a film by Ilian Metev

Transcription

1 ¾ a film by Ilian Metev

2 TECHNICAL INFORMATION Format DCP Screen ratio 3:2 Sound Format 5.1 Shooting Format ARRI Alexa Digital 2K Original version Bulgarian Subtitled version English subtitles Length 82 min. Year of Production 2017 MAIN CONTACTS Production: Sutor Kolonko e.k. Mülheimer Freiheit 126, D Köln, Amtsgericht Köln, HRA 32345, Germany T : +49 (0) ingmar.trost@sutorkolonko.de Chaconna Films Ltd. Elin Pelin Street 5, Dragalevtsi, Sofia 1415, Bulgaria T : +359 (0) Sales & Festivals: Artscope, a label of Memento Films International 9 Cité Paradis, Paris, France Sales: sales@memento-films.com Festivals: sata@memento-films.com 2

3 SYNOPSIS Young pianist Mila prepares for an audition abroad. Her brother Niki distracts her with his unwanted talent for the absurd. Their astrophysicist father Todor seems incapable of dealing with his children's anxieties. A portrait of a family during their last summer together. 3

4 INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR There seems to be somewhat of a peculiar continuity between 3/4 and your previous film, the documentary Sofia s Last Ambulance. One might call it fiction incorporating documentary vs documentary incorporating fiction. What was the point of departure, how did the idea come about? At heart, I feel like an observational documentary filmmaker. I enjoy observing people the way they are, I dislike changing them, and adore noticing and capturing small, near accidental moments. It might be a look of surprise, it might be that a person says one thing and does the opposite. A drop of tomato juice on a nice shirt at a particular time can give me immense pleasure. Real life is full of multi-layered meaning if we take the time to notice it. And in a way cinema can help us to notice things. A good film for me is a meaningful arrangement of such moments, which have some sort of emotional quality. The move into a more fictional terrain with 3/4 came about because I was interested in a family story, which felt too exploitative as a pure documentary. In documentary, we have a huge responsibility towards our protagonists. It s not enough that someone says Ok, I agree to be filmed. A signed release form doesn t automatically empower us to do whatever we want with our protagonists the camera can capture very delicate things, which the protagonists often don t reveal knowingly. In the edit, we therefore have to be aware that we are drawing portraits of real people and that we are responsible as to how the audience views them. At times, such decisions are not easy, as we can t always show people in their best light. In 3/4 we had a scene, for instance, where we felt that one of our protagonists became more human by revealing his darker side too. In retrospect to completing 3/4, I find the filmmaker s moral responsibility in documentary and fiction quite similar. There s another reason I was attracted to something more fictional and it is that I am passionate about film language. The lack of control over how people behave and what you are able to capture has its beauty, but it can also be frustrating. I guess, as a filmmaker I ve been trying to combine a naturalness of human behaviour with formal precision. With every project, I feel that I am trying and learning new things, hopefully growing. The creative journey of completing 3/4 has not always been straightforward been hugely inspiring. Your cast consists entirely of non-professional actors. Tell us a bit more about the casting process and working with the actors. I was curious but also scared by the prospect of working with actors. I hardly had any previous experience, so I started researching a multitude of methods, from Chekhov to Laurent Cantet, to be more prepared. I was particularly interested in how to get out most of our actors own character and creativity. It came as no surprise that the reality looked quite different from the theory. We began the casting in a similar way like in my documentary work. We met lots of people, scientists, young musicians, school kids, until we found the ones who felt right. It s a very intuitive decision. The people we met had similar biographies like the ones from 4

5 our screenplay. I was looking for people with a strong professional passion, but who also knew about the challenges of having to balance their family lives. With a shortlist of candidates we started conducting acting workshops. The acting workshops consisted initially of very simple domestic situations. Making pancakes, tidying up the house, going shopping. We stimulated conversations, which would help everyone meet each other better some were somewhat philosophical (with themes like friendship, love, eternity), some very everyday. We conducted those initial workshops with different constellations of family members so we could see who fits with whom. We stopped when had found Mila, Niki and Todor as we felt quickly that they complemented each other very well. With them we continued weekly workshops for nearly a year prior to shooting. Gradually, we explored more intimate, but also tenser sides of family life, encouraging them to draw on their personal experiences. The reasons for this approach were manifold. On one hand, we wanted our protagonists to build real relationships with each other and to have a host of real common memories they could draw from, on another, we wanted to elaborate our approach to acting and directing scenes. At no time would the actors see our screenplay. When we arrived to the stage of shooting, we felt that our approach had matured considerably. Before shooting a scene, we would try to give them minimal instructions, usually with one or two goals for each. We would avoid to give them any psychological insights or information about what they were supposed to feel. They would have an overview as to what would happen in a scene, but not the details these would have to come from them. We tried to keep everyone in a state of openness as to what was about to happen. That way our protagonists seemed to be much more inside the moment. With time our actors would learn, where to expect a surprise, hence we had to be continuously inventive. We would also give them coded instructions during takes. For instance, a shouted 7 could mean that Niki had to reverse his goal and quite unexpectedly do something kind for his sister. As we shot chronologically, everyday we would draw a new list of variations of a given scene. We would time the variations, so the most important things for us would happen at the time of day where we had the optimum light conditions and also state of mind of our protagonists. At times, this approach was difficult, as we had to be continuously alert, but overall hugely gratifying as there was a lot of creative energy, every day. It s quite remarkable how close the film actually came to the initial script - even lines of dialogue, just reinvented in a fresher way. Does your musical background influence you in the writing, directing and editing of your films? Absolutely, to me a film is something that can touch you, regardless of its story. I am interested in tensions and releases, occurrences and pauses, themes and variations. It s a slightly abstract way of thinking of cinema, but that s what works for me. In addition, I am interested in creating a film language in a strongly unified style with a strong attention to the interplay between sound and image. In the film, there are numerous deliberate repetitions of shots, angles and sounds. We wanted to create patterns so that the viewer 5

