Depilation. It’s a tough sell. At best a fiddly chore, at worst a painful bore – it requires some pretty flexible thinking to render hair removal appealing, let alone sexy. And yet Georg von Mitzlaff, who took 2nd prize in the European Webfilms category has done just that with his surprising viral Nohair. We caught up with the impressively creative director to find out more.
The NoHair spot feels more like a fairy tale than an ad – why was it important for you to make the film beautiful and magical like that?
It s hard to say. Those pictures came into my head when I first read the script. I guess they had to be done like that. May be that’s how I see women with all their little secrets and magic tricks, in terms of outer beauty. Just like in a fairytale. Also that fight against the evil carpet matches with a fantasy world.
But in the end it was also that magical location that set the tone.
What was the biggest challenge behind this job?
First of all it was a horribly cold winter day and Julia, our hero lady, was more or less in her underwear. The whole place we were shooting in was coated with ice. It looked so pretty. But everyone was
feeling like they were on a northpole expedition.
Eventually the biggest challenge was the edit. It turned out that a 13 minute version with selected takes set to some Haydn overture was my favorite. But I had to bring it down to way less then that. Tough job!
When did you first decide to become a director and why?
I don t have a cool story for that. I just wanted to do it. Plain and simple.
What inspires you?
Wow, there’s tons of stuff. I can be overwhelmed by almost everything that surrounds me. Nature, city, humans, animals… doesn t matter. There s amazing random stuff I find on the internet. I m a big fan of FFFFound.com. But there s also stuff I grab from a dream every now and then. Then there’s contemporary art, photography and film, of course.
But to be honest, most ideas come into my lunatic head when I do super boring stuff like walking from A to B.
What were your first thoughts when you found out your film had won?
I was so happy because it was such a ambitious project and it just felt great to be rewarded. And I had been longing for the YDA for quite a while now.
What’s the best piece of advice anyone’s ever given you?
It s not exactly a piece of advice. More a funny story that has a deeper meaning underneath. No Hair also got a nomination for the Grand Prix in Cannes this year. And after being completely overwhelmed by the YDA I wrote a crazy excited text message to my dad, saying: “Wow, now I also got a nomination for the Grand Prix!!!!!” My dad answered straight away: “Great! What`s that?” So I guess by not having a clue about all the circus around the Lions my father gave me a good advice keeping my head on the ground. And he was right. After Cannes hardly anyone called my because of the nomination.
Having scooped a prize at the YDA, what are your plans for the coming year?
Making enough money to pay the rent.
