When love moves mountains …

Same same but different, the new film by German director Detlev Buck with shooting star David Kross in the lead role, has been showing in Vienna’s cinemas since 29 January 2010. The film is based on the true story of a young German who fell in love with an HIV-positive Cambodian prostitute and dedicated himself to fighting for her health.

Buck and Kross, who have already worked together on films like Knallhart, both attended the charity premiere of Same same but different at Vienna’s Gartenbaukino cinema. The event raised a total amount of € 4,578.80 for ‘New Hope for Cambodian Children’, an organisation that helps HIV-positive children and their families.

wieninternational.at: What was it about Benjamin Prüfer’s book Wohin du auch gehst (Wherever you go) that made you want to make a film of it?
Detlev Buck: Its naivety, mostly. You have to be naïve to fall in love, the same way that you have to be naïve to make a film.
David Kross: It was important for the film to have the right chemistry between the two lead actors. That was a challenge, of course, as Apinya (Apinya Sakuljaroensuk plays Sreykeo – eds.) comes from Thailand and doesn’t speak much English. It’s difficult to establish a rapport when you are always surrounded by interpreters. But at some point the ice broke and we gradually became best friends. I think that also shows in the film.




wieninternational.at: Was it hard for you to play someone who is a real person rather than just a character in a script?
David Kross: It was the first time that I did a true story. But Benjamin didn’t force his ideas on us, and Detlev Buck and myself created our own Benjamin while we were filming. Of course, you feel a bigger responsibility if the couple who you are playing actually exists. But the film is only based on the true story – not everything happened the way it happens in the film.

wieninternational.at: The film was shot in Cambodia. What was your impression of the country and its people?
David Kross: It was my first time in Asia. Cambodia is incredibly beautiful and, of course, totally different from any European country. In some way everything is still more genuine. The streets in the city were very crowded, while in the countryside people are poorer but the landscape is breathtaking. It was great to see all the sites myself. I am certainly very happy that we filmed on location and not just in front of a green screen in the studio with everything being edited into place later.
Detlev Buck: When I am new to a foreign country I only watch and observe but I don’t judge what I see – I am a guest there, I still need to become familiar with everything. That is a matter of respect for the other culture and society. Cambodia is definitely the other side of the world. Basically I’m taking the same journey as Benjamin. He also describes Cambodia in the film as well, and my own thoughts played into that too, of course.




wieninternational.at: Were you or your crew faced with any obstacles?
Detlev Buck: We did have five languages on set but that doesn’t make me a different person. I like working in international teams because you tend to pay more attention to each other.

wieninternational.at: How did you choose the actors for the main roles? How much do they resemble the ‘real’ protagonists of the story?
Detlev Buck: They do not resemble them because you can’t replicate anybody’s life. Apinya and Sreykeo are both very smart, alert and remarkably confident, and they both possess an unusual energy. Apinya is quieter but not less determined. David has a very boyish quality about him but he is also determined, just like Benjamin. The attraction between the two is the most important aspect. I didn’t want to explore the relationship between Sreykeo and Benjamin – what mattered to me was what was going on between Apinya and David.




wieninternational.at: The protagonists’ different cultures and ways of life often clash in the film. How did you experience the differences between Apinya and yourself, David?
David Kross: The Asian mentality is totally different from ours. People are very guarded, if not to say prudish. Kissing is a very Western thing, for example. People don’t kiss on the streets in Cambodia. Rehearsing a kiss between Apinya and myself required great respect because in her culture that’s far less common. Her entire family was present at the casting because her relatives were worried and didn’t know what kind of film this was going to be.

wieninternational.at: Ben fully dedicates himself to his fight for Sreykeo. Which conclusions for your own life have you drawn from the film?
David Kross: I have never been in such a situation, I haven’t met the love of my life yet. It is easy to say that I would have done the same thing. What I have learned is that you have to stick with your decisions. I some way Same same but different also is a film about decisions.

