Goodbye Berlin star Anand Batbileg was recently in Malta for the screening of the film as part of Żigużajg International Arts Festival for Children. Giulia Privitelli catches up with him during the Q&A session.

What happens when a moving object collides with another moving object of a much smaller mass? And what if both objects were people – one unexpectedly, perhaps unintentionally so, stepping into the life of the other?

Would not both veer off course, spinning into directions neither could ever have imagined or even thought possible? In many ways, Tschick driving a Lada through a corn-field or a wind-farm or a marshland in Farih Akin’s GoodBye Berlin (or Wolfgang Hernndorf’s best-selling novel, Tschick), is precisely about the exciting mystery of embracing unexpected encounters, of accepting to suddenly turn, and steer off-road.

Anand Batbileg

Sitting across from the 16-year-old Anand Batbileg, watching him stir sugar into his coffee while explaining how he came across the role of Tschick, or rather, how the role of Tschick came to him, I couldn’t help thinking that there was something much deeper than what he thought was, at the time of the casting, a simple game of playing a role. Anand’s life, it would seem, intersected with that of Tschick and of the events portrayed in the film, at a very unexpected turn, but developed in a surprinsingly similar way.

For starters, at 14, Anand (of Mongolian descent, but living in Berlin) was just like any other typical youngster of his age, preoccupied largely with grades and future possibilities. In a way, of course, he still is. But something in his attitude, in his world-view, changed when the opportunity to be one of the principal actors of Goodbye Berlin came along. He quite literally, embarked on a journey that opened a window onto something which he could not see or experience before, simply because he “embraced the opportunity,” as he puts it.

When in Goodbye Berlin, Tschick stumbles into Maik’s life, and convinces him to join him on a less-than-planned road-trip, the same spirit of adventure is essentially, at play. As a result, the perceptions on and of Tschick, Maik, and some of the individuals they meet along the way, gain a whole new dimension. Even the appearance of the Lada changes, and Maik too, finally moves from the passenger to the driver’s seat. Indeed, hardly anything remains as it was at the start of the film.

“I see people differently now. You can’t judge a person just by looking at them, they need more time, like what we find out about Tschick.” In the film, events happen quickly and none of the characters seem to be reflecting much at all about their actions or who they meet. Much like Frank McCartney’s memoir, Angela’s Ashes, memories are related as if they were being experienced at the time, without any indication of the passing hours, save for the stark contrasts between night and day. Where one memory ends, the other begins.

In such a way do events unfold, with the innocent irresponsibility only a child can have: act now, think later when you’ve run out of road, so to speak. Anand too, initially viewed the possibility to star in the role of Tschick as something which “could be a fun thing to do,” with no expectation or knowledge whatsover of where it may lead to. The audition just happened, and he was called in again, and again. When the reality of the film started to sink in, when schoolwork had to be placed on the back-burner for a couple of months, when he was whisked off to film festivals in Marrakesh, Singapore and Guadalajara in Mexico, a new form of thought-process inevitably kicked in.

I am quite convinced, in fact, that every one of Anand’s responses to the Q&A session held at the final screening of Goodbye Berlin during this year’s Żigużajg Festival was a wonderful product of this unexpected adventure and the impact of those he shared it with.

Ultimately, both Anand’s story and that told in Goodbye Berlin embody curiosity, a degree of risk and a sense of discovery – all of which are values the Żigużajg Festival for Children and Young Adults stands for. Despite his tender age, Anand had several valuable insights to share with both the younger and older members of the audience, myself included. But perhaps, it was his humble and down-to-earth demeanor which struck the tightened chord, especially after having seen such an outwardly different version of himself on the big screen. Humility and his eagerness to “embrace opportunity” have accompanied him through these past two years and will, hopefully, continue to do so throughout the next adventure.

But until then, he’ll be sitting through the relative safety of school and college, in case the next great adventure is still a painstainkingly long wait away. Indeed, it has never really quite been about the highway or the quickest road away from home, but about the rugged, well-weathered road. Anyone, like Anand himself admitted, could take it, so long as they are willing to go for the ride.