Interview Alice Schmid (‘Die Kinder vom Napf’)

Amsterdam, College Hotel, Friday 16 November 2012

Alice Schmid is in Amsterdam to promote her latest documentary ‘Die Kinder vom Napf’. The documentary maker used to make films about war children, about abuse and other intense subjects, but now she has filmed her own town with the cheerful youth. I spoke to her in the lobby of the College hotel on a cold day in November, at least Schmid says it is warmer in Switzerland! The sixty-something is wearing a thick sweater and a flowy skirt and her hair is in a long braid.

‘Die Kinder Vom Napf’ is a film that Schmid has always wanted to make. The personal project is about the area where she grew up nearby and still lives. The children live high in the mountains and have to descend every day by cable cars to get to the school in the valley. There are only fifty pupils in that one school, while in the past every village had its own school. Due to the depopulation of the area, this school is also in danger of closing, which means that the students would have to travel even further every day.

365 days

For a year, Schmid filmed the children every day, rain or shine, like or not. Every day she was at the school, asking the children what was going on in their lives. Then if something had happened, like a falcon that grabbed the chickens, she went along to film. The children are fighting for the director’s attention, and they all want to show her their lives, their homes and their animals, she says with a laugh. Every child has tasks in the afternoon: they take care of the cows, they mow the grass, they catch mice, they already do adult work to help their parents. In this way the children tell everything about the area and the parents hardly come into the picture. Schmid has explicitly chosen to let the story be about the children. Because: “Everyone knows they have parents and teachers, you don’t have to show them.”

Fifty children

This is not her first film in which children play a major role, in fact, all of Schmid’s previous films have had a role for children. When Schmid was still an assistant director, she was always asked when to work with children. “I don’t know exactly, it’s a naturally recurring thing.” After doing a project with the children from Napf, a teacher of the children asked if she wanted to make a film about them. Schmid always had the idea in mind to make a film about the children who live there. “I want to show how a youth can be and pay tribute to the area and nature, after all my films with intense subjects.” However, financing was a problem for a long time, because the funds did not believe that a film about fifty children would do well.

440 hours

She then took matters into her own hands, and bought herself a camera and sound equipment. She had never done everything herself when making a film. “I just started, with no fixed plan or idea for the outcome. After every day I wrote down everything about the recordings, and after a year I had a whole book of notes. This was followed by another year of assembly.” Not an easy task, as there was a whopping 440 hours of material. Still, she promised every child that it would end up in the movie. “In the end, twelve different versions were made, which are quite different from each other. I kept choosing other fragments, until only the nicest and most beautiful moments were in the film.” However, Schmid’s favorite moment has been lost; namely the boys who play football on a steep hill and always run after the ball screaming. As she talks about this scene, she starts to beam. It is clear that the director has a big heart for the children.

Pride

The children were so used to the camera that they were amazed at the screening. “They asked how I filmed it, they couldn’t remember!” She laughs out loud. “That’s because they’re so focused on showing everything, because they’re so proud of their lives. Even now that the film is being shown all over Europe, they are very proud.” When asked whether their parents immediately think it’s a good idea, she shakes her head vigorously. “No not at all! The parents were initially not very enthusiastic about the idea of ​​the documentary, because they were afraid that their poverty would be filmed. Afterwards, they realized that the film is only about the children, and that it was mainly filmed outside. Now the parents are proud, and maybe even a little jealous!” The children are allowed to accompany the director to the film festivals where she is invited. Normally there would be no money to go on holiday, and here the children see the big city of Berlin or the sea in Slovenia for the first time. The children often get homesick after three days, and the parents are also very happy when they are home safely.

Ghosts

Meanwhile, Schmid proved the funds that refused to subsidize her wrong. ‘Die Kinder vom Napf’ is a huge success in Switzerland and she has already made enough money for her next film, for which she is already researching. She will also record it in Napf, but that will be a less cheerful film. “In the idyllic and close-knit community there is bullying and exclusion. People are very superstitious. There are many myths about the abandoned houses in the valley. The sweet, special girl Laura, who was born into the family that is not accepted, and a ghost girl who was thrown from the mountain, will play a part in my next film,” she says gravely, clearly eager to to start. Schmid also wrote a book set in the same area called ‘Dreizehn is meine Zahl’ (“Thirteen, that’s my number”). In it, a young girl has to deal with bullying and incest, which, according to Schmid, often occurs in isolated areas.