“September 5”: this Swiss thriller could win an Oscar
Those“September 5” by Tim Fehlbaum
This Swiss film on the Munich attack could win an Oscar
After being nominated for a Golden Globe, the thriller of the Basel Tim Fehlbaum on the tragedy of the 1972 Munich Olympics is now in the running for the Oscar for the best original scenario.
“September 5” shows the Munich Olympic Off attack, perpetrated in 1972, as experienced by television journalists.
DR
- Tim Fehlbaum’s film “September 5” was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar.
- The action takes place in the ABC transmission studio during the attack in 1972 at the Munich Olympic Games against the Israeli delegation.
- The thriller dissects the role of the media in terrorist events.
Everything is getting carried away for Tim Fehlbaum. A few weeks ago, this 42 -year -old Basel director learned that his film “September 5” had been nominated for a Golden Globe in the “Best dramatic film” category. No Swiss had yet succeeded with the exception of binationals like Marc Forster (“Finding Neverland”) or Florian Zeller (“The Father”). “September 5” is released this Wednesday in French -speaking Switzerland.
Finally, it was “The Brutalist” who won this category, just like that of the “best director” (Editor’s note: for Brady Corbet) and “best actor” (Editor’s note: for Adrien Brody). Even if the Baseois did not necessarily expect to win, he affirms that the experience as a whole was “overwhelming” and “surreal”.
His film is now also in the running for the Oscar for the best original script. Pending the ceremony, which will take place on March 2 in Los Angeles, Tim Fehlbaum remains in the United States to promote his film “Tides”, which will soon be released in theaters.
Tim Fehlbaum made the dystopian film “Tides” and was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar with “September 5”.
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During our interview, the Baseois gives off a juvenile air and speaks with enthusiasm. The two recent nominations are the coronation of a long journey that started at the Venice Film Festival. After the first of his film, the positive criticisms were linked, emphasizing the quality of the staging and the tension that Tim Fehlbaum was able to create in “September 5”.
When a news changes everything
“September 5” is the story of a day when news changes everything. A turning point in the history of the media, when the terrorist horror has become a television event.
During the Munich Summer Olympic Games in September 1972, the Palestinian Terrorist Group Noir Noir burst into the Olympic village and took eleven men from the Israeli delegation hostage. Two of them were killed when taking hostages. The other athletes and five terrorists died during the attempted liberation at Fürstenfeldbruck military airport.
In “September 5”, television producer Geoff Mason (John Magaro) was originally to cover the Olympic competitions.
DR
This day of September 5 is still considered today as a trauma for the German authorities, because at the base, they wanted to take advantage of the Olympic Games to present liberal Germany in the best light. However, they committed fault on fault during the release of the hostages.
Various documentaries and fictions have already been made on this day. There is in particular “One Day in September” or “Munich”, in which Steven Spielberg emphasizes the hunt for the authors of the Mossad attacks. In “September 5”, Tim Fehlbaum, director and co-sisterist, chose, for his part, to locate almost all of his feature film in the retransmission studio of ABC Sports, located right next to the Olympic village.
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A fatal day perceived from the confined space of a television studio. It all starts with a team change in the early morning. Sports journalists, guided by the young producer Geoff Mason (John Magaro), are supposed to cover the competitions to come. But they suddenly find themselves having to reconstruct a terrorist attack from scraps of disturbing information and images.
For the film, many original devices of the time were installed and partially restarted.
DR
“September 5” is a media thriller with dazzling realization. Telephones are constantly ringing, screens flash. The exterior correspondents are connected to the studio, the speakers are connected to the telephone handsets, the employees run in the corridors and carry huge talkies-walks.
Tim Fehlbaum studied the archives and visited the studios of sports retransmission. The producers of the film even contacted the Disney group in order to be able to use the original ABC bands. In some scenes, we can see the presenter of the time, Jim McKay. At the time, he was to continue continuously the viewers and viewers of the last twists and turns of the attack, while always remaining empathetic.
Original devices used
To make this thriller as realistic as possible, the Tim Fehlbaum team has recovered a whole series of original devices in archives of television channels and private collections. Part of these devices have been put in service.
The result is a detective film lasting nineties on the power of images. Can we hide events when we broadcast them live? Who really spreads horror: terrorists or television cameras?
“September 5” raises the question of who spreads terror: terrorists or cameras?
DR
Several reflections on the meaning of the images have been integrated into the thriller. The Munich Summer Olympic Games in 1972 were the first to be retransmitted by satellite worldwide, recalls Tim Fehlbaum. Competition sites had been specially oriented towards the positions of the cameras. “For the first time, the Olympic Games were a media show.”
From September 5 to October 7
“September 5” was finished shortly before October 7, 2023, day of The attack on Hamas in Israel. The surprise offensive left 1205 dead. Tim Fehlbaum says he has asked himself about how his film would be perceived in the context of the Gaza War. “We are aware that the public will not be able to watch the film without dissociating from this.”
But in the end, he wishes to emphasize, his drama deals with a moment in the history of the media and the influence of the media on our perception of world events.
Translated from German by Olivia Beuhat.
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