Sandra Hüller on her personal connection to Cold War drama Fatherland

German actress Sandra Hüller has discussed her personal connection to the Cold War drama Fatherland in a new interview. The film is a historical drama set at the height of the Cold War and follows a father and daughter on a challenging and emotional journey across a divided Germany.

Hüller said she met many wonderful people on what she called a literal journey, with the production travelling extensively in Poland and especially Lower Silesia. She spoke warmly of working with Hans Zischler, whom she had admired for a long time, and August Diehl, a friend. She said those experiences inform the art she wants to make.

She praised director Pawel Pawlikowski's decision to place the film in Lower Silesia, in cities, towns and villages that had been German at some point. Hüller said the choice added another layer to the experience she and Zischler had in being in those places as Germans, and that it shaped the movie in ways she could not fully explain.

Asked why filmmakers are focusing on their own countries' past, Hüller said it was not a phenomenon of now. She said looking at the past can help people understand what they are doing today, where they want to go and how they want to shape the world. She called it a legitimate tool for artists to understand the world and each other.