BLIND SPOTS
DIRECTED BY LUIS SCHUBERT
GERMANY // 2021
9 MINS
An international film crew in the first overtime hour, shortly before sunrise. The hired intimacy coordinator interrupts the filming of a sex scene due to an unarranged move by the actor, which the director has secretly instructed. A conflict arises.
Reflective Encounters
“How does one direct a scene of intimacy, all the while ensuring the combustible synergy between two actors remains sensual and ethical at the same time? Luis Schubert’s short offers the audience a peek outside the frame, while a sex scene between a man and a woman is being filmed. The volatile situation itself is maintained by a high level of professional involvement, while an intimacy coordinator re-negotiates boundaries with the actors, giving them notes, and emotional support. However, as creative sparks often scintillate in a very controlled environment, the director’s own impatience seems to demand much more flair and improvisation than the amount mediated by the coordinator herself.
Blind Spots comments on power shifts and the tangible see-saw of interpersonal dynamics which impact on-set work. What usually remains tucked into the off-screen space is, in this case, made available to the viewer – an insider’s look at how crucial the construction of intimacy is, and how overstepping its firm boundaries can affect the process in an unsettling way. A quivery camera cannot hold these frontiers intact, and the film exemplifies how decisive a static take can be in maintaining intimacy unimpaired.”
— Savina Petkova
Director’s Statement
After the Harvey Weinstein case, I asked myself two questions. The first is societal: how can abuse of power and sexual harassment in the film industry be curbed? The second is more personal: How do I behave in my position as a male director when shooting a sex scene?
I came across a potential answer via a radio report: Intimacy coordinators. They take care of the actors' safety during intimate scenes and work out a detailed choreography together with the director.
Is that a restriction on my artistic freedom, I asked myself? It's not, as the work on BLINDE FLECKEN proved to me.
Filmmaker Bio
Luis Schubert, born on 19.10.1993 in the Black Forest, grew up in a rainbow family. He spent his school years in a German-French environment between Geneva and Munich.
After completing his Bachelor's degree in "Film and audiovisual media" at the Sorbonne in Paris, he worked as a dramaturgical consultant at Studiocanal in Berlin. Since September 2016, Luis Schubert has been studying film directing at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin. He also works as a video journalist.