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W����C��������� ������ ��� ���� 300’000 ������� ������� ���� ��� ���� �� �������� ��������� �� ��� ����� ���� ��� ������������ ������ ��������. W���� P��������, W������, ��� D�������� ���� ������ ��� ����� ���� ��� ����������� �� ������� ����� ����� �� ��� ���� ��������� �� ��� E������- ������� ��������. S���� 2012 W����C��������� ��� ���� ��������� ��� ����������� �� �������� ��� ������� N��� N�� W���� F��������� ���� ������ ������ ��� ��� ���������� �����. W��� � ������� �� ��������� ��� ����������� ���������, ��� ������ ��������� ��� �������� ���� ���� 100 �������, ���� ���� �� ���� ��������� �� ������������� ���� ��������� ��������� ��� C����� F�������, B����� I������������ F��� F�������, ��� ��� V����� B�������. F��� ��������� ���� �� ��������� ���� �� ����������� ��� �� ��� ��������� ��� ��� ����� ������ ��. G����� �� ��� ����������� �������. T�� ����� ����� ��� �������� ������ ��� ������ �� �����. J��� W����C���������. cINEMAKERS W O M E N S������ E������ �������������������� © 2012 - 2019 A�� R����� R������� www.womencinemakers.com C����: ������� �� �������, ���� ��, U������ P�����������, ����� ����� ��������
Contents 04 The art of Irene Gomez Emilsson 14 Guan Xi’s Mandala 25 Camilla Ruczika 29 Camille De Galbert’s 37 Interview with Chantal Bertalanffy 48 Mariana Cobra 61 An Interview with Kara Smith 64 Aleksandra Chciuk 67 Urszula Pieregonczuk 70 Focus on Mercedes Gaspar Cannes Film Festival ..…………. In A Sensory Wonderland …….. Through the looking glass……… In Between…………………………… Cannes Film Festival………………. Dance in Motion……………………. Cannes Film Festival…………….. Cannes Film Festival…………….. Architects of Beauty……………… Restrospective……………………..
An unforgettable symphony of feeling A look at Irene Gomez Emilsson ’s Deserts I ���� �� � L����� ����� ���������, ��� ��� ���� ��� ������ �� M����� ���� �� I�������� ����������. A���� � BA �� ���� ������� �� P���� (2006-2009) ��� �������� �� ��� L����� F��� S����� �� 2011, �� ��� LFS ��� ����������� �� �������������� ��� ���������. H�� ���������� ���� D������ (2015) ��� ���� �������� �� ������������� ���� ��������� ���� �� ��� R�������� I������������ F��� F������� �� F������ F��� F������� ����� �� ��� ������� ��� J��� A����. S�� ����� �� � �������� �� ����������� ��� ������ ��������� �� ����������� ����������� �� L����� ��� ������. Q�� �� ������ ��������� �� ����� Featuring outstanding performances and brilliant cinematography, Deserts is an overwhelming emotional experience. Combining emotional intensity and melancholy with joy and sensuality, Londonbased Mexican filmmaker Irene Gomez Emilsson creates a mind-bending reflection on love, time and space. Theodora and Gabriel's sentimental story is rendered through a sapient game of silences and looks, with a radical take on narrative. Irene, how did you get into filmmaking? I started to rummage through my father’s VHS collection when I was about 13 and I discovered among other works, Godard’s 60’s films. I immediately was drawn into the fresh, vibrant and yet sophisticated characters and got highly interested in the use of language, thought and references. I was also always impressed by the use of color and frame, and how everything seemed calculated and nevertheless remained new and spontaneous. About that time I also started to take stills and think about light and frame, and the relationship between the subject and the image. Overall I was fascinated with images, light, character and language in a broad sI started going to the art cinemas in Mexico City, watching as many films as I could. I moved to France when I finished school where I did a BA in film theory and aesthetics at the University of Paris I, the course introduced me to the fascinating world of film analysis. What is there to find in a film? How to watch it and think about it with different approaches and through different theories, from semantics to sociology. Besides, Paris is a paradise for film lovers, in every corner you find a theatre with a film you might have never heard of before, perhaps an unknown gem or a classic, a cult film or a blockbuster and so on. My love of film grew strongly. During that period I also took part in student productions in different positions (production assistant, art assistant, or even director of photography on smaller projects) which gave me a practical approach to film and an overview on film production. I was able to understand how a production works, what is needed to put together a film. In 2011, after 5 years in Paris I decided to move on and take the next step. I started a course in filmmaking at the London Film School in which I learn in depth through various projects working at different positions, not only how to conceive and produce a film, but also critically think about your work . Deserts is the graduation project for the masters at the LFS. Deserts is an unforgettable symphony of feeling. How did the idea for this film came to your mind? I came home late after having meandered around London at night with a close friend, we had been “Deserts is an overwhelming emotional experience. Combining emotional intensity and melancholy with joy and sensuality, Irene Gomez Emilsson creates a mindbending reflection on love, time and space”
openspaceCinemakers /47
I���� �� � L����� ����� ���������, ��� ��� ���� ��� ������ �� M����� ���� �� I�������� ����������. A���� � BA �� ���� ������� �� P���� (2006- 2009) ��� �������� �� ��� L����� F��� S����� �� 2011, �� ��� LFS ��� ����������� �� �������������� ��� ���������. H�� ���������� ���� D������ (2015) ��� ���� �������� �� ������������� ���� ��������� ���� �� ��� R�������� I������������ F��� F������� �� F������ F��� F������� ����� �� ��� ������� ��� J��� A����. S�� ����� �� � �������� �� ����������� ��� ������ ��������� �� ����������� ����������� �� L����� ��� ������. F�������� ����������� ������������ ��� ��������� ��������������, D������ �� �� ������������ ��������� ����- ������. C�������� ��������� ��������� ��� ���������� ���� ��� ��� ����������, L�����- ����� M������ ��������� I���� G���� E������� ������� � ����- ������� ���������� �� ����, ���� ��� �����. T������� ��� G������'� ����������� ����� �� �������� ������� � ������� ���� �� �������� ��� �����, ���� � ������� ���� �� ���������. I����, ��� ��� ��� Irene Gomez Emilsson Deserts (UK, 2015)
Cinemakers /47 interview by Camille Grenier cinemakers // 9 different theories, from semantics to sociology. Besides, Paris is a paradise for film lovers, in every corner you find a theatre with a film you might have never heard of before, perhaps an unknown gem or a classic, a cult film or a blockbuster and so on. My love of film grew strongly. During that period I also took part in student productions in different positions (production assistant, art assistant, or even director of photography on smaller projects) which gave me a practical approach to film and an overview on film production. I was able to understand how a production works, what is needed to put together a film. In 2011, after 5 years in Paris I decided to move on and take the next step. I started a course in filmmaking at the London Film School in which I learn in depth through various projects working at different positions, not only how to conceive and produce a film, but also critically think about your work . Deserts is the graduation project for the masters at the LFS. Deserts is an unforgettable symphony of feeling. How did the idea for this film came to your mind? I came home late after having meandered around London at night with a close friend, we had been discussing ideas about very close friendships or relationships and how the complicity grows through games and the tension is either highlighted or obscured by these. I wrote the script that night and although the structure and the content changed significantly throughout the development process, the characters and their games remained the same. I was interested in the relationship between two characters that are different and yet they don’t exist without the other, the script linked the characters in their movements, thoughts and words. The script started as sequence of scenes in which we would see Theodora and Gabriel, playing games throughout the day in a flat and then cross dressed ��� ���� ����������? I started to rummage through my father’s VHS collection when I was about 13 and I discovered among other works, Godard’s 60’s films. I immediately was drawn into the fresh, vibrant and yet sophisticated characters and got highly interested in the use of language, thought and references. I was also always impressed by the use of color and frame, and how everything seemed calculated and nevertheless remained new and spontaneous. About that time I also started to take stills and think about light and frame, and the relationship between the subject and the image. Overall I was fascinated with images, light, character and language in a broad sI started going to the art cinemas in Mexico City, watching as many films as I could. I moved to France when I finished school where I did a BA in film theory and aesthetics at the University of Paris I, the course introduced me to the fascinating world of film analysis. What is there to find in a film? How to watch it and think about it with different approaches and through interview Yevgeny Pashkevich openspace Photo: Irene Gomez Emillsson I cinemakers // 9
interview interview by Bonnie Curtis cinemakers // 11 in the street, there wasn’t any particular story, just a day in the life of these characters, the playfulness was enjoyable and the characters were beginning to come to life, with very distinctive personalities, complementary to each other. The nature of the relationship was established, as well as the games from early stages. However a dramatic tension was needed to bring these further, this is, prompting the ideas of their games and the core of their relationship through a central idea, rather than just showing their life. Then, came the idea Theodora’s departure. Having her leave and go with them through the last day together put the main action to evolve at a very vulnerable and fragile time for this “couple”. This enhanced the tension and made it grow as the day went by, moreover it gave the narrative something to hold on to, a sort of apnea that would lead the public throughout the story. Your film delicately weaves present and future, following Theodora and Gabriel's last hours together before Theodora leaves to the desert, featuring a very sapient storytelling. How did you develop the ‘script’ and the structure of Deserts? One of the main ideas of the film, was to have a repetitive structure, using self contained vignettes, that would show the life of the characters throughout the day. This was much inspired by Jim Jarmusch first films, especially Stranger than Paradise where we see a series of scenes interconnected with each other and yet totally self contained where elements and composition are repeated over and over again, but take different meanings in each scene. In Deserts the scenes lack of tonal development nothing really happens, the characters linger in domestic spaces having random conversations, there isn’t a plot but the repetition of both actions and shots lead the viewer to an understanding of the character’s needs and feelings. There is a main structure to the film, from morning to night, lead by the imminent leave of one of the characters. Each scene is different and yet looks similar, the shots are repeated as the actions are. However as the day goes by, the shots or the actions take different meanings as the mood changes, as the light dies. I Irene Gomez Emilsson
