A Talk with Wolfgang Thaler

Wolfgang Thaler has often filmed as cameraman in extreme situations; his images are some of the most unusual to be seen in contemporary European cinema. Alongside his collaboration of many years with Ulrich Seidl on films such as Dog Days, “Jesus, du weißt” (Jesus, You Know) and “Spaß ohne Grenzen” (Fun Without Limits) he also shot Michael Glawogger’s radical travel films Megacities and Workingman’s Death, Andrea Maria Dusl’s East Block road movie Blue Moon as well as Pepe Danquart’s mountain-climbing film “Am Limit” (To the Limit). A certified beekeeper, Thaler is also a successful director in his own right, having made films about bees, ants and salt.




You are known as the creator of magnificent, powerful images. How is it for a cameraman like you to encounter a director who has his own powerful images in his head?

Wolfgang Thaler: It’s not the job of a cameraman to translate his own ideas into pictures, but rather those of the director. But sometimes I did attempt to “de-Seidl” Ulrich Seidl’s images slightly, to infuse them with slightly more soul, such as when I filmed with a handheld camera. Ulrich isn’t as strict as he was when we first started working together. He lets himself be convinced by other images when he feels that they’re good. Ulrich Seidl is someone who knows precisely what he doesn’t want, but who remains open to everything else.

Do you see yourself as a specialist for extreme situations that most people would walk away from?

Wolfgang Thaler: Not at all. For me extreme situations were simply the only chance to establish myself as a cameraman. It began with an offer to travel to Tibet and, for four months, to carry my camera on my back over 5000-metre passes. That was my ticket into the film world. But it certainly wasn’t my intention. And, thank God, I also make easier films.

IMPORT EXPORT was a strenuous project. It was shot over three years, in the Ukraine at –30º and in Austria among the dying. Is that the limit of what can be endured?

Wolfgang Thaler: Yes, but for me that’s normal.