Und Morgen die ganze Welt

This is my most personal film, as well as the one that has occupied me the longest—to this day. It reflects my own time in the Anti-Fascist Action Group of which John Quester and I were members throughout the 1990s and beyond. But above all, the film was a reaction to the electoral successes of a right-wing extremist party in 2015, the first time this had happened in Germany since 1945. How could it happen, in Germany of all places? How can we defend our democracy? Must we resort to militant means? This desperate question preoccupies Luisa and the rest of the group, almost breaking them; at the same time, though, they are building resilience through friendship, love, and the replacement family they find in each other.

Mala Emde embodies Luisa; she carries this film. And it is still relevant. It has lost none of its topicality since its premiere in competition at Venice 2020, and is shown and discussed almost weekly in political contexts or schools. Since then, right-wing ideas have reached the mainstream of society. The AfD harassed the Commissioner for Culture and Media with a “Regular Enquiry” about our film in the Bundestag, but it was rejected. Perhaps I will make a similar film again in a few years’ time. The question of how we can protect our democracy continues to preoccupy me.