Fabian Stumm

Film

23 November 2026

Film

Fabian Stumm

23 November 2026

Image: Michael Bennett

Q: Your films often move between comedy and drama, intimacy and awkwardness. What draws you to this mix, and why do you think humor is such a good way to talk about serious things?

A: I think humor has always been one of my most important tools for dealing with life. The older I get, the more I realize how closely comedy and tragedy are connected. I'm very drawn to these shifts in perspective. I also believe that laughter opens people up and makes an audience more receptive to new thoughts and different perspectives. I find that much more interesting than preaching from the screen. Humor can create a certain intimacy. It allows us to approach things that might otherwise feel too painful or uncomfortable to talk about.

When I made Bones and Names, I was surprised by how much audiences laughed at scenes I had always thought of as rather serious. With Sad Jokes, I wanted to take that a step further and place very different emotions right next to each other, without necessarily trying to blend them. I like the idea of an audience never being entirely sure whether they're about to laugh or cry and end up doing both.

Q: You spent many years working as an actor before directing your first feature film, Bones and Names. Was there a particular moment when you realized you wanted to tell your own stories?

A: It was a culmination of different things. I've always written on the side, short scenes or ideas for stories. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a painter or a writer, but then acting came along. Writing always felt very intimate, so I was hesitant to pursue it. I think I was also nervous about being perceived as an unhappy actor writing vanity projects for himself. Cinema meant too much to me, and I didn't want to take that risk.

The combination of the Covid pandemic, when everything stood still, and a growing longing to see more films and stories that reflected my own life as a gay man eventually led me to the idea for Bones and Names. It was a real family and friends project. We funded it ourselves and came together to join our creative forces. It was one of the most joyous and exciting times of my life. I never expected the warm reception it received. It felt like a huge pat on the back from life, telling me to keep going in that direction.

Sad Jokes, 2024

Image: Michael Bennett

Q: How does being an actor influence the way you direct other actors, and has directing changed the way you approach acting?

A: I guess I instinctively started directing actors the way I myself would like to be directed. It evolved very naturally. I can only work in a warm and friendly atmosphere, so I try to surround myself with people who feel the same and don't need tension to do good work. I often write with certain actors already in mind, so I enjoy composing the dialogue with their voices in my head. Sometimes it feels like writing a piece of music which they then get to perform in their own way when we film it.

I feel like I've become more open in my own acting since I started directing. I have a better understanding of the filmmaking process and how my performance fits into a film as a whole. I used to push myself a lot to reach a certain level of concentration. Now it feels nice to let myself go there with more ease and less pressure. This summer, I worked on Emil Klattenhoff's upcoming feature debut, which will be released next year. It was the first leading role I took on since I started directing my own films, and I think my new perspective on acting made the experience even more rewarding.

Q: Berlin has a distinctive independent film scene. How has living and working in the city shaped you as a filmmaker?

A: I've always felt a strong connection to the cinematic history of the city. It's one of the main reasons Berlin became my home. When I first moved here, I would go for long walks to discover the locations of my favorite film scenes. The subway station where Isabelle Adjani has her meltdown in Possession by Andrzej Żuławski, the canal from Under the Bridges by Helmut Käutner or the divided Berlin of Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three. Whenever I take my dog to Grunewald, I walk past the house where Romy Schneider once lived in the 1960s and think of her.

The Berlin School was also an important influence on me. Filmmakers like Ulrich Köhler, Angela Schanelec and Thomas Arslan helped shape a new kind of independent German cinema, and their work was an essential part of the film culture I discovered when I moved here. They showed me that it was possible to make very personal, formally distinctive films outside the conventions of mainstream German cinema.

"All these references continue to shape my own work. It's like a deep well that never runs dry."

Image: Birgit von Bally

Bones and Names, 2023

Image: Michael Bennett

Q: What are your three all-time favorite films, and what makes them so special to you?

A: It's impossible to choose, but here are three films close to my heart that have been on my mind lately: César and Rosalie by Claude Sautet from 1972, for its endlessly shifting dynamics of love and heartache and everything in between. The German film It by Ulrich Schamoni from 1966, for its restless energy, irreverent spirit and wonderfully unpolished sense of freedom. And Normal People Are Nothing Special by Laurence Ferreira Barbosa from 1993, for its raw emotions, unruly humor and one of my favorite performances of all time by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi.

Q: You studied acting in New York and have worked across theatre, performance and cinema. Was there a film or artistic experience that fundamentally changed the way you see cinema?

A: There were several, both watching films and making them, but some experiences stand out because they came at pivotal moments in my life.

3 Women by Robert Altman was the film that made me realize cinema was an art form. I saw it in my early teens and was transfixed by its colors, the unique story and the unexpected transformations of the characters. It's a very special film. Later, when I was in acting school, I saw The Piano Teacher by Michael Haneke and was blown away by Isabelle Huppert. I skipped classes for several days and kept going back to the cinema to rewatch her performance. It felt like a masterclass in the power of stillness and interiority.

Another formative experience was my work as an actor with the artist and filmmaker Keren Cytter. I was drawn to her lack of interest in traditional characterization and her focus on fragments, nuances and stylization, often blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality. I also love how she samples from film, theatre and art history, combining these influences with her distinctive sense of humor. Working with her over the years has shaped the way I think about storytelling.

Sad Jokes, 2024

The Ideas, 2026

Q: If you could spend one day inside the world of any film, which would you choose, and what would you want to experience there?

A: I would spend the night at the prom in Brian De Palma's Carrie from 1976 and run off with Sissy Spacek before the bucket of blood gets dumped on her. We'd hitchhike to someplace safe and be telekinetic BFFs forever.