Cinemakers /47 cinemakers // 11
With its sensuous cinematography and highly sophisticated use of onand offscreen sound, Room leads audiences into a dreamscape where reality and imagination are inseparable, offering fantastic, surreal images. Certainly the aspect of the film that first hits is Guan Xi's poetic and visionary visuals: Room plays as a visual treat for those willing to experience a break in the laws of cinema and dance. Guan, tell us about your trajectory as a filmmaker and cinematographer. What inspired you to express yourself in this medium? The camera is like my weapon, It is my medium to communicate language, text, sound, image, and music all at the same time. This medium allows me to release all my desires, and to express myself. Two themes that I've always been obsessed with are life and femininity. Based on these themes, I try to piece together my experiences, filling them with my desires and fears that conjure my storytelling. I love writing, photographing, singing, dancing, and performing all at once and film summons up all these elements. Compared to the theater arts, a movie has the capacity of breaking space, time, and logic at any time.By using angle and size of the shots, a director can deliver a vision that they believe in. As a filmmaker, I am capable of shooting all kinds of genres. Whether be it experimental films, narrative films or documentaries. I love to infuse my own Xi Guan Mandala (china, 2015)
interview review review by Francis Quettier (France) interview by Camille Grenier Portrait: Guan Xi, All Rights Reserved cinemakers // 9 Yevgeny Pashkevich emotions into my work and that's what keeps me going as an artist. Commercial films have never attracted me. Room is a film of an extraordinarily youthful vigor, a puzzle with reoccurring motifs slowly pieced together, a series of beautifully filmed allegories. We have been deeply fascinated by your enigmatic approach to narrative, how did you develop the script for this film? This movie’s storyline is like a puzzle that encapsulates two layers of two different storylines. The first storyline is about the relationship between a girl in a blue dress and other characters, which implies the complex connections between reality and illusion: the girl is stuck in the room and the people, who might be the girl’s imagination, or regard her as their toy, move in furniture and decorations. Nevertheless, these roles finally tear down the girl’s conceptional world. The biggest puzzle here is whether the illusion conquers the reality, or the actuality breaks the imagination. Whereas in the second storyline, it is about the lives of these people and their dilemma in reality. The poet wants to get rid of his shadow; the lovers undertakes the chaos and pains from the society; the death angel is lighting up a candle. A man, who tries to disguise his loneliness; a solitary clown decides to go on a journey and farewells to his pretending happiness. Both storylines, like ink and milk, blend together, however, also leave a clear boundary. The plots are based on characters. Room opens on a strange looking scene. Since the first scene, the absence of dialog and emphasis on bodies in movement evoke Sergej Parajanov's hallucinatory world. How did you develop your visual style? There are further extensions under a surface. At the beginning, the girl standing in the middle of an unreal and weird empty room, then some “outsiders” interrupt this “peace”, furnishing the room and all of a sudden, such external harmony is broken by the goose that was put into the girl’s arms. The goose is an unreal element, that reverted the real atmosphere that was elaborately built up. The poet whispers secrets into the girl’s ear but, others’ laughter makes the secrets’ authenticity suspicious. Each plot is like a riddle, querying other’s flaws. My visual style is built upon the logic that reality and unreality have mutually intruded each other. I like to create the world that can be easily switched from one composition to another. Like a collage, each element can be formed, deformed, and reformed. Your film features a sophisticated use of onand offscreen sound. Can you tell us something about your approach to sound design? Even though my heart is attracted to more visually dynamic movies I can't deny, my OCD level obsession with sound. For me, the sound is the Guan Xi
Between memory And history Filmmakers
Dovile Gasiunaite code to generate images that help the audiences with composing the story. In one word, sound undertakes and delivers most emotion in a movie. For instance, if you take a movie to be a hallucinogenic soup, the image should be the liquid, and the sound should be the fantastic ingredient. We couldn't record sound on set and that situation gave me the unlimited freedom to re-create sound mix during the editing process. I tried my best to give voice to some unrealistic elements in the movie. In poet and his shadow paragraph, you can hear bird wings’ sound, which is definitely unsubstantial. By adding those unreal things into reality, such as the wind, water, and bird, we can take the audiences on a journey that allows them to experience the scenarios. Additional for the music part, the Composer of this film Sebastian Örnemark wanted to find something organic for the music to ”Room”. The room itself is like a big acoustic wooden soundboard and he thought that the choices of instruments would reflect that. Piano, clarinet and violin are in focus, all made out of wood. I found inspiration from chamber music and was looking for a mesmeric, almost trance-like feeling mixed up with peculiarity and beauty. Did you rehearse a lot with the shots you prepared in advance? Before shooting, we rehearsed dancing for two weeks as it was a major task to transfer the literal script to a physical choreography. We brought in actors to a training room since all the characters and scenarios would be built in an unrealistic space, not narrated in a linear world. The actors and I collaborated on creating a back-story and then discussed the relationships between each role, which was helpful to imagine scenes. This world helped them create a body movement that embraced the story. All the shots were developed in my mind during the rehearsals. By watching them practice, I looked for the most suitable camera position and camera movement for each part. The emotional and physical continuity of a dancer was very important, so I decided to shoot with three cameras at the same time, each of which played different functions simultaneously or asynchronously. review nterview by Yasmine Mahet (France) cinemakers // 11
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Leben in Vienna Interiority and individuality In Camilla Ruczika’s cinema C������ ��� ���� �� V����� ���� � D����� ��� A������� ����������. S�� ���� �� �������� D�����, G����� ��� E������. C����� ���� � ������ ���� �� �������� �������, C������ ����� ����� �� ��� ���� ���� �������� ��������� ��������, ������� ������ ������� �� P������� P�� ��� ��������� ��������. A���� ���������� �� 2014 ��� ������� ������� �� � ��������� ������ ����� ��� �� �������� ��� ��� ��������. I� M���� 2015 C������ ��� ��� A���� �� M���� �� ��� C������� "B��� W���� F��������� 2015" �� ��� A������� G����� F��� C����������. H�� ���� L���� I� V����� ��� B��� S���� F��� �� P��������� I������������ F��� F������� ��� B��� S������ P������ ��� B��� L������ A������ �� S���������� I������������ F��� F�������. After being diagnosed with the early stages of Alzheimer's, Anna, a 33-yearold control freak from London, moves to Vienna with the hope of treating her disease and escaping the sympathy and pity of her family and friends. She seeks the help of an extremely rude Austrian doctor who is more interested with her accepting her disease than treating it. Anna, however, is determined to prove him wrong and enrols in a language school after reading that learning a new language could stop the growth of the illness. There she meets Cemile, a young, slightly odd, Turkish girl. Preoccupied with her treatment Anna is uninterested in meeting new people and finds Cemile to be completely irritating. Anna is about to realise, however, that she is going to need more than her own determination to truly save herself. My interest for the Alzheimer’s disease was peaked when I was very young. It all started with my grandfather. He’s been living with his dementia since I was a little girl and so has my grandmother, caring for him every day, putting her life and needs aside. It was easy to blame him for all his rude comments, unacceptable behaviour and not seeing my grandmother as much. Through the process of making this film and the research involved I was able to understand Alzheimer’s better, really allowing me to sympathise with my grandfather and indeed others suffering with this crippling disease. Making a film about people and Alzheimer’s was always on my mind and it all started to come to life when I found a few heart-breaking stories of people who just started to live their adult lives and suddenly have to deal with an “old people”-disease in their 30s. Setting the film in Vienna, Austria was a natural decision. I felt that my hometown was the perfect setting and created an obstacle for my character at the same time. Leben In Vienna is my way to pay tribute to all those affected by Alzheimer’s and everyone who tries to deal with it. That’s the reason why it was important to me to end the film on a positive note. This film is a collaboration of my most talented colleagues who were willing to go to Vienna with me and my dear friends and family from around the world who were so generous with their time, trust and money. C.R. “It was a little dream of mine to shoot a film in my hometown after studying film in London. Vienna is a very “new” location to shoot a film in and it has so much to offer because of its classic flair.”
