Edited by Andreas Wiseman
andreas.wiseman@emap.com
DIARY
Flatley gets jiggy in Berlin
Michael Flatley, the Lord of the Dance himself, was in Berlin for his new 3D event fi lm Lord of the Dance 3D, being launched around St Patrick’s Day in the US and UK, before rolling out across the world. Flatley had the idea for the
Asghar Farhadi Some home truths
BY ANDREAS WISEMAN Asghar Farhadi is an impressive writer-director-producer operat- ing in the uniquely trying environ- ment of Iran. The 2009 Silver Bear winner
(About Elly) arrived in Berlin on Monday, with his home country up in arms, and friends and fel- low directors Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof banned from travelling abroad and direct- ing fi lms for what the Iranian gov- ernment has deemed “propaganda against the Islamic republic”. Despite the hostile environ-
ment, Farhadi has pulled together his latest fi lm in impressive time. Conceived only 11 months ago while having dinner with a friend here in Berlin, Nader And Simin, A Separation is the story of a hus- band (played by About Elly’s Pey- man Moaadi), whose family life
SHOOTING STAR PROFILE
Screen concludes its profi les of the 10 young actors selected for EFP’s Shooting Stars
unravels when he decides not to leave Iran with his wife. Farhadi says: “The film was
inspired by my own experiences and by the situation in Iran. I see this fi lm as a logical development from About Elly. With this fi lm, the hermeneutic circle is completed. Making fi lms for me means shar- ing my questions with other people and letting them share these ques- tions with others.” Asked whether he has consid-
ered living abroad, Farhadi says: “I can’t stay far from home for too long. As Abbas Kiarostami remarked, football teams play bet- ter at home than abroad. I always have to return to my roots.” The director also says he is not a
great fan of politics: “Rarely in politics do you fi nd morality and ethics, but they are very important for me in my fi lms.”
fi lm after seeing his young son transfi xed while watching a 3D animation fi lm. “I thought, ‘Wouldn’t that be fabulous for dance,’ so I did some exploring,” Flatley tells Screen. The project was fi lmed during
fi ve nights of live performances, using 20 3D cameras. “We could have fi lmed it on a
soundstage, but it was important to fi lm the show live — you get the great whack of it,” he says. More than 60 million people
have seen the stage shows in 60 countries, so is the Lord worried the fi lm will replace the live experience? “If anything, it will heighten the appetite,” he says. Wendy Mitchell
Today
Snow, high -1°
Tomorrow
Grey cloud, high 1°
One On One ANDRES VEIEL, IF NOT US, WHO
Civil unrest and violence — and a little sprinkling of love — in 1960s Germany form the backdrop to the German director’s competition title
Why did you want to tell this story? There have been other fi lms about Germany in the 1960s, but they all show the same images of demonstrations and police hitting people. I said we have to restart the whole debate, exploring the early biographies of the protagonists of the increasing violence in Germany at the end of the 1960s. So I went into the family stories, the background, the political impact of the trial of Adolf Eichmann, early footage of Vietnam. I combined new footage with a very strong love story.
Michael Flatley In search of Forgiveness
SYLVIA HOEKS (NETH) Credits The Storm (2009), Tirza (2010) First time in Berlin? Yes, it’s a beautiful city and there’s such diversity of architecture. Plans for the festival? On my day off, I’m going to take the opportunity to discover Berlin. There’s so much to see. What are you working on next? My next project is André van Duren’s Gang Of Oss (De Bende Van Oss). We’re rehearsing now and will shoot at the end of February. I’m also in a big Dutch television series, Bloedverwanten.
BY WENDY MITCHELL Joshua Marston takes his authen- ticity seriously. The New York- based writer-director spent about nine months working on his com- petition title The Forgiveness Of Blood in Albania, including a cast- ing process which spanned three- and-a-half months. “We saw 3,000 kids and several
hundred adults,” says Marston, who insisted on extensive pre- shoot rehearsals to ensure the actors could believably play sib- lings. The casting process was also
useful in script development, as meeting those 3,000 teenagers was also “very much about fi nding out what it means to be a teenager in Albania today”. The film follows a teenage
brother (Tristan Halilaj) and sister (Sindi Lacej) whose lives are dra- matically changed because of an Albanian blood feud.
■ 4 Screen International in Berlin February 17, 2011 Marston (left) on The Forgiveness Of Blood set The Maria Full Of Grace direc-
tor co-wrote the fi lm with Andam- ion Murataj, an Albanian-born fi lm-maker whom he met in New York. The director wants this fi lm to
stand on its own. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad people like Maria, but this isn’t a sequel,” he says, adding that there is no thriller- type moment of swallowing bags of cocaine. “I feel very proud of the film. It’s a very different movie with a different rhythm.”
Your background is in documentaries. How did your approach differ when making a fi ction feature? In a way, the beginning of the project was the same approach as making a documentary, with lots of research. The difference is that the making of a documentary takes places mostly in the editing room. The process on this fi lm is all in advance. You have to do the editing by planning the whole shooting process.
Did you fi nd it diffi cult to combine the historical and political elements of the fi lm with telling a love story? Some people say, if you tell a political story, don’t tell a love story because a love story is like sprinkling sugar on it. In this case, it is bullshit. If you go into these political issues, you
cannot ignore the personal side of the protagonists, because the love story is the nuclear fusion behind it.
Do you take inspiration from any other fi lm-makers? When I’m preparing a fi lm I’m like a monk — I don’t go out much, I don’t go to the cinema, because I am trying to fi nd out what the heartbeat of the material is. Of course, I’ve been impacted by people. I learnt a lot from Krzysztof Kieslowski, who taught me in the 1980s in Berlin. I am still close to him, and there is always a little hint of him in my work.
You are based in Berlin. How does it feel to have a fi lm in competition here? In a way, it was my goal to take part in the competition, and I’m very happy we fi nally made it. Cannes is an important festival in terms of international response. But for the atmosphere, the intensity and how fi lms are received and debated, Berlin is perfect.
What’s next? I am working on a fi lm about the fi nancial crisis. I am doing a lot of research, so I don’t know whether it will be a documentary or fi ction. It might sound boring because the crisis is over, but by the time the fi lm is fi nished I’m sure we’ll get the next crisis. Sarah Cooper
If Not Us, Who
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