Interview: Why Charly Hübner doesn’t need a stand-in sailor.

​Yacht: Tell me, Mr Jessen … didn’t you need a stand-in?

Lars Jessen: No, the lead actor could sail. Charly Hübner had practised with the production manager on the Alster in *Käpt’n Prüsse*. And with me on the Havel. He’s a natural with a very, very keen feel for the wind and the boat, and in the film, in force 5 winds, he pulled off an extremely good upwind run.

Apart from you and Charly Hübner, who else from the film crew could sail?

Nobody – that was the good bit, because Müller couldn’t sail either and had only learnt how to do it for his border crossing. But it was also a bit of a nuisance, because I had to give everyone useful instructions whilst we were sailing.

What was the challenge with the dinghy set?

The biggest problem was that the cameraman had to get into the dinghy, whilst there was no more room for me on board.

So how did the collaboration work?

The image was transmitted to my support boat. Although I was able to give instructions over the radio, the actor was actually on board alone with the cameraman.

So Hübner and cameraman Rodja Kükenthal must have got on well …

Yes, but the two of them know each other very well, too. Kükenthal is talented and agile, and was able to anticipate when the boat would heel. And Hübner knows what a camera sees.

Is the dark Fischer oilskin jacket in the film the original?

Yes, as well as the brilliant props, we had some fantastic costume design; they worked with extreme attention to detail.

The sailor Paul Gompitz is certainly a character – someone who, after fleeing and travelling, wants to return to the GDR – but he’s also a hero. So is this a watery version of *Sonnenallee*?

Perhaps. You can reject the GDR system and still find love, a sense of home and a sense of belonging there. For me, as a West German, it was about understanding this ambivalence. Such recognition might perhaps have helped us move on a little from our silly East-West bashing.

Is a West German even allowed to make an East German road movie like that?

Yes. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to make historical films set in the Middle Ages either. I’ve been studying everyday culture in the GDR in detail for years, and I’m now delighted that the film is also going down well in the East.

You filmed using a GDR Ixylon dinghy. Was it difficult to get hold of one?

We did practise in Hamburg, but we soon found Helmar Becker, who still makes them in Bitterfeld – a brilliant bloke.

So what happened to the dinghy?

She went back to Helmar. But nobody knows where the black escape sails ended up.

Lars Jessen (57)
The film adaptation of Friedrich Christian Delius’s novel is the ninth feature film by the director, who hails from Kiel. The plot centres on an escape from the GDR in 1988 in an Ixylon dinghy.