Leben In Vienna With its masterfully executed scenes and expressive camera work, Leben In Vienna is a psychologically acute meditation on the blurry boundary between memory, imagination and perception. Camilla Ruzicka pay tribute to all those affected by Alzheimer’s, creating a moody film that weaves past and present, personal pain and courage. Camilla, tell us about your trajectory as a filmmaker. What inspired you to express yourself in this medium? When I was younger, although doing pretty well at school, I never wanted to follow the road of academia. I always wanted to be creative. Film has always been a big part of my life, as a kid the cinema was just so fascinating to me and probably one of my favorite places to go. Like many kids growing up at that time I was obsessed with Disney movies and the stories they would tell. I knew very early on that I wanted to tell stories as well. I was lucky enough to have access to a video camera and I started filming everything, when we would go on holiday I would be the one with camera. The second we would get home I would be on the computer editing for hours! Nothing else brought me more joy than making my family sit down and watch my creations. When I told my parents that I wanted to be a filmmaker, they had to swallow first, but have been supportive ever since. There was no doubt in my mind that this is what I wanted to do with my life. We want to take a closer look at the genesis of Leben In Vienna: was it important for you to make a personal film, something you knew a lot about? The idea for Leben In Vienna came to me pretty suddenly, one night whilst searching the Internet I found an article about Alzheimer’s. The article talked about people in their 30s suffering from the condition and
each scene after that, often in no order at all, just putting down our raw ideas as fast as we could. The more we wrote the more we started to love the characters, it was an infinite torrent of material. It seemed that it would be impossible to get it all into a short film, we had to start cutting huge amounts out of the script just to bring it down to 25 minutes. We knew it had to be a short film but we didn’t feel it needed to be wrapped up in a neat little bow, the subject is simply not as open and shut as that. We just wanted to show a chunk of time in this woman’s life, just an experience to understand her struggle, to understand her disease. The first time we watched Leben In Vienna we thought of Abbas Kiarostami's cinema. Who among international directors influenced your work? I watch a lot of films in different genres, I like too many films to decide which one of them influenced me. I guess every film I watch leaves something behind and influences me in everything I do. But I’ve always been a huge fan of French and Danish cinema and how honestly they approach every subject. I didn’t want to lose the subject matter into homages and inspirations, I wanted it to be just me and my experience of the condition, no outside influences. It had to be raw and organic. Why did you set the film in Vienna? It was a little dream of mine to shoot a film in my hometown after studying film in London. Vienna is a very “new” location to shoot a film in and it has so much to offer because of its classic flair. A film shot there will always look differently and special. The Vienna film commission were so great in helping me securing all the locations I wanted and made the pre-production so easy for me. I was so impressed by how smoothly everything went when we were shooting outside in the city centre and how helpful everyone around us was. Language is important to the story, it is after all what is review by Camille Grenier (France) interview by Claire Auvray (France-Italy) cinemakers // 23 reviewinterview how learning and speaking more than one language appeared to help them. This immediately struck a chord with me and I wasted no time in writing it down. As the idea began to develop I couldn’t help but bring my personal experiences of Alzheimer’s into it. My grandfather has suffered from the disease since I was born, every year getting worse and worse. I had to watch as my own grandfather slowly lost who he was and I remember how much that scared me and how helpless he was. Knowing that this disease does not only affect older people fuelled my desire to write about it! In Leben In Vienna masterly weave past and present. We have been deeply impressed with your original approach to narrative form, how did you develop the 'script' and structure of your short film? I remember pitching the film to my writing partner Anastasia Oleynikova. I didn’t have much to go on, in fact all I had was the opening shot: A woman in her thirties running down a dark empty road, alone and confused. This one scene turned out to spark all of the other ideas and we began formulating Camilla Ruczika
cinemakers// 18 interview Patricia Curtis (France) fiction keeping Anna’s mind intact, so therefore it made a lot of sense to go Vienna and use my own mother tongue as the second language in the film. With little dialogue to use, your actors do an excellent job, making this film above all a very honest one. What is your preparation with actors in terms of rehearsal? What I like to do is meet up with the actors individually before the whole craziness on set starts and just talk about the script, my research on the topic and their characters. Then there is the rehearsal on set, which is always very magical because on Leben In Vienna it was the first time the characters were interacting with each other, which brought everything to life. One time we got so caught up in the moment, the performances were so amazing and after that we realised it was actually just a rehearsal and we didn’t record it. This film could so easily have been let down by the cast, but both Jacky and Julia were so wonderful, they really made the film special. Your film features gorgeous widescreen cinematography, the Red Camera shines in your hands. How did you conceive the visual style of Leben In Vienna? My director of photography, Jonathan Petts, and camera operator, Michael Lloyd, and I had a lot of meetings to find the perfect visual style for the film. We all had quite similar ideas and everything just clicked. We were looking at films like Hunting & Gathering, 50/50 and The Intouchables and Jonny did a lot of tests with the camera in London and on location in Vienna. I love the work Jonny did on this film, it was everything I wanted and more. We were lucky enough to have the support of their production company called The Night Factory, who supplied us with the fantastic Red Epic cinema camera. Although I am a firm believer that the camera doesn’t make the film I can’t deny that what Jonny and his team could get out of it was just mesmerizing. Leben In Vienna is a very personal work. What do you hope viewers will take away from the film? I want people to be aware that this disease is one that can ultimately affect anyone. It was important that people sympathies and understand how hard it is to be strong and look for the positive. It’s a terrifying disease and coming from a family that it An interview with Camilla Ruczika
cinemakers // 19 has touched very closely I wanted to show how putting positivity into the equation helped us understand and accept it. Hopefully one day there will be a cure but this film is there for anyone who is struggling to accept the reality of the crushing illness. For more than half a century women have been discouraged from getting into filmmaking, however in the last decades there are signs that something is changing. What's your view on the future of women in cinema? Cinema is a boys club, it would be ignorant to deny that, but more and more women are making their mark. I think the future is very bright for us, the tables are definitely beginning to turn. I for one will never let my gender get in the way of the filmmaker I want to be. Women are as talented and as artistic as men and it’s about time we see that point of view come to fruition. I am excited to be honest, there is a whole wealth of stories and ideas that have been suppressed that are now finally coming to life. Watch this space because cinema is definitely changing, and for the better. Thanks for your time and thought, Camilla. We wish you all the best with your filmmaker career. What's next for Camilla Ruzicka? Have you a particular film in mind? Every day my head spins with ideas and I am constantly writing. There is one idea that slowly develops itself into a script and I’m very excited about it. In the mean time I help others create their visions by editing and producing and then when the time comes for me to step up to the plate, imagine a world and sit in the director’s chair again I will be ready and super excited.
Simon Camille de Galbert is a graduate of the Conservatoire National de Région de Grenoble, France, in contemporary dance (2000). She continued her dance training in New York at The Merce Cunningham Studio. As a result of a knee injury, she renounced a dance career and turned her artistic attention to drawing and video projects as a self-taught artist. She then applied her interests to cinema and moving image techniques at the NY Film Academy. Camille de Galbert’s art is at the crossroad of multiple disciplines. Her works on paper are direct and objective extensions of her life; they are not comments, observations, or judgments; they are remnants of the archeology of her past and spirit. While her videos offer ethereal ideas of her spirit, these works on paper offer material testimonies of her actions. In these pieces, her creative intention finds its form in an object with weight, a time, and a place. Through the years Camille’s craft has grown to blend moving images into a choreography of light, music, and words. She carries-out experimental videos impregnated with the unconscious, the oneiric, her journey as a dancer, as well as her life in the United States, where movements, expressions, sounds, shapes, and faces collide. SIMON is a genre-crossing, dizzying dive; an inside-outside passage through dance. Passage from the imaginary to the real, from childhood to adulthood. SIMON is therefore an inevitable redemption: a meditation, the initiation ritual of a character who faces his own accidents. The body is inhabited by the constant movement of the imbalance into the fall. The gloves drop, multiply, pour, and fall. Hackneyed gestures, infinite shifts from the body. From the camera. From the inside outwards. Incessant inside & outside. An actor prepares for his final entry onto the grand stage. We follow him on his inner journey, from the dressing room to the stage. The opening scene is a tribute to by Camille de Galbert (France) openspace
Simon Pina Bausch. The dark chairs draw on the floor as human shadows. These chairs are us; our humanity, our fragility, our clashes, our excesses. The man falls, gets up, falls again. The man dances with his own life, with his desires and surprises. He dances with the elements, with his fears and inner impulses. Music is the central axis of my work. It is my primary source of inspiration. It is the music that sets my creative process in motion and gives it its rhythm. The figure of childhood appears through the character of the little dog. This dog is the benevolent soul, the reassuring angel that accompanies us and who we care for. And the rampart to solitude, or to the sense of abandonment. Here is the pillow that consoles. Feathers, flakes. It is also the animalistic part of the dancer who rises and falls, gets up, and finally stands up to face his own life. No one is more alone than the actor who enters the stage. No one is more alone than the child who’s about to join adulthood. And when the imaginary joins reality, the figure of childhood explodes. Seamlessly shifting between fantasy and reality, SIMON exemplifies Camille de Galbert’s distinctive approach to narrative, which deliberately exploits traditional notions of dramatic tension, leading audiences into a dreamscape where reality and imagination are inseparable. The electric filmmaking genius Camille de Galbert makes an earnest attempt to fuse poetry and film: every shot in SIMON answers to emotional impulses, estranging the narrative almost in a Brechtian way. Camille, from the first time we watched SIMON, we were struck by your visionary approach to cinematic time and space: can you tell us something about your trajectory as a filmmaker? I was exposed to art and culture from a France, 2015
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Cinema and Beyond The visionary universe of Camille de Galbert very young age. My mother is an artist and my father a contemporary art collector. I studied dance for a very long time and remember there were always videos or films incorporated in the stage design. To me cinema and filmmaking is a combination of all these mediums, a mixture of painting, movement, theater, and moving images and feelings. I have always been drawn to them. I moved to the US when I was 18 to attend the Merce Cunningham Studio and at the time, I was also starting to experiment with drawings and painting in parallel to my dance studies. After a severe knee injury I had to quit dancing and find new ways to express myself artistically. Film was attractive as it offered this combination of movement and visual esthetics. I often work on my films and experimental videos by creating abstract drawings or mood pieces on paper. It all comes from the inside and is usually very personal. My biggest challenge is to articulate these visual ideas into traditional film scripts, it’s a constant work in process, and it can sometime feel like a big puzzle that needs to be put together so other people can understand my vision. After 10 years of dance conservatory in France, you moved to New York to attend the prestigious Merce Cunningham Studio. How did you background as a dancer has affected your cinematic imagery? Contemporary dance is a dialogue between space and movement. It is also a way to address the problematic between our body, time and the environment that surrounds us. I remember improvisation workshops and performances were a crucial way to explore one’s own capacity to move and express oneself. It is through this experience that I’ve learned to express myself artistically and came to filmmaking. Body and music are paramount in my work, I use them to create a pace and structure in the images. SIMON is a visual and arousing cinematic experience. From the first time we watched your film, we were deeply fascinated by your visionary approach to cinematic time and space. How did you develop the ‘script’ and the structure of the film? I wrote the script trying to imagine myself in this character that is continuously fighting between his conscious and subconscious. I had a clear idea of the set and environment he would evolve in. From the start, I knew what I wanted him to do and feel. It was more about articulating all these small scenes together and bring some narrative elements. I didn’t want to have a pure experimental piece and worked hard to create an hybrid between experimental and narrative film. Can you introduce our readers to the Aria Series? The word Aria means a progression in a musical movement. The Aria Series is a three part film series, each featuring a different main character, all linked by their inner journey, and their fall or elevation through different layers of their subconscious. This series is meant to be a metaphor about our struggle to comprehend and understand our subconscious. Simon Courchel did an excellent job making this film “It is a time when an unstoppable transformation takes place, absolutely impossible to be ignored; our bodies change from a child’s to that of an adult, and we are radically confronted with a new awareness of our very being.”
