Katalog 2013.pdf - Visions du Réel

182 atelier – laila pakalnina
Klusums
You also worked as a journalist. Did
these two ways of seeing, as a journalist
and as a film director, ever interact
I’ve been working as a journalist for nine
years, then the newspaper I was working
for was sold and we couldn’t find who the
new publisher was. Many journalists who
were afraid of possible political manipulations
resigned at the time, and so did I.
It was in 2009. Concerning the interaction,
I think that filmmaking influenced
more my writing than the other way
round. Many times I realized that I was
writing my columns “in images”. But the
opposite happened as well. For example,
the ideas of Pitons and Picas came by
reading the news agencies. I’d say that I
found those films in the news.
When you presented Pitons, you’d been
asked if you had traumatic school experiences,
but you replied that it was
absolutely not the case. I wonder if
that answer includes your experience
at VGIK (the Gerasimov Institute of
Cinematography, Moscow). How were
your first works perceived there and
how are your memories of those apprenticeship
years
Well, before VGIK I graduated in Moscow
University, which had a traditional academic
approach. Then I started at VGIK,
which had completely different methods
and I had the impression that everything
was kind of strange. For the time I was
there, I kept asking myself if it actually
was a good school or not. I realized only
after graduating that the quality of the
education I received there was very high.
What I recall is that the method was to
make you feel like you were worth nothing,
in order to provoke your determination
of proving the opposite. At first it
was shocking of course, but then for me
it worked: I really wanted to show them
that I could do something. Some schools
tend to easily overpraise any early manifestation
of talent, at VGIK that was
definitely not the habit and I realized only
later what a valuable experience it has
been for me to be educated that way. We
also had the possibility to practice nonstop.
In our spare time for example, we
would restlessly edit whatever piece of
35 mm film we could, even from the trash
bin.
One of the most useful lessons came
from my teacher Viktor Lisakovich, who
used to ask us to spot and correct each
other’s mistakes in editing. I think that
it’s thanks to those classes that I started
to see that even a frame can make
the difference and learned the sense of
editing. Another essential legacy of the
VGIK years for me was the very privileged
opportunity to see films. VGIK had
access to the Moscow film archive which
had a wonderful collection of films from
all over the world and which we could see
on the big screen. And I received many
other teachings that are still like rules
for me, like for example never to criticize
your cameraman if your work as a director
is not what you expected it to be.
Vela (The Linen) and Doms (The Dome)
are your VGIK graduation films. How
were they received by your teachers
I think that my teacher realized that I
wanted to make something different, he
allowed me to do that but didn’t really
know what to do with me. So he didn’t
actually help me in what I was doing, but
at the same time he didn’t say that I was
doing something wrong, even though his
films are extremely different from mine.
Do you feel much different now as a
director from your early experiences
A few years ago VGIK invited me to
be part of a jury of students’ work and,
being there, I found myself comparing
the dreams, ideas and ideals about film
that I had when I was a student to the
point where I am now. In fact I think
that I’m very lucky, because I feel that
I haven’t betrayed them. Of course they
changed, but they are still in the line of
what I felt back then, just at a different
moment in time.
Interview made over skype,
Nyon, Janvier 2013
Paolo Moretti