‘September Afternoon’ Film Director Needs No Action, Dialogue

When the Locarno Film Festival unveiled the program for its 79th edition, it promised an “adventurous” lineup.

German filmmaker Nicolaas Schmidt’s debut feature film, September Afternoon, which will world premiere on Aug. 10 in the Filmmakers of the Present Competition of the Swiss festival, is perhaps the perfect case in point.

“If you don’t know anything about what’s to come, you are probably at risk of leaving the room,” Locarno’s artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro tells THR. “I’m aware of that, but if you stick with it, you will be completely surprised” and enjoy a cinematic journey you won’t forget any time soon. 

What he means is that, just like in Schmidt’s short- and medium-length films, there isn’t much traditional “action” or even dialogue in September Afternoon. “The film uses ‘dead time’ as raw material,” the filmmaker highlights in a director’s note. “I stretch mundane moments until they collapse in their emptiness — an invitation to the viewer. In an age of arbitrary extraordinariness, plain banality is stimulating as fuck.”

Schmidt, who was born in Leipzig and lives and works in Hamburg as a filmmaker, video and conceptual artist, tells THR that he is most interested in images, sounds, music and moods, putting a spotlight on the passage of time in everyday situations, repetition and silences.

Or, as Nazzaro offers: “Maybe the trivialities we see are exactly the things that we might be sorely missing in the future,” says Nazzaro, “because we will not have the time to get bored and tend to trivial matters. So for me, [Schmidt’s work] also brings with it a very political element – how to regain agency over the use of your time.”

But wait, what can we share about September Afternoon without spoiling too much? Well, the film shows a couple that refuses to accept that summer is over; instead ​, the small family is ​heading to the coast for ​a​​ last experience with sand and seawater. But they find themselves struggling with strong wind and the encroaching elements. With romantic expectations of the summer flipped on their head, Locarno teases that things unravel from there “into a disaster of a different magnitude,” underlining the filmmaker’s invitation to observe and be surprised.

Produced by Maxi Haslberger and Balthasar Busmann, September Afternoon features cinematography by Thomas Oswald. Schmidt directed and edited the movie based on his screenplay. The cast features Amin Motallebzadeh, Katharina Grossmann, Hedi Grossmann and Ada Kurzhöfer. Kino Rebelde is handling international sales.

September Afternoon is the second Schmidt film traveling to Locarno. His First Time [The Time for All but Sunset — Violet] premiered at the Swiss festival in 2021 and received a Pardi di Domani special mention.

On his website, the filmmaker describes himself as a “gréyalisateur,” ​emphasizing grey as a midpoint, average – or rather, relativity and ambivalence – ​and the French word for director, “réalisateur,” or someone who brings a film to life. He also calls himself a “dozing artist (concept, photo, video).” And his bio on the website highlights: “He started dreaming at the age of four after visiting the movie theater in his socialist small town south of Leipzig for the very first time” before the GDR and West Germany reunited.

Asked about the inspiration for his films, Schmidt tells THR: “It’s all based on ​experiences, ​observations or interpretations of observations.” In the case of September Afternoon, he recalls: “I experienced a similar situation that was as unrelaxed as can be. And I was ​sadly disappointed​ that I didn’t film or didn’t have a friend with a hand camera there to film.”

Does he have a detailed plan or script? “I think in detail about what ​exactly ​happens and what is said despite starting the process with wanting to leave things as open as possible,” including for the actors,” he says. “But sometimes things get too ​concrete​ and go beyond what really interests me, and then I pare back.”

The process of filming September Afternoon came with some surprises. “When we shot the film, it was late September and really stormy, which made things much harder than expected,” Schmidt explains. “I had originally planned to make the wind seem stronger than it was. ​But my experience so far has shown that it’s good for the films when some things turn out differently than anticipated. While that stresses me out immensely, getting through it together with others does me a world of good and provides me with longer-lasting stability.”

Music plays a key role in Schmidt’s films, even though he says he couldn’t compose any himself, and so do commercials. “​In the ’90s, there were commercials that were extremely elaborate and visually captivating, almost poetic, yet emotionally manipulative – that fascinated me, he shares. “I had an interest in them. And I think these are spots people recognize. In the case of September Afternoon, the commercial came late in the process. It is an element that adds ambiguity.”

Schmidt has also referenced other movies in his films, with his latest including a scene from Philippe Garrel’s Le Révélateur. How do these cinematic “quotes” find their way into his works? “I find these in the very long development processes,” he tells THR. “I bring together a bigger collection of ideas, thoughts and associations, saved in a wide chaotic note, and bring them into question and a rating and priority structure at some later point, at the latest when I name that work. When a feeling for the film arises then, it’s also less sober and dry than it sounds now.”

​​Late in September Afternoon, there is a scene using light in a specific way, and Schmidt made sure not to simply copy ​the very specific solutions of ​other directors​ “for no reason​​​.” He highlights: “I don’t want to repeat ​every​​​thing.” ​The effect used in the end was “common enough and, in all its simplicity, also effective enough,” the filmmaker explains.

Some may say not much happens over long passages of Schmidt’s films, but the creative doesn’t believe that movies need “action.” “That’s not my thing at all. That provokes me to the max,” he tells THR. “But it is a core problem that you must convince people that ​less, or ​nothing, happening can be​ okay or even ​​ ​fascinating and also that you don’t need dialogue.”

The same goes for uniform tastes and approaches. “I find it hard to handle uniformity,” Schmidt says. “It ​​unsettles​​ and ​frightens​ me if people subject themselves to ​trends, fashions and ​the whims of the masses,​ or individuals​. I understand that this view also excludes things, but I ​just don’t like any adaptation without questioning and a valid reason.”

That said, he doesn’t make films simply to provoke audiences, but out of curiosity and also to potentially discover a community of people outside the mainstream. “​For me, it’s a pretty reliable opportunity to find like-minded people,” Schmidt says. “And I appreciate it when people come up to me and give me the feeling that I am a bit normal.”