26/04/2023 - In his film, shot in Armenia, the German director leads us on a journey through a shaken and scarred landscape

(© Nafis Fathollahzadeh)

Daniel Kötter's essayistic and intimate documentary Landshaft [+see also:
film review
interview: Daniel Kötter
film profile], which was shot in Armenia, had its world premiere in the competitive Burning Lights section of this year's Visions du Réel. We asked the German director about his experience on the ground, and his own unique approach to the region and its inhabitants.

Cineuropa: What is your connection to the area depicted in the film?
Daniel Kötter: I have a connection to this area and the region in general, having worked several times in Iran and the neighbouring countries. As for this project, it was my first encounter with Armenia. It started with an invitation to come and do a very open piece of research. At the beginning, there no was plan for it to become a film. But then I visited different areas of Armenia, with the topic of mining at the back of my mind, because I had dealt with it before. Then I came across this particular place between Lake Sevan and the Sotk gold mine, which fascinated me. There is a very striking relationship between the geography, the social situation and the psychological condition of the people living there. You can observe different political and historical layers there that are shaped by the geography. There is the war, the gold mine that’s right on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the politics of migration.

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How long were you there for in total?
I visited the area five times over the space of one-and-a-half years. Before shooting, it was important to build a network, and I wanted to observe the area during different seasons. In my method of working, research is an important part of the process, during which I already do some filming. And parts of this footage are integrated into the final film.

Were you ever in danger, or did you feel as if you were?
I have worked in many sensitive areas, and I am used to it. I try to stay away from the most dangerous places as much as possible. Nevertheless, there was a village called Kut where I did some research. It is now under daily attack by snipers. So for the main shooting periods, it was not possible to go back there, partly because I would have needed special permission from the military, for example. I then worked in a neighbouring village, which is actually only 500 metres away. In this area, there are many parties to consider: the most threatening thing for me was the Russian security guards at the mine. The Russian army guarantees a certain buffer between the two countries, which are at war. We started filming right after the war in Ukraine started, and the presence of the Russian army intimidated me the most. While we were filming in the villages, there was no military activity. Last September, however, there was a bombing in one of the places I had been filming in. I was not in danger, but I felt great empathy for the people in the area.

That said, you nevertheless managed to keep your distance. Is this why you avoid showing the protagonists up close, rarely showing their faces?
At the beginning, I thought about making a film that would represent both sides. I also wanted to travel to the Azerbaijani side, even though it would have been difficult. But the longer I spent working in the area, the more I accepted this situation of the enemy’s invisibility. You leave your house and you are surrounded on three sides by mountains, where the Azerbaijani military is stationed and can see you, but you can't see them. I then decided to stay true to this perspective, which I adopted myself. I still tried to be neutral, even though the film shows empathy for these people without power.

As for the form and my methodology, I try to create empathy with situations, spaces and systems, or with social classes and certain groups of society, rather than with individuals. In order to achieve this, it helps not to film the faces of the protagonists, but, as in this movie, rather to have a narrative like a journey, which allows people to appear and disappear throughout the film. For me, it's more about what they say and about the presence of their voice. I want to give them a voice, rather than giving them a face and representing them visually. Of course, I still try to be close to the human beings and their spaces. The main protagonist of this film can be considered to be the landscape and how it is suffering from this situation. The humans are one part of it, as are the sheep, the car, the water or the mountains.