THIS IS AN INSIGHT INTO MY LIFE

Well, It’s been more than 24h since I saw the proper first theatrical screening of “Spirits in the Forest” to the general public here in the Depeche Mode capital of the world. Besides a small after-show party hangover which made me miss the entire morning, I had a very busy day reading and trying to answer as many messages as I can (if you have written me and I have not answered, calm down, I’m not finished yet).

Besides the short celebrity experience all the way from when the lights went on in the theater and being asked for selfies with half of the people in the after party, what I’m the most happy with is the reaction people had after watching the film. So I wasn’t the only one who cried watching it (yes, I cried again). For the record, the list of films that made me cry is very short. It’s mostly films about prejudice and extreme injustice: “The Color Purple”, “The Help”, “Bent”, “Dancer in the Dark” plus an odd man out that just so happens to be another of Anton’s oeuvre: “Control”.

Even though I was not the director, nor had almost any creative control over this film, all my fears were indeed sashayed away. It was not another “101”. Our stories were not boring to (most) other fans. On the contrary. I had people telling me this movie made them reconnect with the moment Depeche Mode got into their lives, even if it had nothing to do with what us six tell in the film. Yes, I also got messages from people relating specifically with what we went through, but it was really incredible to see this film even transcends what being a Depeche Mode fan is. You can show it to someone else and say: “this is why we like this band”, but I’ll make Liz words mine and state that this is film about the humanity in us all. Anyone can watch it and still get the message.

As an update from the last post, I also bring Liz’s interview for Home, IndieWire’s review, and German Rolling Stone’s somewhat weird review with some wrong assumptions because none of us were interviewed by them. UPDATE: Anton goes back to his roots in this NME interview.

And for the record: Berlin is the capital of the Depeche Mode world, BUT LOS ANGELES comes in a close second place. Where else in the world is there a Depeche Mode convention? This first part of my line was very popular here in Berlin, where 11 out of 10 people are fans, but the second part was left in the cutting room floor and I just don’t want to piss off fans from LA. Specially after getting to know Liz and also all these great guys in the picture above that I got to spend some unforgettable days with.