53 f T
old in his stylish and airy West London flat, Marre’s stories take on a surreal quality. It’s difficult to imagine this mild mannered and softly spoken
man in such tense situations. How does he deal with them, I wonder. Does faith play a role? Marre’s made many films exploring the function of music in religious rituals and spirituality, including The Left Hand- ed Man Of Madagascar, which tells of the tactile Malagasy relationship with their ancestors, digging them up for some joy- ous music and dancing, though bits fall off them, before reburial with fresh food and gifts. So skirting his personal beliefs, he talks generally about possible readings of the relationship between the divine and musical inspiration: “Some people think of rhythm as part of a universal force, others see it as a technical process. Then again, I worked a bit with Jerry Gar- cia and the Dead and they would say that the feedback from their audience would stimulate their improvisation and take them to a completely different place. That’s yet another form of inspiration.” For all his openness in our conversation, Marre is carefully private.
A childhood in “rainy north London” inspired in him a desire to travel and explore other worlds and other sounds. Marre’s mum played piano, his dad (a doc- tor) played jazz which the young Jeremy hated and his brother was into opera, which put him off that too. “Like many people I adored Elvis and what was coming out of America, that whole ’50s American culture, that’s what I was really into. I read a lot and listened to a load of music and went to the cinema and thought I’d like to have a go at making films. I couldn’t find any attraction in my immediate environment or the types of jobs people were doing. They just seemed really boring.” A brief stab at conforming by enrolling to study law at UCL ended fairly early on. The law faculty was next to the Slade’s film department where he was soon offered a place.
“I was interested in exploring ideas, I loved Buñuel and it was a real thrill to meet him at the Slade. Italian neo-realism really appealed, Fellini, of course. And to some extent the French New Wave, but that was later.” He was inspired too by the films of Sanjayit Ray, and the music of Ravi Shankar whom he later recorded for a soundtrack. On leaving the Slade, Marre took jobs in any aspect of film making that he could. It was a stint as a trainee assis- tant floor manager for an independent production company that led to his first gig as director. The man nominated as such failed to show one day so Marre stepped in and filmed the Dalai Lama. Setting up Harcourt films soon after, led, through a mixture of talent, fortuitous meetings and dogged determination to his impressive, ongoing almost-40-year career.
Whilst the culture at the BBC has changed enormously from the one that first turned him away, there are still pre- ferred ways of doing things. Programmes now, he says, are made for a target audi- ence. “Different channels have different brandings and with the huge proliferation now everyone wants a different niche for their programming.” This proliferation has not opened up possibilities to explore loads of ideas as Marre had first hoped.
TV “is not more adventurous, explor- ing more, less concerned… If your princi- pal concern is numbers that are going to watch a film, it seems to me the wrong
Jeremy and crew at Lee Perry's Black Ark studio, Jamaica, in 1978
way round.” Money as ever is an issue: “Budgets have more than halved, which has led TV into cheaper formatting, char- acterised by reality shows. There’s a whole generation growing up who’ve been fed on reality TV. It becomes more than TV fashion, it creates a need. I think that if you’ve got a powerful and rich medium you should exploit it to its potential and be commissioning programmes that are adventurous and explore other cultures and just offer new ways of doing things.” But the culture in telly promotes getting big numbers through offering people what they’re used to.
Marre is frustrated by TV’s obsession with transatlantic programmes to the exclusion of the rest of the world. “Even if you offer a European subject, no-one’s really interested. I know that means taking risks and risk taking is never something TV has indulged in.” Eschewing the prevailing orthodoxy of playing it safe, Marre’s out- put is testimony to his belief that “if you make a programme on a minority subject, if the subject is fascinating and it’s made
From his 2013 Youssou N’Dour film for BBC4
with enough commitment, people will want to watch it.”
His films are characterised by his will- ingness to improvise, to explore unexpect- ed opportunities that crop up during a shoot. It’s a function of his interest in delv- ing into subjects he wants to know more about. Making documentaries, he says is a stimulating and improvisatory process involving being open to any situation. “The process can change your mind entirely - you go with something you find.”
The subjects he’s vividly captured are too numerous to mention but, as he points out, information is easy to find (see link below). Looking to the future it seems there’s a chance for some two-way transatlantic action with an upcoming fes- tival of his work in San Francisco. The first film they asked for was The Left Handed Man Of Madagascar. And as for his new films, he smiles: “I’m a little superstitious, I think if I talk about them they’ll escape”. And it’s the closest he gets to discussing his private beliefs.
www.harcourtfilms.com F
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108