“The Safe house”, interview with director Lionel Baier

Swiss director Lionel Baier is at the 75th Berlinale with his new film "La Cache - The Safe house" in competition.  The film is inspired by a small but poignant paragraph of Christophe Boltanski’s "La Cache", set in Paris, May ’68.  The secret to managing this apparent impossible challenge of adapting Boltanski’s text, was focusing on this very short period of time, mixing the words of the book’s author with elements from Baier’s own family story.  Baier confirms that “May 1968 was a fascinating era to film because it’s the very root of our current period. For better or worse”.  In the role of the grandfather, in the family the film portrays, french actor Michel Blanc in his last performance on the big screen. He died on on Friday, October 4, 2024.  Lionel Baier describes his experience in directing him and declares that he was the obvious choice for the role.