Sergej Stanojkovski: Yes, we are currently working on a film project that is supported by the Film Fund that is about people with migration background in the Ruhr area. The Ruhr area can certainly be developed as creative zone. As film region, it has a lot of potential with its urban locations, woods and lakes. The human phsysiognomy also offers a lot. It's a pity that many companies still go to Düsseldorf, Cologne or Berlin only to disappear in the masses there. To us, it is interesting that you are able to position yourself more prominently in Oberhausen. It might take longer but it makes sense in the long run. The Ruhr area might face the same question like Croatia when it comes to its external effect: How does a region mark itself with a positive effect on the public?

Being the city of Short Film Days, can Oberhausen become the film metropolis in the area?

That's not impossible. The citizens of Oberhausen don't even know what a colourful name their city has in the film world. People from the industry hear "Oberhausen" and they think of Scorsese, Polanski, Forman, Wenders, Herzog, Kluge and Schlingensief right away. All of them showed their early works there.

Yes. You should act way more dynamic and active in Oberhausen - rather than wait for the state or the region. There are empty spaces available for low rents - those are potential production offices and film locations. Yet: Someone has to make a concept and market it. A "Film Office Oberhausen" or a cluster manager would be such an idea. We suggested it to Oberhausen but they never saw it as an option.

Is that the reason why you build up such a festival in Croatia rather than in the Ruhr area?

There are many factors. One thing is obvious: There is not much money in Zadar either but all levels of the city really enjoy having such a festival. Things are made possible because of ideas and getting to it in a motivated way. In the Ruhr area, one expected those impulses from the Capital of Culture but RUHR.2010 could not deliver such big things.

The mentality problem with many acting persons lies deeper. All they know is the labour-of-love artist - and will then pay him that bad. It's no problem to spend 50,000 euros for material assets - but a film that costs that much is way too expensive. This completely wrong attitude does not exisit in anglo-saxon countries that are way ahead of us because of this. The German state certainly understands this matter but it hasn't reached local politics in the Ruhr area yet.