Copilot (2021)

Interesting facts

Copilot is a 2021 German-French drama film directed by Anne Zohra Berrached. The relationship drama centers on a German-Turkish student who falls in love with a Lebanese fellow student and marries him despite objections from her family. Told from the subjective perspective of the female protagonist, the film follows the couple over five years in five chapters. The man's increasingly intense Islamist radicalization puts their marriage under severe strain and ultimately leads to a catastrophe of global proportions. Director Berrached worked very intuitively and allowed extensive improvisation in order to achieve the greatest possible authenticity from her actors.

Production

For Anne Zohra Berrached, Copilot (previous working titles: Geliebt and Die Frau des Piloten) was her third feature film as director. As the daughter of an Algerian father who grew up in the GDR between a Western lifestyle and Muslim culture, she identified with the two main characters. Asli and Saeed would both feel like outsiders while simultaneously feeling at home in Germany.

Berrached wrote the screenplay together with Stefanie Misrahi, with parallels to Ziad Jarrah being recognizable, although the film does not refer to him directly. The Lebanese terrorist, who had studied in Germany, was a pilot involved in the September 11 attacks in the United States. He was aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania following a passenger revolt.

In her previous films, Berrached had cast non-professional actors in supporting roles. While writing the screenplay, she developed the desire to cast both the leading and supporting roles with talented but relatively unknown actors in order to achieve authentic performances.

Casting Saeed proved difficult. Berrached did not consider any actor of Lebanese descent living in Germany authentic enough for the role. As a result, a three-week casting process was organized in Beirut in English and French together with producer Paul, co-writer Misrahi and casting director Abla Khoury. 120 people took part. Roger Azar was the penultimate candidate and had learned about the casting only by chance.

A year before filming began, Berrached started rehearsing with her two leads. She invited Kir and Azar to her home and initially had them improvise as a couple and build trust with one another. In a second stage, she had them improvise situations from the screenplay. She filmed and evaluated the rehearsals together with co-writer Misrahi and editor Denys Darahan, which also resulted in changes to the script.

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