Happyland

“That Happyland is set in the music scene certainly has something to do with the fact that I once had a record label, together with Sebastian Brauneis and – like many others – failed miserably. […] But the real reason for choosing the music scene was different: I wanted a character who lives out the longings we all have but don’t dare act upon. We tend to choose idols who live very different kinds of lives… Helen is a character who stopped at nothing and now looks back on the damage she has caused – to herself and others – with the awareness that she didn’t really achieve success. In the history of film and literature, it’s usually men who go out into the world and act with a certain ruthlessness in fulfilling their longings. I was very interested in creating a character of that sort who is a woman; after all, I know women like that, and this behavior is not purely male; the basic idea, the longing, is gender neutral. But women are usually forced into a role centered on caring and putting their own needs aside. That’s why it was important for me that this character be played by a woman, even though that brought certain ‘plot-logistical’ difficulties.”

Evi Romen