Three young women are on trial. They have murdered a man. The nymphs met the attractive faun while bathing at a pond. Before the judge, each of the beauties tells a different version of the murder story. In the end, the corpse has disappeared. And also the perky girls finally vanish into thin air on the way to their cell. The plot is a summary of Lisa Brühlmann's diploma film. With this "erotic fiction " she will make her bachelor in the next weeks in Zurich at the film school of the ZHdK.
A story of her own devising, with which the author wanted to "transfer a Greek myth into the modern age. In the narrative form, film historians can also discover inspirations from the Japanese cinema of a Kurosawa. A stylistic adventure. A documentary on a specific topic as a thesis would probably have meant less risk. But the decision for the greater challenge is symptomatic for Lisa Brühlmann.
When the young communications and media student was allowed to work as an editorial trainee at Star TV, she wanted to throw away the chance in the middle of her nascent development into a presenter and first face three years of real training as an actress in Berlin. And when, after graduating from the Charlottenburg Acting School, the requests for roles became more and more numerous, she turned it up a notch.
Curious head
Brühlmann registered for the film school entrance exams, which were pretty crowded everywhere. She would have passed the first round at the renowned star school Babelsberg, but then decided on the ZHdK in Zurich. "I knew a few good graduates and coming back from Berlin was a gut decision that I don't regret until now." At many other film schools, he says, you're "sealed off like in a can." Zurich is a bit freer. "You have more possibilities, it's an art school. You're allowed to try out other subjects in an interdisciplinary way." Admittedly, one can also be overwhelmed by this freedom. "But if you know what interests you, Zurich is the right place," says Brühlmann.
"Many actors talk about directing themselves one day. But very few of them actually do it, because they are aware of the many demands and the huge amount of work involved. Lisa, however, has pursued her desire very consistently and also completed a training course," Reto Salimbeni has also been able to detect such a trait in Lisa Brühlmann. The head of Manifesto Films cast the actress as a figurehead for his Ikea film "Arrange Your Life". During this collaboration they got to know each other better, Brühlmann showed her "showreel" from film school and Salimbeni was immediately enthusiastic. "I saw that Lisa has a very substantive connection to short-form films. She thinks holistically as a director. Analyzing her short films and music clips, it was clear to me after a very short time that she is highly talented and has a successful future in advertising."
The music videos have also convinced Shannon Mildon, producer at Manifesto: "They look fresh and stylish. Lisa likes to work with irony, and creates images with sophisticated harmony. You can already see a very personal signature." Salimbeni can also agree with this assessment when he says, "Often with up-and-coming directors, you see them clinging to a genre concept and not letting the idea breathe." In the case of Brühlmann and her short film "Spring Awakening," produced from her own funds "to try things out," there is a "very stylistic lightness to it" that Salimbeni "naturally thought immediately that the young director could be an ideal addition to Manifesto." At the company, which produces more than 30 spots a year, some with other top directors from Canada and Hollywood, for example, Brühlmann is not to be locked into the "advertising for the young" box, however. "The commitment has less to do with young and old and more to do with male female," Salimbeni specifies. "There are a large number of commercials that are aimed more at a female target audience, and mostly these commercials are made by men. In that, I often see that the tone is off. I also hear this in feedback from women," the director explains.
Salimbeni and Shannon Mildon therefore note in their new commitment "a great talent with women's themes or female staging - without falling into a cliché, but to be provocative as well as modern and fresh as needed. These are things that are not usually on our radar. After all, I have to see a market for my new director." To do this, Manifesto now wants to "take its time and wait until the right projects come along." For Lisa Brühlmann, such an employment relationship offers the chance that she can continue on her two tracks of acting and directing into the future.
Face in demand
She was about to graduate from acting school in Berlin when a casting request came in from Swiss television for the doctor series "Tag und Nacht" (Day and Night). Lisa Brühlmann was able to convince and soon became known to a wider audience as practice assistant Connie. "When you come out of acting school and shoot for seven months at a time, it's a good further training and an enormous opportunity. I was able to build a great network and gain experience. The role has brought me a lot. Acting-wise as well as otherwise." "Swiss television has found its young star," the press was also pleased to hear, and watched further developments with growing interest. First, however, Lisa Brühlmann wanted to finish the acting school she had interrupted. "I was really looking forward to going back to school for another three months."
After graduating in Berlin, roles in German TV series and films followed with regular cadence. In the crime series "Alarm for Cobra 11", the Zurich native was hired for a leading role. In a "Tatort" Lisa was murdered as a drug-addicted waitress. For this she had to "lie for hours on the kitchen floor in an unheated house ". The cold experience at the "crime scene" was nevertheless worthwhile. "If you can list this cult series in your bio, everyone immediately knows what to do with it," Lisa has found. The jump-start worked. In "The Man with the Bassoon," about the biography of Udo Jürgens, which just won the German Television Award, she played a Russian nanny.
Unlike many other young actresses from Switzerland, who - with a preference for Hollywood - usually rush from casting to casting in vain, Lisa Brühlmann was able to skip this "door knocking" for her career. "That wouldn't be my thing either. I'm more reserved in character," she reveals. The Hansen management selects suitable roles for the actress. Then, at the casting, the competition takes place only in a shortlist of five actresses who actually fit the role.
She can currently be seen in the new Swiss feature film "Missen Massaker". Brühlmann would rather explain in another conversation that the horror comedy is not finding its audience in the cinema, because this discussion about Switzerland, cinema and film culture is beyond the scope of this portrait of Brühlmann as a commercial filmmaker. Glad about the role, though, she is. "I've been able to learn a lot from director Michael Steiner." She herself can't act so well that you wouldn't think she'd like to direct a feature film herself someday. "I admire women like Julie Delpy and Sofia Coppola. They both manage to combine acting and directing." Brühlmann also already has a film subject in mind that is important to her. But, as we all know, one never makes it to the screen if you start talking about your immature projects too early.
