of studying film history and endless movies watched.
We are interested in all the different ways to approach the medium and the different milieus. That is why we try to create our characters in a universal and at the same time intimate way and to translate this into our own film language. Based on this, we chose this topic and this storytelling-technique. Austrian cinema is very broad, but we haven’t seen this kind of approach yet, so we don’t have a particular affinity for any singled-out films in connection to this particular project.
It was important to us to choose a precise style of storytelling for this film. On the way we wanted to address the also in Austria growing difference between rich and poor as well as try to build empathy for our main character who is separated by society and doesn’t know how her child is doing in the regular world. Especially important for us was to be close to the characters and to not use expectable handheld camera, but to choose a style completely opposite.
Through precise images we wanted to translate the feeling of confinement of the characters to the screen. Ideally, we wanted to give the audience the feeling of a suspenseful time-limit and let them dive into a lasting and exciting story.
FTVN: We focus on a single mother who is on day release, but we are not sure what she has done, we merely only see her leave and enter the facility. Was the lead character based on any one example in particular?
Sebastian: From the beginning, it was very important to us to not reveal the reason why our main character is incarcerated. We believe that as soon as the audience knows the crime she’s committed, it is easier for them to emotionally distance themselves from her. Maybe people then would automatically believe that they have nothing to do with her problems as they can never get into a situation like hers.
The incarceration is the bracket and the initial situation of the story. In many Q&A’s, we heard, that the audience had the feeling she was more confined in the outside world inside society, than in prison. The main character was developed during widespread research, so various influences from different milieus we had the chance to get to know, where incorporated.
We concentrated on making the main character more subtle to keep some kind of mystery around her. Through the initially not established past of the protagonists, there is constantly confrontation and old wounds are being ripped open again. The audience should get the opportunity to find out for themselves what to feel about the ambivalence of the protagonists and how they themselves would react in a precarious life situation like this one. The decision over the future of the only child, which will eventually influence the rest of his life.
Martin Winter: Sometimes it is better to let the viewers in the dark and leave the past of your characters to the viewers’ imagination. This makes your characters more mysterious and often more interesting to the audience. At least this works for me as a part of the audience and as a director.
In the case of our main character Kathi, she knows she has a past where she made difficult and sometimes bad decisions and was maybe badly influenced by her surroundings in her decision making. This is a major element for understanding her character and how she acts in most situations.
The character Kathi is not perfect and has many flaws, like most human beings. But what she does have is a true heart and love is the last extant in her to give. She has pure instincts deep down in her, that no one can influence, not even her. To know that she has done wrong, but to realize what is most important for her child makes her stronger than many people.
FTVN: Tell us about your cast.
Martin & Sebastian: Our leading actress Anna Suk is one of the most aspirational young actresses in the German speaking region. She was already awarded with several prizes for her roles in short as well as feature films. Also for her portrayal of Kathi in our film “Day Release“.
For this role, she was nominated for the German Newcomer Award-First Steps Award in Berlin and received the award for best actress at the World Independent Film Awards in Warsaw. Anna Suk became the character Kathi from the beginning and in our opinion portrayed her in a nuanced, sensitive, empathetic and heartbreaking way.
Her son in the film was played by the three-year-old Christopher, for him it was the first role in a narrative short film. Additionally, we were able to cast wonderful Austrian character actors/actresses like Patrick Schmidl, Birgit Linauer and Daniela Zacherl for our film.
The whole cast was, from the first moment on, very enthusiastic about the intense screenplay and demanding project.
FTVN: Tell us about your production team.
Martin & Sebastian: In addition to ourselves in our own capacities, we studied with Director of Photography Aram Baroian at the Filmcollege Vienna and producer Victoria Herbig studied at the Filmacademy Vienna.
In this constellation, we were able to realize several successful projects. The films we were a part of were shown internationally at numerous prestigious film festivals and were nominated for and awarded with several prizes.
See also: Day Release IMDB:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9469268/
FTVN: Vienna was famously used as an alternative for Moscow in Clint Eastwood’s FIREFOX back in 1982. What would you say makes the city so special in terms of a filming location?
