Sandra Hüller: “Why don’t we call it the motherland?”

Sandra Hüller does not divide films into big and small projects. She distinguishes between interesting and uninteresting ones, noting that she spent more time on the intimate European production “Vaterland” than on the Hollywood film “The Astronaut.”

Asked whether she considers herself German or a global citizen, Hüller says she remains connected to the eastern part of Germany where she was born and raised. But after having the opportunity to travel widely, she feels more like a citizen of the world.

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I do not think in terms of big and small, but interesting and uninteresting.

She is also uneasy with the word “fatherland.” “I do not like using the word ‘fatherland.’ Because I cannot understand why we do not call it ‘motherland,’” she says. Her strongest connection is to Thuringia, where she spent her childhood and youth, rather than to Germany as a whole.

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I do not like using the word ‘fatherland.’ Because I cannot understand why we do not call it ‘motherland.’

Hüller says she can still lead a relatively normal life in Leipzig, which she believes has preserved its calm and beauty while offering many of the opportunities found in Berlin. Her international career has made the contrast between her private life and what people project onto her more pronounced, and she is learning to manage that tension.

Although she continues to receive offers, Hüller says films have become more important to her for now while she deeply misses the stage. Going to the theater can make her sad because she is not performing there, but she believes she will return.

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I was born in eastern Germany, where I also grew up. I will always feel connected to that part of Germany.