6 would be reminded of preceding situations and smaller variations would stand out A film s style should remain in the background as an invisible engine something which gives rhythm and flow and allows people, faces and details to shine. Could you explain the rather mysterious title of the film? 3/4 is a metre in music commonly used in dances sometimes playful, sometimes lyrical. Outside of music, it suggests that there is an element that is missing. It might have other meanings also We liked the title, because we felt that it keeps the film open. 6

7 ILIAN METEV (Director) Ilian was born in Sofia, Bulgaria (1981) and spent part of his childhood in Germany, where he initially pursued a career as a classical violinist. In 2008, he graduated from the UK National Film and Television School with Goleshovo. His first feature Sofia s Last Ambulance (2012) is a close-up portrait of three Bulgarian medics at work. The film premiered at the Critics Week at the Cannes Film Festival 2012 where it was nominated for the Camera d Or and won the Visionary Award. Ilian s work has been shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and has received over 40 awards, including the German Documentary Film Award FILMOGRAPHY 2012 SOFIA S LAST AMBULANCE (director, cinematographer) Prod: SIA & Chaconna Films Bulgaria, Nukleus Film Croatia, Sutor Kolonko Germany supported by Film und Medienstiftung NRW, Bulgarian National Film Centre Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Impact Partners, WDR, ARTE, NOGA, VPRO, Films Boutique Selected festivals and awards: * Winner : Visionary Award, Critics' Week - Cannes Film Festival 2012 * Nominated: Camera d'or - Cannes Film Festival 2012 * Winner : Grand Prix Documentary - Karlovy Vary Film Festival 2012 * Winner: Silver Dove - DOK Leipzig 2012 * Winner: Grand Prix Documentary - Bratislava Film Festival 2012 * Winner: Best Director - Festival dei Popoli, Florence 2012 * Winner: German Documentary Film Award 2013 * Best of Fests - IDFA 2012 * Sao Paolo Film Festival 2012 * Montreal World Film Festival 2012 * Goeteborg Film Festival 2013 * Edinburgh Film Festival 2013 * Museum of Modern Art, New York GOLESHOVO (director, cinematographer) Prod: National Film and Television School, UK Selected festivals and awards: * Winner: Talent Dove - DOK Leipzig 2008 * Winner: Don Quixote Award - Krakow Int l Film Festival 2009 * Winner: Best Short Film - Valdivia Int l Film Festival 2009 * Winner: Best Student Film - Kyiv Int l Film Festival 2008 * Winner: Development Award - BBC Documentaries 2008 * Representing Bulgaria, Doc Europa, IFF of the European Commission 2009 * Sheffield Int l Film Festival 2008 * Camerimage, Int l Festival of the Art of Cinematography 2008 * Guangzhou Int l Film Festival 2009 * Sarajevo Int l Film Festival

