BISSFF2025 | Correspondence 通信计划054：Strata 叠境

BISFF Correspondence 通信计划

This program involves conducting brief email interviews with the directors of the international films featured in the festival, in lieu of the traditional Q&A session that follows the screenings. Through this program, we hope to provide a platform for filmmakers to discuss their work and share their insights with our audience in China.

为了跨越种种障碍，开辟更多交流空间，我们设置了“BISFF Correspondence 通信计划”，对部分国际单元的参展作者进行系列访谈，这些访谈将在作品放映后发布在联展各个媒体平台。

Strata｜叠境

Fabian Schubert-Heil｜法比安·舒伯特－海尔

2025｜0:12:00 ｜Germany | No Dialogue | International Premiere

Director: Fabian Schubert-Heil

Interviewer & Translator: Nai Shen

Coordinator & Editor: Suliko

导演：法比安·舒伯特－海尔

采访、翻译：王乃申

统筹、编辑：苏丽珂

Q1: Many films that employ found or archival footage pursue memory and history, yet your approach feels strikingly original. The photo-printing process in the film produces layered colors and stacked images that both resonate with the film's themes and introduce a sense of dynamism and novelty. How did you come up with this design?  

A1: Like many things in filmmaking it happened by chance. At the time I was researching about this landscape and the different places, people and histories when I discovered this printer. It is located in a drug store next to the place I live. There are different models and not all show the process of the printing. I was drawn to this monotonous adding of layer after layer regardless of the content and just later I connected it to my research, thinking it could become a film. Like the moor also just growing, adding layers, treating everything the same.

Q2: Apart from the printer sounds, which create shifts in pitch and rhythm, the film employs almost no other sound design. What motivated this degree of sonic restraint?

A2: To me the sound of the printer is such a strong one, I felt there isn’t really any space left for something or someone else. I was thinking about having someone telling the story of the photographer, but it was clear to me that it would somehow disturb the rhythm and setting. Sometimes though the world sneaks in, there is a baby crying and an ambulance going by. A human presence disconnected from the printer and the pictures. In the end everything was there in the sound of the printer, I did not feel the need to hear anything else and it became the perfect soundtrack.

Q3: The printed photographs combine archival images, paintings, and photographic works. How did you source and arrange these materials? These images—from industrial, historical, artistic, and natural perspectives—function as "strata" that are layered at a steady pace in the film. Do you intend this to suggest an egalitarian relationship among these materials in terms of meaning?

A3: Yes! At least from the perspective of the moor it seems egalitarian. This specific landscape is charged with so many different labels. It was a hostile environment, it took generations to be able to live there, it was mystified and used for institutionalized crimes. Nowadays there are great hopes connected to it in containing CO2. The material I am showing comes from a lot of different sources. Some photos I took myself, some are from the archive of a former prisoner of war camp, some are from news reports. Even though the film is very minimalist, to me there are multiple genres coming together. It is a documentary but also a fairytale, a mystery, a detective story, a love story centered around this landscape. So at the same time is is highly constructed, I chose what is shown and in what order. I minimize it a little with the use of the printer. The ultimate goal would be to make the film out of the perspective of the moor, not from a human one. It is where everything takes place and the landscape becomes a sort of witness to our history.

Q4: Could you tell us more about your film collective, Streuselfilm? How do you work together—what forms of collaboration or division of labor shape your practice? And what shared creative principles bind the group?

A4: Streuselfilm consists of Sophia Schachtner, Faro Lienert and myself and came to live while we were all studying at HfbK in Hamburg. Until now we are all doing our personal films, everyone is working on their projects with their individual interests but I feel over the time of our studies we built a trust and honesty in each other so everyone is following the process of one another and is there to help. Before, during and after the shoot. The school we went to heavily relies on helping each other in every part of filmmaking and I think Streuselfilm is the idea to keep this feeling of having someone at your side who knows what you are looking for. In general we feel connected through ideas of film that maybe focus more on space and the body from a little distance. Further it is also a platform in a way to become visible through a shared appearance. “Streusel” translates into sprinkles or crumbles and we thought of us like little sprinkles who all have different styles or approaches to film but if you look at it from a distance becomes a group without losing the single part of it.

