Red dogs and seas of chicken

Interview with Director Christoph Sarow

What is Blieschow about and where did the idea for the story come from?

The idea for Blieschow came about in a rather roundabout way. For my diploma, I dealt with a wide variety of topics and finally landed on the question of when I first came into contact with "finitude”. I had to think of the farm of my grandparents (Blieschow), where I spent many summers during my childhood.

Suddenly this huge fund of absurd situations, fantastically exaggerated childhood memories and emotional constellations opened up. Was the German shepherd really so gigantic? Was I really standing in a sea of chicken? Did it all really happen that way? I had great fun writing everything down and working out the first concepts. That was the foundation, the setting, on which I could build creatively. A combination of old memories and newly invented ideas emerged. That is how a story about a boy who is in competition with his cousin to get his grandfather's approval and love, on a farm with rules that are foreign to the protagonist, developed.

When did you discover your love for animation and how did you ultimately find your way to Animationsinstitut?

The origin lies in my early fascination with drawing. As a child, I had many fantasy worlds and scenes floating around in my head. I captured them with paper, brushes and pencils. At some point, however, static images were no longer satisfactory and animation appeared on the horizon as the logical next step - and also disappeared again quite quickly. I then took a detour into video editing and post-production, only to realize after a few years that I missed drawing and animation still fascinated me. I researched and actually found animation majors that I could apply to in a timely manner. The only problem was that I did not know how to animate in 2D, so I taught myself After Effects in two weeks and meanwhile finished my first animation film, which was also my application film. Fortunately, it worked out. My path to Animationsinstitut at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg was not very straightforward, but it might not have worked out any other way.

What happened after Blieschow and after you graduated from Animationsinstitut? What are you working on now?

Fortunately, Blieschow had a successful festival tour, which allowed me to visit many festivals and meet other filmmakers. At the same time, I participated in the European Development Lab "Animation Sans Frontières" to develop new material for future films. Of course, the pandemic changed my plans for the future a bit, but it also had its advantages. I used the time to further my education and to expand my technical spectrum. Now I am working in Berlin as a freelance animation director and illustrator and am developing a new animation film.

You want to know more about Christoph Sarow? Click here to visit his website.