Anastasja Black gives Haderlump a Hadergeist

"We began scouting locations with the simple idea of finding a meadow. Easy enough? Not when you need something visually unique, and also near Berlin. The first day was honestly disappointing. That night we regrouped and threw more ideas onto the table. Greta’s husband, who works at Tony Petersen, shared a location with us that was absolutely mind-blowing, a surreal structure made entirely of stairs in the middle of nowhere. I also found an old car park that instantly felt right. When we scouted both, it became obvious that the meadow idea wasn’t good enough anymore. The whole concept needed to level up. And it did.

But then there were the animals. We had gone to see the horse the day before and as a horse girl at heart, riding since I was three, I was excited. But the moment I touched it, I felt how nervous it was. It was young, inexperienced, not a film horse by any means. Shooting with it in a meadow might have worked, but bringing it onto a car yard set with lights and crew? I wasn’t confident. And the choice was taken out of my hands anyway when the owner called to pull out. Just like that, we had no horse.

Meanwhile, casting was proving equally fun. I tried the usual Instagram callout and got nowhere. But it did lead to a silver lining: the amazing casting director Albina Maks saw it and offered to help. She sent over a list of incredible people and I picked two: Sebit, who ended up in the final film, and another model who…. simply wouldn’t reply. One day passed, then another, then four. Nothing. And honestly, my gut had already told me she wasn’t right. Sometimes the situation itself gives you the signal. I looked again, found Maja’s profile and immediately knew she’d be better. Luckily she was available and excited to join.

Three days before the shoot, though, we still had no horse. Because we financed everything ourselves, we couldn’t afford to bring one on in the usual way. We were relying on the kindness of people’ heart. And thanks to Minou and the Soup Film team, kindness came through. On the shoot day a beautiful black horse arrived at the car yard, and I swear, in my 27 years of riding I’ve never seen such a calm horse. If we’d kept the original one, it would have been a disaster.

Everything ended up aligning on this project. Every little seeming “fail” actually pushed the film toward a better outcome. It turned into one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had. Working with so many passionate, generous, talented people made me genuinely proud to be part of this industry.
It also proved something bigger to me: trusting the process really does make the work better. Even the messy parts. Even the setbacks. Maybe especially those. And that’s something worth remembering in every part of life."