‘Raju’ Director on Going to Great Lengths to Film a Short
Max Zaehle (left) directing Wotan Mohring and Julia Richter in ‘Raju.’
Barbara Chai, Wall Street Journal
Although his short film, “Raju,” deals with the weighty subject of illegal child-trafficking, director Max Zaehle is ebullient when discussing his work. Perhaps it’s because he recently scored his first Oscar nomination.
Zaehle, 34 years old, graduated from film school just one year ago, and “Raju,” which is set in Calcutta, India, was his thesis film. Though it wasn’t his first film, he says “It was the longest short I ever shot!” Zaehle researched and wrote the script for “Raju” in India for nearly a year, before he and his team – comprised of 10 Germans, including the film’s two main actors, and about 50 Indians – began filming. The film shoot took 10 days.
Zaehle, who is based in Hamburg, Germany, called Speakeasy from the Berlin Film Festival to discuss the making of “Raju,” the support he’s received from his Oscar nomination, and what he’s working on next.
What drew you to the film’s subject of illegal child trafficking and adoption?
This is my first drama, actually. I was looking to shoot a drama because I shot tragicomedies before. I was looking for a topic for my thesis film. I read a lot of newspapers world-wide and at the time I was looking for a topic, there was a bad earthquake in Haiti. I read about people who took children out of the country to put them into foreign families. Then they found out they still have relatives or parents in their native country where they come from, so it was illegal to take them away. While I was researching, this one question came up more and more: As a human being, how far would you go to get a child? Does a human being have a right to have a child?
If you started with research of Haiti, how did you end up filming in Calcutta?
Actually it’s the power of the research. I had this NGO, it’s called Terre des Hommes, and they led us to Calcutta because they said it’s one of the world-wide hotspots where children get stolen to be brought in the world. Terre des Hommes had really good connections with local NGOs in the town. They opened doors to us in a way to be able to research and not feel like tourists but feel like a part of the NGOs and research their serious topic to be able to write the script afterward.
How long did it take to write the script?
On the whole I think it took almost a year to research the topic from the beginning. We first went to Calcutta. None of us had been to India before. So we flew into Mumbai and took a train, which took us 3 ½ days to Calcutta, all the way through India to experience the cultures first. Then we researched in the city and after that started writing the script.
Did you encounter any challenges while filming in Calcutta?
Absolutely. This is a totally different culture. It’s a totally different way of shooting film, and we didn’t have that much money. There’s a totally different spirit and culture going on there. We were just 10 German people. In the end we had a crew of 50 people and we had to bring the two cultures together on one team to shoot the film in 10 days. If you’re shooting on the streets, there are hundreds of people and we weren’t able to block the streets. When we were shooting the scenes outside, we just prepared. My girlfriend and one of the lighting guys, they behaved like they would be the film team and were walking down the street screaming, and all the people followed them. We who were really filming started to film while all the people left, so we were able to shoot without people staring into the camera. They don’t mean it, they are just crazy about film, and want to know what’s going on.
Did you intend the ending to be ambiguous, to leave open the moral question of this couple’s actions?
[SPOILER ALERT] Of course, he does what he does. If you go further than that, in the first place, what’s going on with the couple? In the second place, is it really the best thing he could have done for the child? Even though it’s illegal and he got stolen from his parents, maybe it would have been even better if they wouldn’t have found out his real past. If they took him back to Germany, maybe he would have had a better future growing up in Germany. But maybe not. You just don’t know.
You won the grand prize at the Angelus Film Festival for “Raju.” Previous winners also received an Oscar nomination. Were you hoping you would too?
No. I mean we crossed our fingers. The moment you are on the shortlist, this is the moment you start thinking about it. But before you are on the shortlist, it’s too far away. After we got nominated things got really crazy, we were really not prepared. So many people are cheering for us, it’s unbelievable. We have so many friends in Hamburg, everyone is so happy about the nomination. The whole team, and in Calcutta, we’re just very proud and happy and celebrating in two different worlds in this one moment. It’s the biggest payback.
What’s next for you?
I’m working on my feature film. It’s going to play in the northern part of Germany and it’s going to be a tragicomedy. The Oscar nomination kind of makes it more real because the interest in the project is getting a little bigger. It’s just great because you graduate as a film student and you’re getting this interest which you probably wouldn’t without an Oscar nomination. Let’s see what happens.
Follow Barbara Chai on Twitter @barbarachai