Wer wenn nicht wir

"It was always clear to me that I wanted to be a performer on astage," says 19-year-old Maria Dragus who has been selected as one of this year’s European Shooting Stars. "Initially, I thought that it would be as a dancer or in opera, but then it turned out that I preferred acting."

In fact, it isn’t surprising that she should be pursuing an artistic career. After all, her Romanian-born father Silviu is a professional cellist and her mother Jana a dancer who studied at the Palucca School in Dresden where Maria also trained as a classical dancer for six years from the age of 11.

Following a friend’s recommendation to register with an acting agency in Berlin, she started getting her first TV and film acting roles in such TV series as "Ein Engel für alle" and "Soko Leipzig" as well as Bernd Böhlich’s tragicomedy "Du bist nicht allein".

"It was all very exciting," Maria recalls. "I was eleven at the time and was coming from a small town to the big city."

Then there was the call to audition for the new film by Michael Haneke, "Das weiße Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte" ("The White Ribbon"), which subsequently brought her to the attention of the international film world.

"There were so many children there for the auditions that I didn’t think I would have any chance, but they invited me back for a second audition and then offered me the role of Klara," she adds.

"It was such good fortune to have the opportunity to work with Michael Haneke," Maria says. "I didn’t fully realize this during the shooting, but it was only later when I saw the film in Cannes. That was the first time that I had been at a film premiere and, more importantly, I saw myself on the screen and, for the first time in my life, I thought I was seeing a completely different person with my face and body.  This was obviously the effect of the work I had shared with Mr. Haneke, and that’s when I first understood
how powerful the impact of his work is."

A year later, when she was awarded a Golden Lola for Best Supporting Actress for her role as the pastor’s daughter, she began to think that "perhaps this is my destiny to become an actress."

Since then, she has been able to work with a wide range of directors on different kinds of roles. In Emily Atef’s "Töte mich" ("Kill Me"), Maria was cast in her first lead role as the 15-year-old Adele who makes a deal with an escaped murderer to help him reach his brother in Marseille if he will release her from her earthly suffering and kill her – until she starts to have second thoughts.

Meanwhile, in Andres Veiel’s Berlinale competition film "Wer wenn nicht wir" ("If Not Us, Who"), she portrayed the sister of the RAF terrorist Gudrun Ensslin in an ensemble which in cluded another former Shooting Star Alexander Fehling.

In Bettina Blümner’s "Scherbenpark" ("Broken Glass Park"), which was released theatrically in German cinemas last autumn, Maria played the part of Anna, a friend of the central figure Sascha. A young girl of Russian descent, Anna desperately wants to become a mother because she wants to escape what she deems to be her meaningless teenage life.

And Maria’s second (award-winning) lead role came with her portrayal of the 14-year-old Wanda in Friederike Jehn’s family drama "Draussen ist Sommer" ("Summer Outside").

However, there are no plans for her to attend acting school. "It’s not because I don’t want to learn, but rather because I don’t have the need to be somewhere permanent for three years," she explains. "I’d like to be able to draw inspiration from all sorts of places like workshops and to get to know different people."

A case in point is her participation in last year’s Berlinale Talent Campus (now known as Berlinale Talents). "It was great to have been selected because so many people apply," she recalls. "And I enjoyed being able to attend panels and see filmmaking not just from the actor’s perspective. For instance, we had a chance to meet and talk with Wong Kar-Wai about his approach to working with actors, and I also took part in the Alexander Technique Workshop with Jean-Louis Rodrigue and Kristof Konrad."

As far as roles are concerned, Maria effortlessly moves between feature film productions and work for television. "I choose my projects according to the people and the stories," she says. "I’ve been lucky enough to try my hand at different kinds of parts this past year."

For example, she worked on a fantasy film "Zwischen den Welten" for ProSieben by Thomas Szabó and on the SAT1. romantic comedy "Sweet Sixteen" by Sven Bohse. In addition, she appears in an episodic short film entitled "Couchmovie" which had its premiere at the Hof International Film Festival at the end of October and was also shown at the Max Ophüls PrizeFilm Festival in Saarbrücken in January.

"It’s a student film and I am in an episode in Frankfurt. My role is very funny and totally over the top," adds Maria who had her own experience of couchsurfing when she went to the festival in Hof.

Meanwhile, this year’s Berlinale is quite different from any previous editions Maria has attended because of her selection as one of the European Shooting Stars. "I am extremely proud to have been selected as Germany’s Shooting Star because there are so many great young actors here at the moment," she says. "It’s still quite surreal for me to have this honor. But I am really looking forward to meeting the other Shooting Stars, I have seen the trailers and definitely want to see some of their films beforehand."

"Ever since I started in the film business, I have been following the Shooting Stars. I can remember seeing Cary Mulligan and thinking 'Wow', and now she is a big star. And it’s rather cool to follow on from such German Shooting Stars as Anna Maria Mühe, Nina Hoss and Alexander Fehling."

Apart from her credits on German productions, the young actress also tucked her first international production in the English language under her belt when she appeared as a German ballet dancer in the "Dance Academy TV" series for Australia’s ABC.

"It was a good experience being far away from Europe," she recalls, "to learn different working methods, being on the set of a TV series, and shooting in English."

Moreover, being half-Romanian, Maria would also jump at the chance to work with the new generation of Romanian film - makers conquering the international festival scene. "Last year at the Berlinale, I met Oana Giurgiu – whose husband Tudor is the president of the Transilvania International Film Festival – and they invited me to attend the festival in Cluj in June. There’s a real Romanian film family and I love their films, so I hope that I have a chance to work with them in the future."

So, watch this space – Maria Dragus is certainly one of the exciting European actors to look out for in the coming years.

Author: Martin Blaney