I got to know Christian Zingg three years ago during a media-education film project with his class. I was impressed by the trust the pupils placed in their teacher. When Mr. Zingg told me some of the unbelievable stories about the fates of his pupils I knew I wanted to make a film about this. We decided to accompany him and his next class over the two years from the beginning through to the end of their schooling.
When we started filming, I was initially just curious about all of the young people who gathered in the schoolyard during breaks and the stories they had to tell. In retrospect, I admit that I had my ideas and prejudices about the various nationalities of the young people. But the longer the filming lasted, the less I was able to think in stereotypes and the more complex the individual stories and destinies became.
What followed was the admission of my prejudices, and I started to see just the people, with all their contradictions and far from their homes. But the big challenge really began for me when I started editing: How was I to condense these two years of intensive experiences into a 90-minute film and thus make this accessible to an audience? How could I walk the fine line between creating a dramatized arc of suspense and yet still show life with all its shades of grey?
Neuland evolved from the months of sifting through the material, and I genuinely hope that it will touch viewers and sensitize them to the fates of these young migrants and others like them who are stranded on our shores every day.
— Anna Thommen, Writer/Director