above all a very human one. Can you talk about your creative relationship with Simon and how it has evolved through your work together? I knew I wanted to work with Simon Courchel even before writing this short. We are both from France and have a very similar dance background. We spoke about the story and the psychological state of this character and worked on the actions and movements through a series of improvisations and rehearsals. We kept what worked and adjusted on set during the shoot. Can you describe the shooting of Two Days Contigo? We shot the interior scenes first and the exterior the next day. It was a bit stressful as we were pressed by time on both days. I had to make quick decisions about cutting or adapting some scenes and actions but it also brought some new and interesting angles on the initial ideas. The second day was hard physically for Simon Courchel, it was freezing and he had to run and fall repeatedly on the snow for several scenes. He’s used to this type of intensity on stage but the weather and the long day of shooting really pushed him to his limits. Having real snow on set versus using set design magic also forced him to adapt his way of moving, running and dancing. These hard conditions nonetheless brought stress and pressure - both positive and negative - which helped put him in his character. Your talented DP Michael Belcher shot SIMON on a RED Dragon camera with old Russian Lomo anamorphics from the late 70’s, the same lenses used by Tarkovsky in his last films. From a visual point of view, SIMON is marked by an elegant use of wide angles and static shots. We have been deeply impressed by the natural feel of the cinematography: in particular, we have appreciated the way he uses practical sources in interior shots. Can you describe his approach to lighting? How did you collaborate with him? Mike is not only a great technician, but also an artist. We have the same artistic vision and approach. SIMON being my first short film, it was reassuring and motivating to have his support and trust from the start. He believed in my vision and understood what I was trying to create. For lighting, we had two locations to consider: interior and exterior. For the interior location, Michael collaborated with the art
interview succession of brief encounters and apparitions we come to see Simon's emotional detachment from the world. How did you conceive the character of Simon? Simon, the character of this film, is completely imaginary and metaphorical. He is a man that’s torn by melancholia and solitude. I wanted to show his inner struggle and show both his physical and psychological suffering. He’s trying to reach and look for something that’s inaccessible, the scene with the gloves that keep falling from his pockets is a good example. He cannot control his environment and everything around and inside him becomes out of reach. SIMON is a film which favours a psychoanalytical approach, seriously exploring the poetic potential of the cinema. Your striking use of temps mort depicts emotions in places where words or dialogue could not even scratch the surface. Can you comment this distinctive mark of your filmmaking style? Sometime words are not enough to express what and how we feel. Body language can fill this void and explain the inexpressible. What do you want people to remember after seeing SIMON? I wasn’t looking for a specific message when writing and directing this film. Through SIMON, I tried to express a feeling, a state of mind, an inside-outside passage between dream and reality. I wanted to explore a part of our collective subconscious. It is what I want people to remember. Each viewer will react differently, there are several levels of interpretation for this film. Simon is full of references ranging from Pina Bausch to Derek Jarman. You quote, not intellectually, but emotionally. Can you tell us your biggest influences in art and how they have affected your work? openspace Still from Simon (France) interview by Yasmine Mahet (Belgium) department to build the lighting into the set, so that practical sources could be used almost exclusively and achieve an honest image. For the exterior location, we wanted overcast, shadowless light. We didn’t have the resources to control the sun over that large of an area, so it was a matter of good fortune that we had a mostly cloudy day. For camera movement, we asked ourselves...When? And why? Mike and I paid close attention to the meaning and effect of the camera movements we employed. We tried to be disciplined, because we didn’t want to communicate to the audience that we were simply capable of camera movement. It’s too easy to clutter films with meaningless visual flair. We wanted to create a more restrained visual language, so that when the camera did move, it was a purposeful and more powerful choice. Your film opens with a clear reference to the work of Pina Bausch. The scenes flow like an ongoing assembly, cutting abruptly from one to the other changing perspectives: via a cinemakers // 23
Cannes Shorts A selection of short films from the prestigious French festival
The title of the film refers to being 17, jūnana means seventeen in Japanese. Unequivocally, being 17 is a fascinating time in one’s life and therefore bound to be made into stories. Due to the fact that everyone has experienced difficulties when growing up – be it trouble with the parents, to fit in socially or to feel comfortable in one’s skin – it is easy to relate to the struggle that teenagers face. With 17, our own expectations of the world change, just as much as the world has different expectations from us; we are supposed to “act like an adult”, “be a man”, to “grow up”. Nonetheless, it is a time when a newfound freedom slowly opens, or is about to open its doors to “adult stuff” – driving cars, drinking and smoking, sex – a world that yearns to be explored. Hence, 17 is a magical age, an age where everything seems possible. It is a time when we want to conquer the world, when we already have figured out everything, when we fall in love for the first time, when we are allowed to be reckless, when we get away with anything, when we eagerly anticipate adventures, when friends are more important than family, but also a time when we are perhaps the most vulnerable. It is a time when an unstoppable transformation takes place, absolutely impossible to be ignored; our bodies change from a child’s to that of an adult, and we are radically confronted with a new awareness of our very being. Suddenly, we are supposed to be ‘responsible’. Moreover, questions of identity arise, together with the question of where one’s place within the world could be; who are we supposed to be, who do we want to become? In Jūnana, our heroine Alexandra is 17 – in a way the personification of the “in-between”: trapped between being a child and being an adult, she knows change is inevitable but she wants to hold onto being a child a little longer, a time when everything seemed a little less complicated. Her emotional chaos grows when being confronted with Japanese culture, and she does not know what to do about these new and confusing feelings, how to articulate or come to terms with them. Therefore, she starts to clash with Charlotte, reviewcinemakers // 11 interview by Solveig Kiel (Germany)
Junana though their friendship means the world to her, and she holds onto the somewhat childlike notion of ‘best friends forever’. Accordingly, the way Alexandra and Charlotte’s friendship is initially portrayed is reminiscent of a kid’s friendship, e.g. they sleep in the same bed and take a bath together. Alexandra, however, denies her changing body and covers herself up in the public bathhouse scene, as opposed to Charlotte, who is comfortable with her physical transformation into womanhood, and wants to show off her feminine charms. Ultimately, contrary to Alexandra, Charlotte loves her newfound freedom within the grown-up world, especially since she is far away from parental control, though she does not understand the rules of that world yet, just as Alexandra does not understand the rules of Japanese culture. Both girls pretend to be what they are not; Charlotte is not a woman yet, and Alexandra not ‘Japanese’. Ensuing from this discussion, the central subplot of this film explores what it is like to be ‘in between’, and being adolescent is also a metaphor for a cultural “in-betweenness”: Alexandra is neither child nor adult, neither French nor Japanese. Effectively, she looks Japanese and speaks a little of the language, but does not understand the culture as such, since she has not been to Japan since she was little. Does this make her ‘Japanese’? To her, it is like she looks at Japan from the outside in, as if a glass wall surrounds her; she can see, hear, smell and touch, but cannot access cultural subtleties that especially take place interpersonally. When she was little, she could effortlessly choose between ‘being’ French or Japanese, but she wonders what has happened lately. Somewhere on the way
