Whose Mother Are You?

When it comes to cinema, says film director Dietrich Brüggemann (Kreuzweg), ownership is reciprocal, like family. One might say that someone is “his or her mother”, but that also means that you are “her child”.

I never demand that infamous “A Film By” credit. Even if it might not be plainly wrong (opinions vary), it still feels wrong. Of course you don‘t make a film by yourself. It‘s not a novel, nor a symphony. But guess what happens? Distributors go and write it on posters, anyway, because they feel the film is like a baby, which needs an identifiable father. So I guess saying “a film by Dietrich Brüggemann” is okay when you think of it like “a child raised by Dietrich Brüggemann”. Similarly, when I talk about a film I made, I say “my film” and don‘t feel wrong about it. But of course it doesn‘t mean I own the film. I also say “my mother”, which doesn’t mean I own her either. It just means that we‘re family – my mum and me, or my film and me. So I‘d say cinema is a family that everybody can join. But be warned: You‘ll be part of the family, so you‘ll have a certain degree of ownership – but the family also owns you, and always will.