Interview by Kelsey Moore

Valeska Grisebach’s directorial debut, “Be My Star,” won the Critics’ Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Torino Film Festival’s main prize. Her second feature film, “Longing,” received many awards at international festivals, including the Special Jury Award in Buenos Aires, the Grand Prix of Asturias at the Gijón International Film Festival, and the Special Jury Award at the Warsaw International Film Festival.

“Western” made its world premiere at the 2017 New York Film Festival. It hits theaters February 16.

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

VG: “Western” tells the story of a group of German construction workers who go to a border area between Bulgaria and Greece to build a hydroelectric power plant.

The wild landscape provokes adventurous feelings among the men. A tense, competitive relationship develops between Vincent, the foreman, and Meinhard, the newbie. Both are around 50 years old, and they believe that life owes them an experience. They discover a village nearby that becomes a stage for their conflict.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

VG: I grew up with the Western genre, sitting in front of a TV set in 1970s West Berlin. I had a desire to return to that genre; it captivated me in a profound way. I wanted to grapple with the lonely, melancholic heroes and male mythology as portrayed in the Western.

The genre’s modernism is exciting: Despite all its conservative elements, it attempts to portray something about the construction of society and the responsibility of the individual. And yet, it still reflects on its own contradictions. The search for independence — or to leave everything behind — always contends with the longing to arrive somewhere, to belong, and is often taken to the point of opportunism.

I was interested in locating the duel as an enduring principle in the everyday here and now. I was interested in the intimacy of it, the inversion of “love at first sight.” That was the question facing the characters: How close would they dare to approach the other, the unfamiliar, the unknown?

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

VG: Regardless of the film’s plot, I hope the viewer spends time with the people in the story, and that the moment the film captures has an element of transcendence that touches them in some way. I’d like for something to unfold between the lines of the film, something that reminds the viewer of the ambivalence of relationships and the amount of courage it can take to really get close to someone.

Meinhard, the main character, has a chance to reinvent himself in a foreign context. He has this Walt Disney moment: He realizes that, in Bulgaria, he can experience emotions that he struggles with at home. In the process, he gets caught in a trap of his own making and burdens himself with a kind of guilt.

I was intrigued by this moment of shame, when the others become aware of his weaknesses and deceit. I’d like the viewer to be there with Meinhard as he faces up to this embarrassment and, perhaps for the first time, truly communicates with the local people. To me, it’s a vivid, hopeful moment.

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

VG: This film has a larger cast than my other films and, in a dramatic sense, there were a lot more ingredients in the mix than usual.

For me, it was a challenge to keep hold of all the different thematic strands. I don’t use a traditional screenplay. Instead, I take a more associative approach, so the story was constantly in flux. But despite that open-endedness, I was always focused on maintaining a sense of the whole and keeping the structure stable.

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

VG: “Western” is a co-production between Germany, Bulgaria, and Austria. In all three countries, the national film boards funded the film. In Germany, regional film funds and television contributed, too. Producers own equity, and MGs were also used.

Financing was quite a long process, but I am happy that we have found strong partners.

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

VG: A few days before the shoot began, Petrelik village — our location — threw a party at which an Orthodox priest blessed the shoot. For us, it was certainly pretty unusual, but it was also a really beautiful moment. There was lamb, rakia, conversation, and music.

Momchil Sinanov, one of the older men who’s also in the film, took me aside and said, “Spokoino Valeska,” which means relax. “I can tell you have to make a lot of decisions. No matter what’s going on, take a quiet moment for yourself. Go for a walk.”

In the midst of the hubbub of the shoot — during which you always have to be this official figure, the director — that brief encounter, an exchange conducted by both sides in pidgin, stuck with me.

I can’t think of the worst advice. If I ever got terrible advice, then I forgot it right away.

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

VG: Despite — or precisely because of — all the rules that filmmaking inevitably entails, I think it’s important to keep asking yourself how and under what conditions you want to work, and to take that question seriously. That also means being resourceful and arranging your work situation so that it fits the project and fits you.

In filmmaking, I think it’s extremely important to create a situation that’s as authentic as possible — one that facilitates your creativity and concentration. For me, making a film is a highly social and personal undertaking. That’s why I think it’s very important to work with people that I like and get along with.

There are also two comments from a friend in New York that I like to dig out when the need arises: Not “Less is more,” but “More is more,” and “Never take ‘No’ for an answer.”

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

VG: Catherine Breillat’s early films “A Real Young Girl” and “36 fillette.” When I saw them roughly 18 years ago, I was almost shocked that it took nearly 30 years for me to see films that told stories in such an existential way, that relate to my life and my experience of having been a girl.

That really caught me off guard. I then set out to see more of her work. At the time, it was difficult even to get a hold of her films. They encourage you to peer into areas you don’t dare look at. They challenge you to be brave.

W&H: There have been significant conversations over the last couple of years about increasing the amount of opportunities for women directors yet the numbers have not increased. Are you optimistic about the possibilities for change? Share any thoughts you might have on this topic.

VG: I’m optimistic because I see how many great, interesting female directors there are, and because the movies speak for themselves. That’s a fact you can’t ignore. That said, I believe female directors face obstacles and potential limitations, such as low budgets.

Ultimately, I think the film business is much like other industries. The shift towards the equal distribution of opportunities and funding is progressing slowly. For that reason, I think positive discrimination is entirely justified and not at all demeaning. Indeed, it’s a pragmatic and necessary step.