HIDDEN PLACES - ORCO Germany

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shOOTInG ThE CITy
Jany Tempel is a genuine Berlin type. When the wall came
down, the acting career of the true West Berliner began in
the East of the city. Today she has two children and lives in a
chic roof apartment not far from Kollwitzplatz. As her particular creative mixture of acting,
producing, script writing and photography finds its expression in Berlin, she kindly talked
to us in the beautiful Veteranenpark.
INTERVIEW Stephan Burkoff FOTO Konstantin Tempel
Is the united city of Berlin as inspiring today if you‘ve known it for years?
Yes, for me, this energy can be felt everywhere more and more every day. It can
also be small things. For example, I still remember the first time I saw a sofa outside
a cafe on Kastanienalle. These are things that only really happened in Berlin. Small
things but significant for the city and its character.
What influence do such experiences have on your creative work?
In this, I feel like a medium that receives influences, evaluates them, processes them
and converts them into output again. In the case of the sofa, for example, it could
be that in a role as an actress, I am trying to convert this specific feeling of freedom
that leads to putting a sofa on the street. I also think that any creative person would
do that.
But today you‘re known more as an author, director and photographer rather than an
actress. What is the difference between working in front of and behind the camera?
As an actress you can always be attacked directly. Criticism always has a very strong
effect on you personally. For example, if someone says, you‘re too fat, that‘s a very
personal matter. But if you talk to somebody else about an idea for a film or a photo
and receive negative feedback, you can always say that you just had different opin-
ions. It‘s less trying and doesn‘t hurt so much.
What projects do you have on the go at the moment?
I‘ve just finished shooting my cinema debut as a director with my fabulous producer,
Martin Lehwald. Its working title is “Die Grossen Lügen” (The big lies). It is a story
about the hope for love. A hope that always ultimately dies and also that when you
always just try to pursue your dreams without realising that things can change too,
you can quite soon come a cropper. Incidentally, we made the film here in this dis-
trict. And also the story has a lot to do with life in Berlin.
In what way?
Not least because of the protagonist who leads a typical Berlin life within her social
circle and works in a boarding kennel, tries to make her dreams come true and
makes her way through life with her best friend, a long-serving waitress. The link to
Berlin emerges in the film because of a particular, architectural view. It matters to
me to show details, colours, moods, particular viewpoints – all these are my way of
showing this district as it actually is, poetic, beautiful and
sometimes even genuinely melancholic.
What makes Berlin stand out for you as a place where
you can create?
Above all the dynamics, the distinctive talent for improvi-
sation and the idealism that can be found here. A low
budget project such as our film, for example, can actually
only come to fruition if you have the chance to access pro-
duction resources, locations etc. quickly, easily and with-
out a lot of bureaucracy and without always having to get
your cheque book out. In Berlin it‘s simply very easy to find
people who are ready to co-operate with projects even if
there‘s nothing in it for them and also to look for uncon-
ventional ways.
What makes Berlin stand out for you as a city to live in?
Berlin is my home. And I think that unlike other cities, here
you have the opportunity to come into contact with other
people very quickly. If you go into a cafe here, people are
sitting all over the place with their laptops on the tables
– each of them alone and at first glance somewhat lonely
– but often it‘s enough to have a hole in your trousers in
the same place, to smile about it and perhaps shortly get
into a conversation. What makes Berlin, and above all Mitte,
for me is, therefore, not least the openness of its inhabit-
ants.