Strata, Fabian Schubert-Heil, 2025

Q1：在利用拾得影像或档案影像为主要素材的影片里，以追索记忆和历史为主题的作品很多，而这部影片的手法让人耳目一新。照片的打印过程呈现出了颜色的层叠、图像的堆叠，和主题的表达非常契合，同时又富有动感和新奇性。请问您是怎么想到这一设计的？

A1：这个灵感如电影制作中的很多情况一样源于偶然。在研究这片风景以及其中不同的地点、人物和历史时，我偶然发现了这台打印机。它就在我住处附近的一个药店里。打印机有很多种型号，并非每一种都能展示打印的过程。我被这样一种无关内容而只是层层堆叠的单一打印过程所吸引，随后我把这种视觉过程与我的研究联系起来，并意识到它可以成为一部电影——就像这片沼泽地一样，不断生长、层层堆叠并且对所有事物一视同仁。

Q2：除了打印机声音构成的音阶与节奏变换，这部影片几乎没有做出其他的声音设计。这部影片在声音方面如此克制的原因是什么？

A2：对我而言，打印机的声音已经强烈到没有任何剩余空间留给其他人或事物。我曾考虑让某人来讲述摄影师的故事，但我很清楚那样会扰乱节奏与氛围。不过有时外部世界还是会悄然潜入——婴儿的哭声，救护车掠过——这种人类的存在感是与打印机和照片脱节的。而最终，一切都藏在打印机的声音里，它就是完美的配乐，其他的声音已显得多余。

Q3：打印的照片中包含了档案图像、画作和摄影作品，您是如何收集和配置这些素材的？这些从工业、历史、艺术、自然等不同角度共同作为“地层”的图像，在影片中被匀速地层层堆叠，是否代表着这些素材在意义层面不分高低的平等关系？

A3：是的！至少从沼泽的视角来看，它们似乎是平等的。这个特定的风景背负着许多不同的标签：它曾是恶劣的环境，需要几代人的劳作才使其能够生活；它被神秘化并曾被用于系统化的暴行；如今，人们又寄望于它能吸收二氧化碳。

我展示的素材有许多不同来源：有些照片是我自己拍的，有些来自前战俘营的档案，有些来自新闻报道。尽管影片非常简约，但在我看来，它汇聚了多种体裁：同样是以这片风景为核心，它既是一部纪录片，也是一部童话、一个谜团、一个侦探故事，甚至是一个爱情故事。因此，尽管影片本身是刻意建构的——我决定了哪些影像出现以及它们的次序——但我借助打印机那种自动化的层层叠加，试图在一定程度上淡化作者的干预。我的最终愿景是让影片以沼泽而非人的视角来发言：那片风景是所有事件发生之处，是我们历史的见证者。

Strata, Fabian Schubert-Heil, 2025

Q4：你能介绍一下你所在的电影团体Streuselfilm吗？你们是如何合作的？哪些共同的创作原则将你们联系在一起？

A4：Streuselfilm由Sophia Schachtner、Faro Lienert和我本人组成，我们在汉堡的HfbK（汉堡美术学院）学习期间开始合作。如今我们都在制作个人影片，根据自己的兴趣进行项目创作，但我觉得在学习的过程中，我们几人之间形成了彼此间的信任和真诚，因此无论是在拍摄的前期、中期还是后期，我们都在相互协作，互相帮助。我们的学校非常注重在电影制作各个环节中的这种相互协助，我认为Streuselfilm的理念就是保持这种感觉——有人在你身边，并知道你想要什么。

总体而言，我们通过强调近距离关注空间和身体的电影理念而产生联系。此外，我们的团体在某种程度上也是一个通过共同呈现来使自己可见的平台。“Streusel”可以译作“碎屑”或“碎片”（译者注：类似于糕点上的糖屑或酥粒撒料），我们把自己想象成那些小小的撒料：每个人都有不同的风格或创作方法，但从远处看，我们又汇聚成了一个不失个体性的整体。

About the Artist 艺术家简介

Fabian Schubert-Heil studied theater and film studies at the University of Vienna and worked as an assistant director at the theater before studying film at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg under Angela Schanelec. He lives in Berlin and is part of the film collective streuselfilm.

法比安·舒伯特－海尔，曾就读于维也纳大学，主修戏剧与电影，并在剧院担任助理导演。随后，他进入汉堡美术学院师从安吉拉·夏娜莱克（Angela Schanelec）研习电影。现居柏林，同时为电影团体“streuselfilm”的成员。

About the Author 作者简介

Nai Shen, PhD candidate at the China Academy of Art, focusing on the reuse and appropriation of found footage, archival image, and ready-made image in film and short-video practices.

王乃申，中国美院在读博士研究生，关注电影与短视频领域中对拾得影像、档案影像与现成影像的利用与开发。

▌more information: https://www.bisff.co/selection/strata