8 CHACONNA FILMS Chaconna Films was founded in 2010 by filmmaker Ilian Metev. Our work aims to reflect our times and push the boundaries of film language. We have co-produced SOFIA S LAST AMBULANCE by Ilian Metev, which premiered at the Semaine de la Critique of the Cannes Film Festival 2012, where it was nominated for the Camera d Or and received the Visionary Award. Since then the film has received over 20 awards and it was broadcast and theatrically released in numerous countries. The company is currently co-producing the fiction film 3/4, which is scheduled for completion in spring Chaconna Films aims to create uncompromising work, which is accessible to European and international audiences. SUTOR KOLONKO Founded in 2010, Sutor Kolonko produces documentaries and narrative feature films. The company has a strong focus on international co-production and strives at being a point of departure especially for young writers and directors. Sutor Kolonko s films include: the Cannes award-winning SOFIA S LAST AMBULANCE by Ilian Metev, MODRIS by Juris Kursietis, THE CHAMBERMAID LYNN by Ingo Haeb and THE WEATHER INSIDE by Isabelle Stever. In 2016, Sutor Kolonko co-produced SOLITARY by Kristi Jacobson, ENLIGHTEN US by Jenny Carchman and HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM by Žiga Virc (all of which had their world premieres at the Tribeca FF 2016) as well as OSCURO ANIMAL by Felipe Guerrero (Hivos Tiger Competition IFF Rotterdam 2016). Sutor Kolonko s most recent releases are the feature documentaries DONKEYOTE directed by Chico Pereira, which had its world premiere at the IFF Rotterdam (Big Screen Competition) and LOS OJOS DEL MAR directed by José Alvarez that had its international premiere at Visions du Réel 2017(awarded with Prix Interreligioux). Current productions and films in development include: 3/4 by Ilian Metev, THE COACH by Facundo Scalerandi and BEAUTIFUL SOULS (WT) by Tom Schreiber. Ingmar Trost graduated with a BA in Film Studies and Spanish & Latin American Studies and received his MA in Documentary Directing at Goldsmiths College in London. He is a member of the European Film Academy and an alumni of EAVE, Documentary Campus and EURODOC. Ingmar was Germany s Producer on the Move at the Cannes Film Festival

9 CAST Mila Niki Todor Simona Kala Sasho Classmate 1 Classmate 2 Pupil 1 Pupil 2 Pupil 3 Mila Mihova Nikolay Mashalov Todor Velchev Simona Genkova Kaloyan Georgiev Alexander Kurtenkov Teodor Velinov Bono Lungov Boyan Bokov Konstantin Kurtev Danail Delchev CREW Production Company (Germany) Sutor Kolonko Producer (Germany) Ingmar Trost Production Company (Bulgaria) Chaconna Films Producer (Bulgaria) Ilian Metev Commissioning Editor ZDF/arte Doris Hepp Commissioning Editor ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel Burkhard Althoff Script Director Creative Assistant Director Executive Producer (Bulgaria) Line Producer / Production Manager Production Coordinator Production Coordinator Ilian Metev & Betina Ip Ilian Metev Nikolay Hristov Petko Lungov Vladimir Karanikolov Simone Betz Bettina Müller Cinematographer (A-Camera) Julian Atanassov 2nd Unit Cinematographer (B-Camera) Mihail Georgiev 1st Camera Assistant A Ivan Chertov 1st Camera Assistant B Lyubomir Somov 1st Camera Assistant B /additional Dimitar Kostov 2nd Camera Assistant Vladislav Popov Ivelin Metodiev 2nd Camera Assistant / additional Simona Ravalieva Video-Assistant & Camera Technician Martin Vatov Sound Engineer Boom Operator Editor on Set DIT Transcoding Key Grip Grip Tom Kirk Harry Boyadjiski Emil Granicharov Vessela Videlova Yannick de Decker Nedelcho Hazarbassanov Vihar Nikolov Milcho Ivanov 9

10 Gaffer Best Boy Electrician Art Director Set Dresser & Props Painter Hairdresser Set Manager Production Assistant Craft Editor Post Production Co-ordinator Picture Postproduction Colourist & Conforming Visual Effects Supervisor VFX Digital Compositor Sound Postproduction Sound Editing Sound Designer Production Consultant (Bulgaria) Piano Recordings Todor Georgiev Danail Vutchkov Kiril Yonchev Stanislav Dimitrov Nikola Lilovski Filip Penev Lyudmil Dimitrov Antoan Stoykov Georgi Tzanev Petar Kostov Mihail Georgiev Nikolay Hristov Ivelina Mineva Samuil Korov Christian Lekov Bora Petkova Elvira Grigorova Iliya Yutskanov Rumen Ivanov Damian Seizov Nikolay Milanov Toma Lyutskanov Ilian Metev Erhard Giesen (BVK) Farbkult Felix Hüsken Todor G. Todorov Fabian Eisenacher Tamina Gatzke Niklas Seckerdieck Filip Popov Torus GmbH, Köln Josef Steinbüchel Mirko Reinhard Martichka Bojilova Ivan Boshev Studio Pekarnata Production Company Sutor Kolonko Producer Ingmar Trost Production Company Chaconna Films Producer Ilian Metev TV ZDF/arte & Kleines Fernsehspiel Commissioning Editor ZDF/arte Doris Hepp Commissioning Editor ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel Burghard Althoff World Sales Memento Films International 10

11 Funding Film- und Medienstiftung NRW: Script funding MEDIA Development Bulgarian Film Center Film- und Medienstiftung NRW: Production Funding 11