Der Verdacht

My inspiration for this story came from a documentary I made in 2006 called “the baker did it” - which was based on true events that had taken place not far from my hometown.
The local baker of a small village was suspected of robbing a bank and killing a pensioner. The documentary focused mainly on the reactions of the inhabitants of the village to this brutal act and their behaviour towards the baker. A man who was now no longer a part of the community but a criminal in their eyes, even though there was no substantial proof.

This suspicion tore right through the fabric of the community. It became the root of my graduation film SUSPECT. This was also challenging because I was returning “home” to southern Germany to make this film. The story takes place in the so called “badische provinz” - a middle-class, conservative region influenced by traditional values and a tight sence of community. Everyone knows everyone and everything. This provides a sence of safety and security however taking away people’s privacy. Everyone knows something, but no one knows everything.

Authenticity is a distinctive feature of my work. I really appreciate starting my work with a documentary approach. I used “the baker did it” for my research – a kind of social study. I worked with fragments and pieces of reality for my fictional story. Due to this fact I wrote the dialogue in the dialect of the region and worked with “mother tongue” actors, furthermore I shot the film on location found in reality and not in a studio. I think that SUSPECT tells a story about life in a small community – a story not only from German countryside.

Despite its regional emphasis, SUSPECT is not a “Heimatfilm”. It’s a universal story, focussed on human behaviour. It is a story about love in the face of doubt, about the power of belief over fact, about shattering ideals and lost faith.