wieninternational.at: The international Aids conference in Vienna in July 2010 demands equal access to HIV prevention and treatment all around the world with the slogan ‘Rights Here, Rights Now’. What needs to be done, in your opinion, to change something?
Detlev Buck: Ultimately, a good life for people affected with HIV is only possible with good medication, and it’s just not acceptable that this should always depend on money. You see in the film that the drugs available in Cambodia are not as good as others. Everybody must be entitled to have a good life. Patents on medical drugs should be revoked to give everyone access to medication.




wieninternational.at: How do attitudes towards HIV differ in Europe and in Cambodia?
Detlev Buck: HIV is still a taboo here as well, and attitudes towards it are virtually as backwards as in the 1990s when people used to think that you couldn’t even be in the same room with someone suffering from Aids without getting infected yourself. And we haven’t gotten much further since then. It is really appalling that nothing is happening in this respect. That was also apparent from the first reactions to the film. A film like Love Story that dealt with leukaemia met with a much more open reaction in 1976 than Same same but different does today. And in Cambodia HIV isn’t even an issue.
David Kross: The attitude of Cambodians is completely different. The film explains that in Cambodia people think that HIV is a punishment for misdeeds in a previous life. People believe in spirits. Even if they have got the flu they think that they haven’t paid enough attention to a particular spirit. So you have to create awareness but still respect their culture. Personally, I also realised through the film how present HIV actually is everywhere and how careful you need to be.

wieninternational.at: How were reactions to the film in Cambodia?
Detlev Buck: You can’t compare that to Germany or Austria. Phnom Penh has one cinema, and there aren’t any American films at all. They have a different perception of their country. And they laughed about the Germans in the film because our way of life is alien to them.

wieninternational.at: The annual Life Ball in Vienna is dedicated to raising awareness, and money, for people infected with HIV. Have you ever attended this huge charity event or do you plan to go there this year?
Detlev Buck: I don’t attend charity events a lot. Benjamin also told me that he wouldn’t particularly like to appear there with Sreykeo as a sort of model couple. It would be like hollowing out something that is really private. He tries to protect himself against that, and I think that’s a good thing.

wieninternational.at: What is the central message of the film?
Detlev Buck: In the film there’s a garbage girl that talks up Ben with the words ‘Buy me a drink.’ Another time the girl walks into Sreykeo and tells her how beautiful she is, and that she would like to be like her. At the end of the film she sees the two of them together as a couple and she smiles because now she knows that there is hope for a future for her, too. The happy ending is the most important aspect of the film. In the 1990s it might have had an unhappy ending. Everyone who sees the films understands that it isn’t a film about Aids but one about love.



wieninternational.at: The film has a very European soundtrack, with music by Charlotte Gainsbourg, Rammstein and others. How did you select the songs?
Detlev Buck: Passion is a frequent subject of French chansons. And they also fit geographically because Cambodia used to be a French colony and there are still many French traces in the country. So the direction was clear, and in the end we only chose love songs.

wieninternational.at: Is this your first time in Vienna? And what do you most like about the city?
Detlev Buck: I am in Vienna quite often. I’m particularly fond of the people here because the Viennese have an almost Buddhist quality about them. They are so laid-back and at ease. You almost get the impression that they don’t have to get everything done in one life, either. (laughs)
David Kross: This is my second time in Vienna, and I’ve never had the time to do much sightseeing. But I like the atmosphere. You get a good feeling when you stroll through the city.




wieninternational.at: What are your plans for the future?
David Kross: I start shooting a film for cinema in Germany in March, and I have a couple of offers for the time after that. There are some international projects as well, some of which are set in WWII. I still have to decide what to do next.
Detlev Buck: David and I have been working on Measuring The World for some years now. That’s still going to take some time but maybe we will make a film of it some day.

wieninternational.at: Would you like to make a film in Vienna sometime? Especially now that Austrian cinema is enjoying so much success?
Detlev Buck: That would be an appealing idea, of course, but it’s not that you actually chose the location. After all I’m not planning to make a film about the life of Sigmund Freud. (laughs) That’s for someone else to do … Me, I’m more a kind of hobo who wanders the land.