Emily Atef is a French-Iranian filmmaker who was born in Berlin. She studied directing at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB). Her first feature film, “Molly’s Way,” won the German Cinema New Talent Award for best screenplay at the 2005 Munich Film Festival and the Grand Jury Award at the Mar del Plata Film Festival. Her other features include “The Stranger in Me” (“Das Fremde in mir”), “Kill Me” (Töte mich”), and “3 Days in Quiberon” (“3 Tage in Quiberon”). The latter won seven Lolas at the 2018 German Film Awards, including Outstanding Feature Film and Best Director.

“Someday We’ll Tell Each Other Everything” is screening at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival, which runs from February 16-26.

W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.

EA: It’s the story of Maria, a 19 year-old who wants to test her limits and boundaries as she embarks on a furtive and passionate relationship with a charismatic man twice her age during the first summer after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

EA: What I found fascinating in Daniela Krien’s novel “Some Day We’ll Tell Each Other Everything,” which we adapted to the screen with this film, was the taboo-breaking portrayal of a young woman’s desire, of female desire, with all its facets. The curiosity of the main character Maria, to test her limits, to understand herself and life, without fear of transgressing moral or social boundaries. The fact that she is allowed to do this as a woman, especially as a young woman, is something I was very interested in bringing to the screen.

W&H: What do you want people to think about after they watch the film?

EA: I would like people to be inspired to think about their own journey. To look at what it means to explore and question who you are. This can take a lot of courage. At a young age — but not limited to a young age — social norms, family, and peer pressure have a huge influence on shaping who you think you should become.

For me, Maria is very courageous.

W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?

EA: Whilst writing it was always clear that we wanted to tell an equal love story despite the age difference. The story is told from Maria’s perspective. She is the active one at the end of the day — she is the one who chooses, despite her younger age.

During the financing of the film I needed to talk about it and make it clear to the financiers that Maria was in no way a victim.

W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.

EA: In Germany the funding is mainly public, and my producer Karsten Stöter ( ROW Pictures) and I had already successfully made my previous German film, “3 Days in Quiberon,” together. So there was already some trust in our work from funding institutions and broadcasters. What also helped was that Daniela Krien had also just come out with the bestseller “Love in Case of Emergency.”

W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?

EA: The stories happening around me have always inspired me. I’ve always been very curious and have asked a lot of questions to people close to me or even to strangers because their tales, especially when they are existential, have interested me. And some of these stories or moments in a person’s life inspire me to a point that I see them on the big screen, I want to tell them using inspiring actors, images, sound, music, poetry.

There is no other job I could ever imagine doing than this one. It fulfills me completely.

W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?

EA: The worst advice: Your main character has to be likeable.

The best advice: If you want to make films for the cinema, for the big screen, you need to fight to tell your personal vision. You need to be open to criticism, but you need to make sure to let your voice as a filmmaker stay true to you and your story.

W&H: What advice do you have for other women directors?

EA: You can do anything. Don’t be afraid to express your ideas even if you’re not sure of them — that’s something I have always seen done by our male colleagues, even if the ideas were just a hint of an idea, they voice it full of confidence. We must learn this too.

Also, we need to be aware of our strength, which is that we as women are often much more open to working in and with a team. We are much less the ego-shooters, the one person genius. Film is team work, especially in fiction film. As directors, the inspiration and talent of others is essential even if we carry the main vision of the film.

W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.

EA: “Beau travail” from Claire Denis, “La Ciénaga” by Lucrecia Martel, and “Red Road” by Andrea Arnold for their unique, intelligent, and powerful cinematic language and storytelling skills, and “On Body and Soul” by ldikó Enyedi or “Lady Chatterley” by Pascale Ferran for their humanity.

W&H: What, if any, responsibilities do you think storytellers have to confront the tumult in the world, from the pandemic to the loss of abortion rights and systemic violence?

EA: Well, I wouldn’t talk for storytellers in general, but for myself I feel I have a responsibility with the films I make. In my stories I am always interested in standing up for the multiple points of view of human life and precisely against this suppression and discrimination of so-called deviations and taboos like the stigmatization of women who have suffered from post-natal depression ( “The Stranger in Me”), the right to determine your own death ( “More Than Ever”), or to explore your own desire (“Someday We’ll tell each other everything”).

W&H: The film industry has a long history of underrepresenting people of color onscreen and behind the scenes and reinforcing — and creating — negative stereotypes. What actions do you think need to be taken to make Hollywood and/or the doc world more inclusive?

EA: Very simple. More people of color — and that means all color/religions/nationalities: Hispanic, Middle Eastern, Africans, Asians, Travellers — should be put in positions of power and positions of decision makers: CEOs of studios, streamers, broadcasters, agents. And if we then see that things are still changing too slowly then there should be quotas, [and] the same [goes] for female workers behind the scenes.