interview a psychologically penetrating meditation on the notion of identity. Chantal, tell us about your trajectory as a filmmaker. What inspired you to express yourself in this medium? According to my mother, I declared at age 3 that I was going to be a writer. About ten years later, I decided to become a film director, without actually having a clue about what a film director does, but I was fascinated with a certain Mr Hitchcock, who was a character in the Three Investigators book series, only that he turned out to be a real person. Around that time, there was a retrospective on TV showing most of Hitchcock’s American films – and so I stayed up many nights until late, glued to the screen. Then of course I bought the book on Hitchcock, which led me to Truffaut, the French New Wave leading me to Italian Neorealism, and so I spent my pre-internet era teen years unravelling seemingly mystical links between movements, directors, genres, and so on. So before I knew, I had found my calling Actually, I have tons of examples of how everything from very early on in my life has led me towards cinema, be it random encounters (my favourite being cinematographer Raoul Coutard) or fantastic opportunities such as working on a communist film set while travelling in China. Studying film theory, however, was very important to me and though I always knew I wanted to be a director, it was only at university that I realized what kind of films I want to make. In a nutshell, the discovery that identity is basically a construct absolutely blew my mind! Ever since then, I have been dreaming of my own cinema as a place where identity is not a static entity, but a place for it to be the dynamic, fluctuating, constantly changing something that I perceive it to be. First things first, after university, it was time to learn the craft, so I attended The London Film School to obtain practical Filmmaker’s Bio Left: Chantal Bertalanffy interview by Alexandra Ros (Belgium) of growing up, she lost the ability to “understand” everything Japanese, like a superhero loosing his powers. Hence, Alexandra has difficulties to understand Daisuke when he speaks Japanese to her at first, literally having lost the ability to socially participate in Japanese culture. The cultural ‘in-between-space’ Alexandra inhabits is not easily defined, it is not a country and not a culture, perhaps it is only an empty space lacking any shared identity or feeling of togetherness, therefore forever yearning for something missing. At the same time, an empty space can be moulded, painted, sculptured into whatever we would like it to be, so that new stories emerge. Consequently, of course many positive things come with being bicultural, but from a filmmaker's point of view, the most exciting stories derive out of conflict. Alexandra is torn between two cultures, trying to figure out who she is, where she belongs. In a changing world, it is becoming more relevant than ever that issues about the in-between-space should be brought to the screen. With its accurate cinematography and elegantly structured storytelling, Junana is an adventurous work of cinema. Chantal Bertalanffy captures the pain and exuberance of adolescence with emotional depth, offering cinemakers // 25
Cannes Film Festival training. A very hands-on school, I learned everything from recording sound to designing a film set, using lights and of course working with actors. True to my 3-year-old and 13- year-old self, I then embarked on the journey that is independent filmmaking by writing and directing my own short films. Was it important for you to make a personal film, something you knew a lot about? I must admit that I wasn’t really thinking about making a personal film as such, but I guess it is true that Junana became very personal in the sense that my preoccupation about this thing identity is seeping through, despite the story dealing with a girls’ friendship. I think knowing a lot about a subject matter makes a film more authentic, and authenticity is essential in cinema, but it doesn’t necessarily make it personal. For example, I can research into a topic that doesn’t interest me that much and still write about it, such as setting the film in the countryside of Japan (I’m a city girl), though of course the point of this film is not the setting. The film is personal because the investigation about my main character Alexandra’s identity becomes a personal discussion of my own identity, and therefore an emotional investment put into the film. Consequently this exploration becomes the theme of the film, and the theme is about finding out who you are. We want to take a closer look at the genesis of your film: how did you come up with the idea for Junana?
interview The first feature film by young Latvian director Aik Karapetian, People out there, offers quite an interesting look at working class society. The story depicts the life of Jan, a young struggling lower class young man who is at the edge of a personality break down. After seeing a beautiful upper class woman, Sabina, he starts wondering about personal changes. He wants to get into that attractive world, but to do that, he has to lose his friend and the environment that shapes his character. The main characters are shown in such a real way that members of the audience may even wander if the actors might actually have real connections to the world they are portraying. They create a lifestyle that is recognisable in every society, so everyone can find something familiar to themselves inside this movie. One of the most interesting parts of the plot is its religious aspect. At one point, Jan tries to find the way out his criminal life through this source, but not only is he not ready for such a change, the new world is also not welcoming him neither. Discovering the true nature behind this God-worshiping group Jan`s attempts slow down or turns into an opposite direction. Aik Karapetian`s vision shows us real life and characters, he doesn’t create a fairy tale as it is clearly seen through the film´s ending. Even though Jan´s lifestyle is barely changed, we can’t say that there aren’t any changes at all. Jan grows up emotionally, his relationship with his friend Craker becomes tighter, yet at the same time he is no longer afraid to stand against him. The visual composition work plays a big part in this unique realism as well. I was pleased to see dark shadows and different angles making the story even more realistic. The main idea that Aik Karapetian is sharing in his awardwinning movie is that there are people out there living their lives. Some of them are good-looking and richly dressed in expensive coats; others just steal them and try to hide all the past and all the bad things revolving around them. And in all of them there people inside, just waiting to be revealed in the way that is possible to them. review review by Ugne Cesnaviciute (Lithuania) interview by Zowi Vermeire (The Netherlands) The premise of the film was about two teenage girls being away from home and how that, together with the question of what it means to grow up, affects their friendship. As many writers do, I wanted to portray adolescence from a very romantic point-ofview and liked the idea to call the film Junana, 17 in Japanese. The twist to this otherwise very common coming-of-age story was that one of the girls is part-Japanese, so that on top of the usual teenager issues, she also has to deal with cultural problems. In a previous short, I had developed the idea of a triangle relationship and I thought it would be interesting to include a boy as the love interest of one of the girls, hence complicating the friendship by changing the dynamic between the girls. Since there is this unspoken taboo in mainstream Hollywood cinema about showing a love story between a Western girl and an Asian boy, I thought this is another twist and something interesting to portray. As of the setting, the house and shrine seen in the film belong to my family, so it was an easy choice to set the story there. Aik Karapetian nisimazine kaunas // 27
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Mariana Cobra Breaking the boundaries of dance cinema A particular aspect of The Regret is the unconscious the relationship between the feminin and the masculine and the way women have put herselves in status of acceptation of male concepts with is something we clearly see from ages until nowadays. The photography was made to focus and follow this unconscious. The Regret is based on the book "O Remorso de Baltazar Serapião", by Valter Hugo Mãe, which raises questions about the feminine, representing the degradation of the woman. The script has three acts that pictures a symbolic scenery concerning the female positioning in the society. The presentation of the feminine inferiority socially preconceived is pushed to the point where the consent itself faces its degradation, reassuring the position of a male sovereignty. The female submission branded on the character's body, generates multiple meanings, inspiring the art direction to use, as visual and conceptual reference, the work of Artur Bispo do Rosário, who prints in it signs that "speak" about his own existence. The presentation of the feminine inferiority socially preconceived is pushed to the point where the consent itself faces its degradation, reassuring the position of a male sovereignty. The female submission is branded on the character's body, through her movements, her costume, generating multiple meanings that most women can identify. " On behalf of his love and his jealousy, Baltazar Serapião gradually violates his wife Ermesinda, so no one else is interested in her, thus having her to himself only. Through his unconsciousness we are guided through his deepest feelings which is a result from a misogynistic, religious and unequal society. Mariana Cobra's The Regret is a spellbinding meditation on female positioning in the society. The boundless imagination of Mariana leap off the screen in this psychologically penetrating film exploring the unconscious relationship between the feminine and the masculine. The Regret is a surreal and genrebending work of art, a technically audacious and emotionally gripping dance film. Mariana, tell us about your trajectory as a filmmaker. What inspired you to express yourself in this medium? I started filming independent bands’ concerts and performances and that’s the beginning of everything. My passion for music slowly migrated to cinema and that’s how I started working in the cinema field as an assistant director to understand and learn more about the whole process of filmmaking. At the same I was working on other director’s films I started to develop my own projects. I felt like telling some stories that have a certain message, that could share thoughts and feelings, that can make you reflect about something in life, somehow get identified. it’s amazing when you get to touch the deepest feelings of another person, that is why I feel like expressing myself in moving images. I am really inspired by real people, especially women. Reflections on things I’ve lived and felt, it’s all part of my creative process. Cinema for me is not only about telling stories through images, but indeed touching people’s “Mariana Cobra's is a spellbinding meditation on female positioning in the society. The boundless imagination of Mariana leap off the screen in this psychologically penetrating film exploring the unconscious relationship between the feminine and the masculine.”
