Berlinale 2024: Director and activist Brandt Andersen on 'The Strangers' Case'
Rare are films like 'The Strangers' Case' that manage to combine striking authenticity with suspenseful, pulse-racing thrills. Euronews Culture sits down with veteran producer, director and activist Brandt Andersen to discuss his film, starring Omar Sy and premiering at the Berlinale.
Transcript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 Hello?
00:27 I'm offering one one-way nonstop ticket to Greece.
00:30 It will cost you $2,000 for an adult, $1,500 for a child.
00:35 Omar and I are about the same age.
00:37 The script got sent to his agent and then to him.
00:41 And he was like, I'd love to meet Brant.
00:43 And we had dinner at a hotel in Paris,
00:47 and we just hit it off, a real desire
00:51 to better what's taking place with humanity,
00:55 how we could do that through art.
00:57 So he was the first one to sign on for the film
01:01 and was a great collaborator throughout.
01:04 We don't accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express.
01:09 Only cash.
01:12 No exchanges, no refund.
01:14 You show up late, or you got caught.
01:16 Not my problem.
01:21 Social change is possible even through one film, I believe.
01:25 If I can use this film to help influence
01:28 those people who make those decisions to say,
01:32 we need to be more compassionate,
01:34 then that's a direct change in policy from one film.
01:37 I think we need a lot of these films
01:39 to change the overall climate of emotions from people.
01:46 The people are the strongest arm that we have.
01:50 And as a whole people, if we can say,
01:54 we want to see more compassion, we want to see more change,
01:58 then the people can demand change from the leaders.
02:01 And I do believe compassion is still very much alive.
02:05 Questions?
02:06 Looks like we don't have time for questions today.
02:11 Due to overwhelming demand, we only
02:18 have space for 30 people.
02:22 So anyone ready to start their new life should pay my friend.
02:28 Life is not so black and white.
02:31 And a smuggler who's maybe a really bad human being
02:37 can be a really great dad.
02:40 And a white helmet who's maybe really great at saving people
02:46 and revered by people in his town
02:48 may not be such a great dad.
02:52 So I don't know.
02:54 I think those are the takeaways.
02:56 Those are takeaways that I've had in my life.
02:58 On the personal level, these are things that in my life
03:00 I've seen and brought against the backdrop of people
03:05 that I have just come to love madly in my life, which
03:11 is the Syrian people.
03:13 [MUSIC]