“More of a Big City Feel” – the Neighbourhood of Gasteig HP8

Coming soon at a cinema near you? The film studio of Sevgi and Chris Hirschhäuser

“Herrlich!” Having a sign with the word “Wonderful!” over your front door is bound to put your guests in a good mood and is a great welcome to the Hirschhäuser’s spacious film studio loft. There might not be a red carpet, but they do have a well-stocked bar, a pizza vending machine and plenty of quiet corners if you want to chat or concentrate.” The studio of the two filmmakers also doubles as a kitchen, living room and backdrop for film sets.

Chris, you’ve both been working here for the last ten years, so what does this place mean to you?
We spend around 15 hours here every day; planning film projects, making fashion and music videos, or holding casting sessions. We use the other room to store all our equipment and as somewhere to do the admin. Our home is much smaller, so we wouldn’t be able to get everything done there. That’s why we were genuinely horrified when we were told initially that we had to move out, so that the Gasteig could create its interim premises here. By working in solidarity with the other tenants on the site, we were able to influence the plans so that we could stay and share it with the Gasteig, which is what’s happening now. We’re really happy that things went our way!

What do you hope will be the result of the cultural centre moving here?
I expect it’ll be wonderful with the Gasteig being here. Of course, it would be great for us to be able to premiere some of our films here in Munich, and we’d also really like to hold some open-air film shows – some of the walls on this site will be ideal for that. We’ll be happy if the move brings a bit more of a big city feel out here to the sticks!

Ronner’s vehicle workshop turns out to be an artistic mix of bodywork and curiosities. Cars, hoses and paint cans are interspersed with colourful pictures and a guitar on the walls, with a boat suspended overhead. The Gasteig construction work means that he is currently short on working space, as his workshop is sandwiched between the Isarphilharmonie at the back and the building for the Cologne University of Music that is going up in front. But Ronner, born and bred in Austria, doesn’t intend to get worked up about it.

Where does this laid-back attitude come from?
Well, what’s the point of getting upset! That won’t get me anywhere, you simply have to see the positive in every situation. I’ve got my customers and, as I see it, this business with the Gasteig will all work out, won’t it? And I definitely want to have a look inside the concert hall.

So, what type of event do you want?
Concerts! Especially classical music, especially violin music. I’ve known the concert master of the Munich Philharmonic for more than 25 years now, he’s a good mate of mine.

You were one of the first tenants here on the Stadtwerke site. Tell us about it.
I’ve been here for around 22 years. Before that, me and a few of the other tenants were based at a business park on Landsberger Straße. That was a real washout; we had to move out after just one year. When we came here, everything was still empty so we had our pick of the site.