cinemakers // 18 interview Yasmine Mahet (France) hearts, and indeed that’s what motivates me to go forth in this medium. Cinema it’s my favorite art, and that’s because it touches me so deeply, it takes me out of my reality and brings me another vision of the world, of people, on relationships, behavior and so on. We want to take a closer look at the genesis of your film: how did you come up with the idea for The Regret? How did you come across the work of Valter Hugo Mãe? The Regret actually was born thanks to my sister Heloisa Cobra who also works with cinema but as a costume designer. She wanted to create costumes that would tell the story and to be a total reflection of the character’s personal experiences at the time. She read the book “O Remorso de Balthazar Serapião” written by Valter Hugo Mãe, a great Portuguese author and artist, who has received the José Saramago Prize in Literature in 2007 for this novel. She invited me then to join her on the creation of a narrative film to tell the story of this woman called Ermesinda. As a costume designer, she would sew by hand the story and life of this woman and as a director, I would bring all the emotional distress suffered and accepted by the character. In a way, we wanted to feature her body as a blank canvas, where clothes and physical actions create art as a social critique. The book is about the power of love, on behalf of his love and his jealousy, Baltazar Serapião gradually violates his wife Ermesinda, so no one else is interested in her, thus having her to himself only. Through his unconsciousness we are guided through his deepest feelings which is a result from a misogynistic, religious and unequal society. The difference is that in the book the main character is Balthazar, and his craziness about women. “The Regret” is about Ermesinda, her submission to this love and subject of violence: physically and morally. We have appreciated your dynamic, kinetic style of filmmaking. Did the overall structure unfold before the camera, or were you already aware of these various pieces of the puzzle? Glad that you appreciated! I was aware and wanted the film to be very dynamic and crescent in a sense that slowly you would also feel Ermesinda’s pain. We’ve prepared the cinematography for that planning big sequence shots in smooth movements, so you would feel like following her movements and feelings. Heloisa has worked in workshops with a lot of different kinds of women in order to stitch all her names, The language of body on screen
feelings on Ermesinda’s costume, so that would carry a lot of energy, love and pain from a lot of us. During the process we got inspired by a lot of women, their stories, our stories, feelings and so on. We have been deeply fascinated by your use of symbols, from the first scenes the viewer enters into a dreamy filmic mystery. How did you develop your filmmaking style? I want to bring all the feelings of the character to the screen, so the audience could be touched or even feel her pain. So myself, Julia and Heloisa (my partners on the script) created actions to be made in between all the dance performance once we wanted to plant messages in the scene. I really enjoy working as a team so my crew was really involved also in the creative process, I love to put everybody on the same boat to discuss and reflect about all elements of the film. As we started involving them and also other women, friends, we got to think and talk more about these symbols once we wanted to make sure that they were all on the script. The script was divided in 3 acts, in the first one the character is presented, Ermesinda in her purest essence, dancing slowly and very light, discovering her own world. The second act represents her marriage, her spirit getting connect to a strong and violent energy, the presence of Balthazar on life. The third act brings the sinister power of love, when Ermesinda accepts all the moral and physical violence he has submitted her, the unconscious relationship between the feminine and the masculine. We needed a perfect location to present her unconscious, to develop the film in THE REGRET. Indeed I wanted the scenes to be very dynamic and dramatic at the same time. Researching a great location and having a organic cinematography was something essencial for this project. Every film can be different, I don’t like to be limited or attached to a specific style. The Regret is a mind-bending meditation on female positioning in the society. What do you want people to remember after seeing your movie? Happy to hear that, it was indeed the idea to be a mind-bending meditation film, I want people to have their own conclusions about the film, but my hope is that people can really take care of cinemakers // 19 spot
interview Kara Smith’s Blotter at Cannes in focus cinemakers // 18 Cannes Short’s Corner A ���������� �������� ��� ��������� ���� ���� �������� ���������� �� M����� �� O�������'� ������ ����, B������ �������� ��� ��������� ��� ��������� �� � B�������� ���. S������������� ����������� ��� ���������� ��� ��������� H�������� ����� �������, K��� S���� ������������ ���� ������������� ���� ���� � ������� ����-��-����� ��� �������� ��������������. O��� �� ������� ��������� ��������, ������ K���’� �������� �� �������, �������� ��� ����� ���� �� �� ���������� �������, ������ ��� �� � ��������� �������� ���� �� ������ �����. K���, �� ���� �� ���� � ������ ���� �� ��� ������� �� ���� ���� �������: ��� ��� ��� ���� �� ���� ��� ���� ��� B������? As a writer, I've always been influenced by classic Hollywood films - specifically the dialogue. I wanted to create a story that would allow me to pick up on the dynamics and venecular of that time period, but I didn't want it to feel irrelevant. On a more subconcious level I also wanted to touch on the gender norms of that era - not only as civilians but as actors. It seems to me that during that time film roles could be very prescriptive and I wanted to somehow play on those ideas. How did you develop the structure of the film? The central theme of the film explores the effects of LSD in the context of a clinical assessment and so I wanted to in some way recreate that experience for the audience by playing on the emotional composition of the narrative. In a way, period dramas can be somewhat predictive as it's a time that has already occured so I also wanted to structure the film in a way that wasn't expected - that made audiences feel the discomfort or freedom that perhaps the characters themselves were feeling. From the first time we watched your short film, we were deeply fascinated by your cinematography. With a mise-enscène that mixes the surreal and the ordinary, Blotter makes wonderful use of of interiors. What were some of your aesthetic decisions? I had the incredible fortune of working with a very gifted cinematographer - Neirin Jones who had a very strong vision for the film. Through his eye we were able to really define a vintage aesthetic that we felt was respectful to the era (1960s) but still felt contemporary. We wanted to pick up on the textures that we available on the set, the fabrics and colours because it was reminiscent of the LSD experience that the character was going through and so when were looking at the interiors we were considering the wall papers, carpets, panelling etc. And then in post we had the idea of gently bleeding the colour back into the
develop my ideas visually - as opposed to just narratively which I normally do as a screenwriter. In that respect it was wonderful to collaborate with film crew - it was such a talented group. Writing can be so solitary, it was great to explore a film in a collaborative way. Blotter was selected for the Short Film Corner at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Can you tell us something about this amazing experience? Being selected to screen at Cannes was such a great honor and an education. It's such a unique experience to be enjoying cinema and filmmaking with thousands of other people who love the industry as much as you do. I loved it, I hope to go back soon! You are currently working on a documentary, can you tell us something about this project? Yes I just completed my first feature documentary which I co directed along with my sister, Karli Powell. The documentary features the story of desegregation of education in Bermuda. The film just screened at the Bermuda International Film Festival in In March and we're hopeful that it will be selected for screening at cinemakers // 19 film, starting in a kind of unknown, colourless position and ending up somewhat enlightened. James Barbour and Daisy Moore did an excellent work in Blotter, how did you collaborate with them on this film? James and Daisy were both a joy to work worth - very talented actors and so generous. On paper I tried very hard to create characters that were flawed and complex but then James and Daisy were able to move beyond what was on the page and create characters that really meant something in a real way. In the beginning we talked a lot about the backgrounds of the characters and I had given them some references of other characters that I felt were flawed in the same way that my characters were. We also researched together archetypes of that era and discussed ways that we could bring those elements to life in this film. It was a real joy working with both the actors and I've worked with them since. What did you enjoy about working on this project? This is was my first project where I was the sole writer/director so it was really interesting to get to know myself as a director and
Cannes Short Corner openspace 87
U ���� � ������������ CAMERA STYLE AND FOCUSING ON PERFORMANCE, ALEKSANDRA CHCIUK INITIATES HER AUDIENCE INTO A HEIGHTENED SENSORY EXPERIENCE, EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN BODY, MATTER, TIME, AND SPACE. "FLUX OF SOUNDS IN THE BODY IS MANIFESTED IN MOTION. MOTION OF THE BODY IS THE THOUGHT OF SOUND", ALEKSANDRA SAYS. HER POETIC AND EMOTIONALLY POWERFUL WORK VARIATION ON BLACK CREATES STARTLING METAPHORS FOR THE CLASSIC MIND-BODY DILEMMA EXPLORING THE PHYSICAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ARTIST AND HIS MATERIAL. THROUGHOUT THE FILM, THE MECHANICAL ELEMENTS OF THE PIANO RESPOND TO EVERY PULSATION OF ALEKSANDRA'S BODY AND EXPAND LIKE A LIVING ORGANISM. THE VIEWER IS ASKED TO FOLLOW THE LOGIC OF SENSATION: SURREAL SCENES ARE RENDERED IN CLEAR, PRECISE IMAGES. ALEKSANDRA'S POETICS OF CLOSE-UP, GESTURES AND SOUNDS IMPARTS UNPARALLELED PSYCHOLOGICAL INTENSITY TO THIS VIDEO PIECE.. ALEKSANDRA, HOW DID YOU GET INTO EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA? In the beginning I was training to be a professional pianist. Very quickly I familiarized myself with the musicians milieu from the Lodz Academy of Music, with composers such as Zygmunt Krauze. Krauze dealt with the art of XXth century avant-garde painter Wladyslaw Strzeminski. In his “Unistic compositions,” he translated Strzeminski’s paintings into music. As a teenager I had time for observation. I watched various artistic mediums, although at that time mainly in the world of music. I started to pay attention to what happens during playing, to emotions and the particular choreography of a musician’s movements. The music school I attended led to my first concert tours abroad. I sang in choirs. This is when I took out my camera for the first time. I had my father’s point and shoot 35-mm analog camera. I realized that I was taking it out in moments when others were usually putting it away in their pockets. I still remember a voice saying: “Listen, nothing will come out of it”. I was taking pictures review interview by Solveig Kiel cinemakers // 11
