10/02/2022 - BERLINALE 2022: There is more to life than the title of “Sausage King” in this delightful stop-motion animation opening this year’s Generation Kplus

When her absent American grandfather suddenly returns to the family, Babs is hesitant, but he knows how to win her over – by gifting her with a little piglet. There is a problem, however: the title character in Oink [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mascha Halberstad
film profile] doesn’t know how to behave, and an anniversary edition of the “Sausage King” competition is looming. Mascha Halberstad talks to us about her stop-motion film opening Generation Kplus at this year’s Berlinale.

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Cineuropa: What made you choose this technique? All of your characters seem to have the wind in their hair all the time, or in their fur.
Mascha Halberstad: It’s stop-motion, so every time you touch them, their hair will move – whether you want it to or not. Oink was made in a very analogue way. What you see is what you get. It’s a very honest way of filmmaking. The funny thing about me is that I am actually very impatient, but a good aspect of this technique is that it’s very hands-on. You see the set, the lighting and the characters. It’s a lot like live action in that sense, only more charming. And, most importantly, you can change things! I love to improvise and think of other ways to solve problems, and with stop-motion, there are always so many.

It’s great to have pigs as protagonists, but is it harder when something like Babe is still well remembered? Is that why Oink doesn’t talk here, for example?
It would have been really strange if the pig had talked in this film. I wanted it to be more realistic, so Oink had to be as “normal” as possible. A cute, little pig – no more, no less. He reacts to situations, and one scene is shown entirely from his perspective, but it’s still believable, I think.

There is a sweetness to this story, but it also takes a dark turn. There is a betrayal, coming from someone you are supposed to trust.
I am a huge Roald Dahl fan. I grew up reading all of his books, and he always had these kinds of characters – they are charming but also so bad. Oink is based on a book [De wraak van Knor by Tosca Menten], and that’s why I chose it, too. I like this kind of humour. I hope it’s not something that happens in real life too often, as I would be devastated if it did, but I did not make a movie to teach a lesson, even though there is probably a lesson in there somewhere. For me, it’s a happy movie. This whole setting reminded me of my own childhood, of how I grew up. This is all very Dutch, but in the way we know it – not the tourists. I always had these colours in my head. And that person you mentioned, he is terrible but… No, he is actually still terrible. But there is payback, so it’s gets dark, but not too dark. After all, there are poo jokes as well. When I was younger, Dutch films were often like this. Now, it tends to be so controlled: you can’t have violence, you can’t have this and that. I am so happy that Marleen [Slot], my producer, just trusted me. It always upsets me when people underestimate children. They can handle more than we give them credit for.

You really pay attention to your adult characters, too. They all seem to have their own little quirks. In children’s films, adults are usually not that interesting.
I have to give credit for that to my screenwriter, Fiona van Heemstra. She really has a knack for these things. We had time to develop these characters, and we had a really good cast. We put them in a room together, so they really acted out all the scenes, which also gives me ideas later on because this way, you get to know these characters. I also like my puppets to be quite simple. At Laika, this big animation studio, they do their characters in 3D and then they print them out. For me, if you give an animator too many options, it gets harder. Truthfully, I don’t even see it as a kids’ movie; it’s a family film. I think adults will enjoy it because there are so many subtle jokes that only they will get.

The same goes for the decade-spanning conflict between two butchers. Adults will understand this kind of ridiculous competition, but kids will probably just shrug it off.
It’s an absurd story. The movie is not a lot like the book any more, but when I first read it, I just thought it was so funny – how can you be obsessed with something as stupid as a sausage? I just love weird things like that. I love the tractor chase, too, because it’s so silly – they go so slowly. You make it look epic, but it’s so lame.

You just like slow chases, I think. After all, you start with the snails and the game of “sluggleboard”!
In real life, these puppets are less than one centimetre tall. It was so hard to film that scene. When Fiona wrote it, we didn’t even know how to do it. But that’s the thing about stop-motion – you figure it out. There is always a solution to your problem.