‘Small talk is simply a well-prepared big talk'

Kosslick on conversation rules at the Berlinale

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18. Februar 2005 Mr. Kosslick, some people say the festival program isn't much better today, or rather wasn't much worse before. Still, ever since you took over, even Berlin's chilly temperatures don't seem as cold. How do you do it?
The movies we show are serious enough, and I want people to feel comfortable while they're here to have a good time. That's why I am trying to convey a party feeling and to sell them a humorous Germany.

Maybe we can learn something from you. What's a witty welcome address? Would you recommend addressing someone in the audience directly, react to coughs and what's a good last sentence?
That's actually the most difficult part, to stand in front of a crowd of journalists, like recently at the first Berlinale news conference, and to start on a witty note. Americans have a special technique. They always start off with a joke, and everything works out. My problem is that I am no good at all at telling jokes. So I always try to come up with an idea, and that often goes awfully wrong. Sometimes I get muddled, start mixing things up, but that may, in fact, come across as cute. In the end, it's always good to have a catchy comeback ready.

What was your catchy phrase at the news conference?
I didn't have one. I only thought that if I want to talk about sex - which is what I did, since that's the focus of this year's Berlinale - I'd have to come up with something really interesting.

So?
There's a good story about that. It used to be a joke, but I couldn't remember it. I only remembered the punch line. It's about this guy who goes into a pharmacy to buy Viagra and asks the pharmacist to grind it for him in a mortar. Aghast, the pharmacist says that the man has to swallow the drug, that it won't be of any use as a powder. But the man snorts the Viagra like a line of cocaine and says: “You know, sex is only in the brain.“ So I thought that was a good story to tell.

Did the journalists like it?
In the end, I opted for something about French director Catherine Breillat who is organizing a workshop on “directing sex.“ I said all those who don't know how to do it should go there. She'll explain everything for just €5.

Let's talk about small talk. Many people, especially in Germany, aren't very good at it. You're not supposed to honestly answer the question “How are you?“ Are there any other important rules?
First of all, I have a folder for every meeting with a summary on what's it all about, who the people are, what they did so far. And whenever I read something in the paper that might go well with the topic under discussion I clip it out. If I have a meeting with someone from Britain soon and read a good British story about the ban on foxhunting, it goes into the folder. That way, I always have something to say.

Are you saying, you have a folder full of anecdotes sorted by nationality?
No, it's sorted according to the festival program. I have around 40 appointments a day during the Berlinale. Of course, I won't talk about the Korean film when I meet the Japanese delegation. I'll be prepared and know what they did, what their market share is and so on. And I'll have some sort of funny story on the Japanese up my sleeve that I'll try to whip out at some point. Often, it doesn't work out, but the Japanese are so polite, they'll laugh anyway. So in the end, it doesn't matter that much. Small talk is simply a very well-prepared big talk. I'm one of those people who make a very big effort to make everything seem effortless.

Three German movies have entered the competition, but lots of other German movies haven't. Is it easy for you to turn down a film?
I worked in public film funding for 15 years. And just like in any other cultural association, we had to turn down 80 percent of the projects. When I came here, I said, my team has to handle the rejections, I'll take care of the nominations myself.

Good cop, bad cop?
Yes. But at some point, I turned it around. Now my team takes care of the nominations and I do the rejections myself. I have a lot of experience with refusals.

The interview was conducted
by Johanna Adorján,
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

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