[press conference for
The Dreamed Adventure (2026) at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival] I think it was quite clear after
Western (2017) that I would like to return to Bulgaria to make another film because I realised how little I know about Europe and it was very touching to me that when we talk about Europe, that Europe has so many different faces and it feels different in different places and countries – maybe in Bulgaria Europe feels different than in Germany - and I think one starting point was when I talked with people of my generation who were young when the wall fell down in 1989, I realised how much we are connected with this very changing moment in Europe but at the same time how much we are divided from very different experiences in the years afterwards - for example in the '90s. I heard so many different things about this time.... but I was really interested in the echo of this time because I think we still feel this echo and I think we live in very special times, so it was for me interesting to make some kind of connection and I was doubting a lot if I'm allowed as a German director to make a film in Bulgaria – I was doubting all the time! But in the moment when we were together with all the people researching and shooting, these doubts were flying away. And it's always important to have in mind that it's really a collaboration and that filmmaking for me has to do so much with not knowing; it's sometimes more interesting what you don't know, and of course I'm really in love with Bulgaria and I feel very home in Bulgaria.
