To see at the cinema: The Teacher’s Room… Is this Oscar-nominated film based on a true story?

The Teacher’s Room is up against I, The Captain, Perfect Days, The Snow Circle and Zone of Interest at the 2024 Oscars for Best International Film.

What is it about? While a series of thefts occur in the faculty lounge, Carla Novak leads an investigation at the college where she teaches. Very quickly, the entire institution was shaken by his findings.

The birth of the project

The project was born when Ilker Chatak was on vacation with Johannes Danker, his co-author and childhood friend. The two men told each other stories of thefts experienced by those around them. The director recalls: “He told me that his sister, who is a math teacher, was caught stealing in her school. During the discussion, we remembered that when we were children, two boys took advantage of the absence of other students and went on a robbery spree. business. Everyone knew it, but no one wanted to be a snitch.”

“And one day, in physics class, three teachers came into the classroom and said: “All the girls, get out. Guys: Put your wallets on the table!” We both said to ourselves that this could make for an interesting story.”

All Movies at Low Prices: Spring Cinema is Back!

Prepare yourself

To justify himself, Ilker Chatak went to his old school in Berlin, where the director, whom he remembered, welcomed the director with open arms: “Unfortunately, we couldn’t shoot at the school, but he was with us throughout the writing, as well as many people specialized in education, such as teachers, school psychologists… They shared with us some methods that we used in the film. “He confides.

Find the right angle

Producer Ingo Fleiss encouraged Ilker Chatak and Johannes Danker to create a story around this idea of ​​a burglary in the staff room: “For a week, we went three or four times to write in a house in the middle of the forest. In an environment conducive to this concentration, we exchanged a lot and thought about what the film should be and how it would be. It should make us feel, but also what we wanted to talk about, what social issues we wanted to solve. All those ideas, when we came back, ended up in this script.”the film director recalls.

Oscars 2024: Ryan Gosling and Weird Barbie parody movie in ceremony trailer

Who for Carla Novak?

Leoni Benesh plays the main character of the teachers’ room. Ilker Chatak notes: “When we were writing, we had a wall full of photos of the actors. Leonie Benesch was there from the beginning. I always imagined a film with Leonie, because I appreciated her work over the years. Although we did more tests, I did it quickly. She realized that she was “mine “Karla Novak. She is exactly what the public perceives her to be in the film. We deliberately did not show her personal life.”

“Not the car she drives, not where she lives, not her boyfriend – if she has one. Those elements are not interesting. There was obviously a discussion beforehand because some people wanted to know more about her. But I was never worried. Based on my beliefs .A person’s character is always revealed when they make difficult decisions, when they are under stress or when they have to deal with problems. It is based on this principle that I cast the character of Leon.”

“I’ve rarely had so little interaction with an actor on set. His first sentence was always so right that I barely had to correct him.”

Create a 5th grade classroom

Ilker Chatak’s goal was to create a 5th grade. The director was looking for children between the ages of eleven and fourteen. This age group is characterized by the fact that some children are very advanced, others are more dreamy: “I wanted to see a lot of kids to get a sense of what a classroom was like at that age. We asked the kids to improvise in groups of four or five.”

“This exercise allowed us to see who stood out from the crowd. After we selected all the members of the class, I made sure to create unity among them to pay attention to what was happening on the set, what was happening. others… and above all, I explained to them the concept of working colleagues and the concept of solidarity, which is necessary in the context of filming”specified by the director.