Martin & Sebastian: One of the most interesting things about Vienna as a filming location is the great diversity of the different districts, concerning the architecture but also the social layers. From social buildings to impressively decadent palaces, Vienna is offering multifaceted settings that couldn’t be more different but are so close together.
Because people from different social classes live on such a relatively small space together, obvious differences in the quality of life appear. Behind the beautiful facades of the historical architecture, dark and dramatic realities might linger. We wanted to show these destinies, also through the ambivalence of the architecture while presenting the facets of this very special, beautiful and interesting city.
This precarious and uncertain life is the reality for many people, whether they are in prison or find themselves in other difficult situations. We wanted to provide a cinematic platform to these stories and ideally initiate discussion throughout the audience.
FTVN: You studied Directing and Cinematography at the Vienna Film College and we understand you directed numerous documentaries and shorts during your time there. What subjects did you like to focus on in terms of a short subject and how do the two skills shape the other in terms of creativity?
Martin: I think as a film-maker it is especially important to have a broad knowledge and interest in all parts of film-making. I am thankful for the possibility to have learned both professions and to be able to work in both fields.
As a director I see it as very helpful to know the field of work of a cinematographer in order to be able to communicate the vision for the film better. Especially when knowing about lenses, lighting etc. and all the work behind it. For me, the goal of film-making is to create a symbiosis between story, characters and the visual language.
The highest goal is always that the story is believable. Of course, I have preferences as to how the film should look as a director. For me, the story is always the priority and to find the visual language to support this story should be the aspiration of every film-maker. We can call ourselves lucky to have the possibilities of the digital medium, to have so many options of creating whilst not overrunning budget. Especially for low budget and short films, this is a great fact.
Today, we have all possibilities of making beautiful, highclass visuals. Finding a unique visual style that supports the story in an ideal way is still the greatest challenge. To work for different directors as a cinematographer and getting to know different ways of working is a learning process which also helps with working as a director myself.
Especially being able to communicate ideas, ways of thinking and working and also to strengthen the understanding of editing. Already while planning a film, I can use the knowledge and the imagination to know what the material will look like when working with the editor. That is one of the foundations as a director for me.
FTVN: Would you like to expand the context of DAY RELEASE into a feature length story and what other socially-minded subjects would you like to focus on in the future as source material?
Martin: For me, neither a certain genre nor subject is an essential factor which I am looking for. The most important thing for me is if the story or the characters are worthy of being told or told about. This can be all kinds of humans of all different worlds. The spectrum of my interests concerning film is broad and is covering all of film history. There are so many interesting topics and genres, I don’t want to focus on just some. Of course, I have preferences for storytelling, setting and stories, but I don’t want to be dependent on those. To incorporate these preferences into different topics and to ideally lift the story to a new height is ultimately the most interesting thing about filmmaking for me.
FTVN: How has the current COVID-19 crisis affected you and other film-makers in Austria?
Martin & Sebastian: During the lock-down, like for most people in the world, it was uncertain as to how and when our work would be able to continue. However, we were able to use this time to prepare new projects and work on new stories.
Now the future of various Austrian artists is in danger and not many people are sure what the next months and years will bring. New visions and the willingness for change from the Austrian government are necessary to overcome this difficult situation in the arts and everywhere else. In general, it seems that the situation in Austria is beginning to slowly recover.
The first sets are allowed to start working, but under certain circumstances and restrictions and there are of course still many challenges to overcome when it comes to Austrian film production. It is not certain when everything will be back to some kind of “normal”.
At the moment we are just happy to be able to slowly start working again. We are looking forward to the time when future projects will be able to be realized without restrictions and we try to look positively into the future. Because as long as one stays healthy, everything else should be manageable.
FTVN: Finally, what are you most proud of about the film?
Sebastian: It is always hard to answer a question like this about our own films. With short and medium-length films it is of course always already a success when the film can be realized, and you get the actors and the team you wished for.
With this project, it was especially challenging for us to work with a small child and to translate the mother-son relationship onto the screen in a relatable and empathetical way. We think we were able to accomplish that, as the film was received very well by various audiences around the world. We are very happy about that and are immensely grateful to our cast and crew.