Variation On Black in intimate situations, at meals, en face, from worm’s-eye view; I was entering “open” Spanish houses, I was waving the camera at the moment of releasing the shutter, etc. I was 11-12 years old. It became a kind of obsession. I lost my group because of taking pictures. I wanted to remember everything, every alley, with its smell and details. After graduating in geography, I was admitted to Photography studies in the Direction of Photography department of the Lodz Film School. There, I met Jozef Robakowski, the work of Zbigniew Rybczynski, the history of the Film Form Studio. The classes with Jozef Robakowski awakened in me the need to catch the world in moving frames. It was at this time that I also discovered figures such as Nam June Paik, Bill Viola, Maya Deren, Carolee Schneemann and Sophie Calle. We want to take a closer look at the genesis of your film project: how did you come up with the idea for Variation on Black? The idea for this project results from the experience of intense piano practice in my childhood. I tried to shape, in gestures and in body movements, the memorized impressions and tensions resulting from playing this instrument. The grand piano always seemed to me as a powerful empathic wild animal, a whale. I wanted to tame it, control it and to find a new language to communicate with it. Variation on Black is thus an attempt of exploration of that connection, “impossible relationship”, perfect synergy between the human and the instrument. The concept of the film Variation was emerging very slowly. At the beginning, the work was supposed to be divided into three video pieces, static shots presented one next to the other in galleries spaces. Each by Aleksandra Chciuk
Director’s statement of them was planned to represent the draft of a subtle gesture looped infinitely. The first one was meant to show a shot of rising hands, anticipating the gesture of striking the piano keyboard, as expected by the spectator. Instead, I close the fallboard and my hands fall down on my knees. I intensively rub my fingers against my skirt. Such nervous rubbing against clothing is a characteristic behaviour in children before a public appearance, as they do not know what to do with wet and cold hands from stress. Hands, the most important instrumentalist’s attribute, are the measure of his excellence in playing. In the second video, I rub my cheek against the closed grand piano’s lid. This way I show tenderness. In its smell I am looking for its past, the history of those who played it before. And the third video work: I am playing the instrument’s pedals holding them with my hands, generating a rhythmic beating. A kind of inappropriate way of playing, no pianist sits under the piano, however, this movement seems to be natural, placed in the context of possible applications of the instrument. With time the idea of Variation has changed radically, but all elements, situations from the initial project, are included in the film. There was a cumulation of events and people, which influenced significantly the progress of the piece, so I decided to create a short film. The shooting of Variation was very quick, it took practically one day. The set, the Book Art Museum in Lodz, was not coincidental. At the age of 8, I played the same grand piano for audiences at art show openings. During that time I did not understand the reason of these meetings, but I remembered well the aura and behaviour of these slightly odd visitors. The day before the shooting I saw the film Breaking the Frame by Marielle Nitoslawska in the Film Museum of Lodz. The atmosphere of the film and the personalities of these women generated in me a wave, it could be called a wave of inspiration. The increased flow of desire, passion and excitement smouldering with the feeling of approaching understanding, induced a dream. In this dream Maya Deren entered the piano. Thus, I knew that this will happen. I was offered a gift. Variation on Black has its roots in your childhood experiences. Was it important for you to make a personal film, something you knew a lot about? I think art is in general, an expression of the most personal experiences. In the case of Variation, it is particularly true as review In my films I touch the subject of body and motion embedded in a determinate context. I am interested in mutual dependency and interactions between sound, body and nature. Sound has a a major impact on humans. I do not mean an everyday contact with a surrounding soundscape but what emerges from beneath the threshold of consciousness, like scents we encounter, evoking an overwhelming emotion. Flux of sounds in the body is manifested in motion. Motion of the body is the thought of sound. Sound like smell elicits projections and is a carrier of memory.Variation on Black is an attempt to express in gesture and movement impressions and tensions connected to playing a piano.I prepared the piano with my body. The conceived sounds are the result of a direct, physical contact with the instrument. Strings set in vibrations under the pressure of my body affect my movement and consequently the intensity of the performance and the sound. Together we constitute a closed cycle, raw, uncurbed, sinuous hybrid. The origin of the idea lies in the experience of an excessive piano practice in my childhood, when a special intimacy developed between me and the piano. Daily dialogue, physical and sensual contact with a matter which shape was formed in my imagination, provoked a release of this problem in the latter film process. Piano has always appeared as a giant, cosentient, wild animal, a whale I wanted to tame and I wanted to find a new language to communicate with it. Variation on Black is an attempt to explore this bond, an impossible relationship, an ideal synergy of a man and an instrument. cinemakers // 11
The Potential of Becoming in Chciuk’s Variation the film is based on experiences “taken out” from my childhood. Without them, the film would have no raison d’être. I was recently asked if I considered engaging an actress to play in Variation. I could not imagine then, teaching someone such-and-such movements in the piano for the camera. This film was only possible under a condition of full understanding and full commitment to the situation; under liberation from acquired habits and manners (is it possible to wean the actor away from playing?). To a large extent the film was possible thanks to intuition (but intuition resulting from 'these’ experiences). I am not saying that an actor cannot do it, but his preparation would be of a different nature. And the nature of this film lies in its sincerity. All elements of the set were important, the artistic understanding with the cinematographer, the connection with the place, the room, the piano. I think that with every project, I am looking for this kind of nature as an expression of sincerity, a kind of authenticity. This sincerity can be included in the dynamics of the body movement for example, under the condition that it arises from a primal impulse. It is very important for me the location where the shooting takes place. It is the place that initiates the impulse. I choose the shooting locations intuitively and this way, paradoxically, I am sure there is no coincidence. I admit that I am often attracted by sounds, wandering “clouds” or sound “threads”. Sounds, like odours, recall images, and are memory vessels. That is why I often end up in places from the past. Man is built by the memory of his own experiences. We have been deeply fascinated by your original approach to cinematic time and space. Variation on Black balance realism and expressionism, using chiaroscuro and symmetry to create a sense of heightened reality. The film's elegant cinematography and deeply pensive tone recalls no doubt the great works by Darren Aronofsky. How did you develop the visual style of the film? What were some of your aesthetic decisions? In art, there is a continuous exchange of sensitivities and visions between artists. However, I was not searching for a visual connection with another filmmaker’s work. After the first trial shooting for Variation I understood that both the movement of the camera and that of my body must reinforce each other mutually. I wanted the camera to play the role of a witness, but an active witness, like Stan Brakhage operating his camera during his wife’s labour in the film Window Water Baby Moving.Working on shots, I pay a lot of attention to the course of movements in the frame, which in turn must have its proper space to “resonate”. I am happy when the impression of time is finally lost. That means that the work already fell into its right “timeline”. I make drawings, drawing each frame, making the core of the film. I prepare trial shots, analyze them and then select the “right ones”. At this stage, I already know what the shots, lighting and atmosphere will be like. The storyboard becomes a graphical music score. I write many remarks in the notebooks that I have always on me. When I work this way, I often dream about the pieces and I also search for answers in those dreams. Sometimes, I realize that I do not know: “where does this picture, this precise thought, comes from”? I think of films as music pieces. In this way I try to construct their formal qualities. Variation can also be a prepared-piano “In my films I touch the subject of body and motion embedded in a determinate context. I am interested in mutual dependency and interactions between sound, body and nature. Variation on Black is an attempt to explore an ideal synergy of a man and an instrument.” Cinema and Music
The Mistery of the Ordinary the form of images forces the viewer to let them “sink in”. The emerging clichés penetrate our exterior and interior. We constantly run a risk of being in a world filled with appearances. To escape the imposed thinking patterns is perhaps our greatest and shared challenge. Film is an art form which is the closest to our experience of the world. It is based on motion that makes the subsequent images follow one another. According to Deleuze, reality is marked by a constant flow of various images. A visual message is aggressive by nature: it invades your senses like a virus infecting the body. The recipient is lured into this world and accepts its rules. A motion picture is a finished work, a closed message that attracts the viewer's attention but leaves him or her passive until they leave the cinema building. The cinema differs from writing in that it limits our freedom to a much greater extent. Today, to unwind after a busy day we turn on a TV and much less likely grab a book that forces us to take some mental effort. On the one hand, the cinema is a beautiful art form with a huge potential; on the other, is a very effective manipulation tool. Rendered through a visionary mise-en-scène that mixes the surreal and the ordinary, Punctum is a work of both great beauty and vivid darkness reminiscent of Romeo Castellucci's imagery. Can you introduce our readers to this experimental film? interview Yasmine Mahet (France) cinemakers // 18 panorama W ��� ��� ��������, PAINTERLY COMPOSITION AFTER ANOTHER PUNCTUM CREATES A NEARLY APOCALYPTIC IMAGE OF ITS TIME, AND CONFIRMS URSZULA PIEREGOŃCZUK AS ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING FILMMAKER OF HER GENERATION. WITH ECHOES OF ANTONIN ARTAUD AND ALEJANDRO JODOROWSKY, PIEREGOŃCZUK’S CINEMA CREATES INDELIBLE DREAM-STATE IMAGES THAT SEAR THEMSELVES ONTO YOUR BRAIN. WHAT EMERGES GRADUALLY IN PUNCTUM IS A NARRATIVE OF CONTINUAL ESCHER-LIKE TURNS AND AN UNPRECEDENTED INTERSECTION OF THE PERFORMATIVE GESTURE IN THEATRE AND CINEMA. URSZULA PIEREGOŃCZUK ORCHESTRATES THIS VISIONARY FILM PLAYING WITH THE WAY THAT MEMORY STRUCTURES ARE EMBEDDED IN THE UNCONSCIOUS, ENGAGING THE VIEWER IN CINEMA'S PROCESS OF TRANSFORMING REALITY. BOTH SHOCKING AND DEEPLY POIGNANT, PUNCTUM IS A STYLISTIC TOUR DE FOURCE THAT DISPLAYS PIEREGOŃCZUK’S MASTERY OF THE MEDIUM. URSZULA, HOW DID YOU GET INTO EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA? No doubt, the cinema has always been considered the most effective propaganda medium. Audiovisual culture tells us how to live, what we should desire, what lifestyle to choose, who we should become, or how to interpret history... A series of progressive messages in
