Beatrice Behn is Senior Film Critic and Editor-in-Chief of Kino-Zeit, the largest German language film magazine for arthouse and independent film. “The Artist & The Pervert” is her first feature-length documentary.

“The Artist & the Pervert” will premiere at the 2018 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival on April 27. The film is co-directed by René Gebhardt.

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

BB: “The Artist & The Pervert” is a documentary about a relationship that makes people’s heads explode. Georg Friedrich Haas is one of the most renowned living composers of classical music. His wife Mollena is a famous Kink educator and storyteller. Together they live in a rather public 24/7 BDSM relationship. He is her master and she is his slave — an unusual combination which becomes highly political.

Georg is a white Austrian man and child of Nazi parents. Mollena is an African-American woman. The film documents their lives between perversion, art, and love, but most importantly it explores what radical, unapologetic self-determination looks like.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

BB: I was intrigued by the idea of one relationship challenging so many important topics of today’s society. How could a woman who considers herself a feminist submit to a man? How can a man who considers himself a feminist have his wife be a slave? How could a white man who was raised as a Nazi be dominant to an African-American woman and why would she allow herself to be his slave? Does his new lifestyle change his art? And what about hers? Is there space left for her art if she is his 24/7 muse?

I stumbled over their story when they outed themselves in The New York Times, and the comments there and elsewhere on the internet were prompt, harsh, and judging. It is easy to judge. However, I am a vociferous advocate of the art of seeing and learning, so this is what I did, together with my co-director René. We watched and learned.

W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?

BB: I want people leaving the theater to think about their own lives and whether or not they live in a way they really want to. And if they don’t — and most of us don’t — I want them to ask themselves “why not?“

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

BB: I had always thought that my biggest challenge would probably be self-doubt. This is my first documentary, and I had no clue how to pull this off. But in the end, the biggest challenge was time.

We had no funding and worked multiple jobs and projects. Working during the day, editing during the night, and scheduling transcontinental flights around work shifts, etc. It was two years of working 15–20 hours a day, seven days a week. I wouldn’t recommend this way to make a film — it’s bad for your health and social life. But it was totally worth it.

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

BB: This project had no budget, no funding, nothing. It was me, my co-director René, two halfway decent cameras, and a preparation phase of under two weeks. We contacted Georg and Mollena, they agreed to being documented, and two weeks later we were filming in their bedroom in New York.

We did everything by ourselves. If we did not know how to do it, we literally watched YouTube tutorials. We came a long way, but in the end we needed money for post-production. And then a little miracle happened. Random, unknown people — friends and some fans of our protagonists — rallied behind our crowdfunding and together we managed.

W&H: What does it mean for you to have your film play at Hot Docs?

BB: Honestly, when I applied it was one of those “this will never work out, but what have we got to lose“ applications. When we were accepted, I screamed so loud you could probably hear it from Berlin, Germany all the way to Toronto, Canada.

Hot Docs is an insane and grand accomplishment, and it has already opened doors for us that we did not even know existed.

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

BB: Worst advice: “You should go to film school first.” This is complete bullshit and a weird mechanism to discourage people from just trying something out. It’s also a vicious gatekeeping strategy for many people who cannot afford film school or wouldn’t be accepted. For me, this is part of the problem with the film industry, which is dominated by white men who usually come from wealthy backgrounds.

Best advice: Shia LaBeouf’s “Do it!“ Video. This might sound ridiculous, but if you think about it, it’s hard to argue against him. Also, nobody else gave me really good advice, so Shia is still the best I heard.

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

BB: If you are passionate about it, just do it. If you don’t know how, educate yourself. Don’t wait for other people to do it for you or to help you. Do not listen to other people’s fears, neatly packaged into what seems like advice.

When negotiating or asking for rights, use a gender-neutral name or abbreviate your name. People will think you are male and answer quicker, friendlier, and give you a better price.

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

BB: I will name my most recent favorite one because there are dozens: Dee Rees’ “Mudbound.” She should have won an Oscar for this one, in my opinion, and it’s a shame it ended up on Netflix. “Mudbound“ reminds me of the grand, epic filmmaking of the classical American cinema period, threading together multiple storylines in such a beautiful and artistic way. It’s incredibly well told, beautifully shot, and has a devastatingly perfect aura of melancholy, pain, and trauma that will seep all the way into your heart and wound you in a bittersweet way. In short, it is perfect cinema.

W&H: Hollywood and the global film industry are in the midst of undergoing a major transformation. Many women — and some men — in the industry are speaking publicly about their experiences being assaulted and harassed. What are your thoughts on the #TimesUp movement and the push for equality in the film business?

BB: In general, this is a great thing and it’s about time this happened! It is very important to come together and organize. However, it remains to be seen if #TimesUp can overcome internal differences that will occur, and if it can learn from the mistakes of other movements. I am hopeful, but this will only work out if this topic is dealt with thoroughly, globally, and most importantly, in an intersectional kind of way.

When I look at the past of the women’s movement there was always a subgroup of affluent white women dominating the discourse and deciding which topics and people are important and which not. This has always led to other women being betrayed and ignored, which in return always leads to movements splitting up and fighting against themselves instead of the system that oppresses them. So fingers crossed this won’t happen this time around.