inspired by Wojciech Wróblewski’s series of paintings "Execution", the viewer can guess that the time is around the 1940s or 1950s. One more thing is that the film does not have a linear narrative. The stories of the characters faintly overlap. We get to know them as quickly drawn sketches. We see only slices of events and none of them seems crucial enough to dominate the storyline. We are guided across this hermetic world by a cool and detached voice of the narrator. He introduces a woman who lost her family during the war. Her son Robert disrupts the linearity of the film. He dies as a boy but comes up again in the film as a youngster devoid of memories but with a sense of past tragedy. This character is identityless but at the same time could be anybody else who, while having a stroll in the deserted setting, seeks answers that justify their existence. I did not aim to create a quasi-documentary or a mimetic picture. The world I made only touches on war trauma. True, the film lacks “bright” spots and is far from natural and spontaneous. The gloomy and pessimistic scenes do not have their counterpoint. The atmosphere is heavy and marked by the feeling cinemakers // 19 Well, we were shooting throughout 2013. The entire project is made up of several short video pieces, each devoted to a different character. The characters experience the trauma of war, both directly (as victims or executioners) and indirectly (as victims’ children). During the editing, these short pieces were combined to give a picture entitled Punctum. Punctum is the title of the first segment and of the entire film. The term is borrowed from Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes. In Barthes, punctum is a “prick”, that is, a detail in a photograph that determines the subjective reception of the viewer and makes this very photo unique for him or her. You can say it is an element found in the image that for some reason or other is very compelling for the viewer and makes its way to the subject of the image. The film opens with a series of photographs that contain my own punctum. They go back to the early 20th century and set the entire picture in the war context. Among them, there is a photo of a squad of cadets with a white dog resting on one of the soldier’s lap, and a photo documenting the demolition of the Orthodox church in Lublin after Poland regained independence. The action is not set in any specific time and place. Since there are some references to World War II visible in the costumes, props or set elements, for example, a bas-relief
panorama
of acedia. This effect is additionally enhanced by the set design. The scenes are very vivid, yet they are strongly severed from what our world is like. Despite its fragmented character, the project reveals a complete form; you can say it is a poetic confabulation roused by the wartime literature and journalism. The use of voice-over is a topos of your cinema that reminds us of the stream of consciousness of literary models. What is the role of text and voice in your work? The use of a voice-over that unfolds the story is a device known from different film traditions. It goes back to the almost-forgotten custom of storytelling within communities, and I mean both fictional stories or such that served a role of an intergenerational interface. You should be aware that a voice coming from “nowhere” and not mirrored in the picture conveys a special load of expression and pathos. David Lynch used it in Mulholland Drive in a masterly way. During the scene in a theatre, the female singer faints but her voice is still heard. That voice did not need a body to keep resounding – but we needed a body in order not to permit the component of eeriness into our world as it is likely to stir our deposits of fear. In Punctum the narrator is omniscient. He “soars” above and seems to control the presented world. This was intended to be somewhat perverse: someone whose strangeness is even deepened by the introduction of the English language while the actors speak Polish. The voice-over dares to talk about the characters and to the characters about their weaknesses and death. They seem like puppets that play their tiny roles in the narrow space of their desires. This is some peculiar terrarium in which the creatures are relatively free to move but their surroundings seem a confined and pre-set mock-up. The introduction of the voice-over was obvious because of the subject of the film: it prevents us from approaching the characters and getting identified with them. It works a bit like in real life: it blurs the past moments. Having a voice-over has its advantages: it stratifies the film’s diegesis, clarifies and elucidates the picture, or introduces a gradation of viewpoints. A narrator has a broader perspective but it is bereft of human features. Interview by Caitlin Tennant cinemakers // 11 review
Punctum On the other hand, actors can see less: they experience but are not able to explore. From the first time we watched your film, we thought of Gilles Deleuze's words "Cinema makes it impossible to think, because before we can interpret one image it is already replaced by another. Before we can grasp an image it is already passed, the process of association is constantly interrupted, deconstructed, dislocated. Thus, what cinema advances is not the power of thought but its inpower". Punctum invites the viewer into a hypnotic, subjective flow of figurative images, surreal scenes are rendered in clear, precise images. How did you develop the narrative structure of your film? Indeed, Punctum is a stream of images. The film has no linear narrative or time linearity, which results from a rather unusual approach to the work on the script. The characters are merely sketched out: we do not go deeper into their world, we just pay a fleeting visit. The absence of psychological realism of the characters was a conscious intention right from the start. The work on the script did not start with the idea of the plot, an issue or a thesis to prove, but with an image. I always see the depicted world with the elements of set design that I am going to build, along with the colours, figures, or frame layout. This is very sensational. An image comes up that carries emotion and mood of the scene. The longer the work on the script, the more ideas are generated. I start opening up to the problem, sometimes I cannot even think of anything else. This is a bit like a fascinating jigsaw puzzle because at the same time I always try to think about editing, sound, and light. At some point, dozens of notes on the individual scenes slowly start coming together to form a loose but not illogical composition. I always keep in mind the significance of the rhythm of the film, where to lay emphasis, a powerful opening, and ending that would bracket the story well. Poland, 2014
interview the set was rare but present. It was seen in the acting and sometimes in the set design. The shooting took two weeks. The location was an old abandoned warehouse in Lublin. One day, an idea came about to use one of the warehouse walls for the scene of crucifixion. It was a beautiful wall: huge and peeling off, split into two equal parts by a central pilaster. We mounted the transverse arm of the cross on it and did not even modify the lighting. Sometimes in the scenes with multiple characters we were made to change costumes because the layout of spots and contrasts in the frame affected the composition. I imagine that for many directors such details are negligible. Perhaps, I am a slave to the imperative to control all the layers of the presented world and treat them as equal and mutually dependent. A few months after Punctum, I started working on another picture Parabellum Luger. It was a quasidocumentary on the designer of the Parabellum pistol, Georg von Luger, and the history of the gun itself. It evolved from a pure utility object to probably the most recognizable model of a gun in the world. These two films would often be screened together in galleries or cinemas. Parabellum was to some extent influenced by the previous film but followed a completely different style. I used the same voice-over, but, in formal terms, it was found footage. The picture was a mosaic of pre-selected already existing cinema pieces. I was able to influence the editing but not the visual content of the scenes. It was an interesting experience; I like to go back to it. It was like a tinge of conventional cinema in the highly charged atmosphere of my earlier films. No doubt, it was also a breakthrough as now I tend to think about the formal differentiation of my pictures. You are an eclectic artist, we know that you like to control every aspects of the process, from the scenography to the editing. Can you tell us something about the shooting of Punctum? My work can be ranked as cinéma d'auteur in which the director has also other roles to play: script writing, editing, set design, etc. Currently, I work with three and sometimes four people. I worked with cameraman openspace Stills from Punctum (Poland, 2014) cinemakers// 13 From a visual point, Punctum exploits the widescreen format’s capability creating a complex mise-en-scene. What were some of your aesthetic decisions? We used widescreen imagery to enhance the theatrical effect of the scenes. Mise-en-scène was planned right from the beginning. Building a hermetic world in which every frame is a consciously composed image is a trend that you treat like a style. The set was first designed and then built in the studio. The outdoor location in an abandoned industrial space was chosen carefully to fit the developed interiors. One of the key decision was the make-up. Actors’ faces are painted with a white paint. The idea was to make them blend into the created space. Obscuring their natural colour of skin which shows that we are alive allowed the occurrence of a strange space somewhere in between and a formal purity in which all the present elements stem from one another. Improvisation on Kleber Mendoça Filho
Ridden by Nature A stunning collaboration between Kathi von Koerber and butoh master Atsushi Takenouchi