interviste

Kinsasha Kids

di Marc-Henri Wajnberg
Belgio 2012, 85'

INTERVISTA AL REGISTA

Maria de Gier

Recensione

Kinematrix Kinshasa kids is a movie of contrasts: did you intended this from the start or did this evolve during the making of the movie?

Marc-Henri Wajnberg I wanted to do something about this music group, but they couldn’t get the Visa’s. So I decided to film it there, and do a documentary on the city and it’s music. But when I arrived I was shocked by the violence and the energy at the same time. All those kids in the streets, aggression everywhere, but behind all that, a strong positive force as well! They want to fight for their creative projects, music is one of many. I found it difficult to tell everything I wanted to say in a documentary, so I decided to do a fiction story in a documentary way. The structure of a story, filmed as if it was a documentary. Though there are a couple of scenes that are real. The exorcism scene, the accident and the fight with the kids, are not staged. I wanted the different characters and storylines to cross. People told me about events that really happened and I used those in the film. The kids were also using their own experiences in life while acting.

Why did you decide to make the opening scene so graphical?

I was so shocked by the exorcisms I had seen before. I needed the audience to experience the same thing. I wanted to explain that these rituals are the cause of all the problems. Pastors who say the devil exists create a perfect bouc émissaire, a scapegoat, since they can make it look like the devil is really in these children. It provides a rhythm for the church, every week maybe one hundred exorcisms are performed, you should think there would be no more ‘possesed’ children. But the church is being paid to perform them; it’s a real scandal. And they do bad tricks! When you look my footage frame by frame you can see that they place a lizard or a piece of wood in the child.

How were you able to acquire such beautiful cinematography in a docu-style?

I lived there six times. I came to places where they never saw white people before. I found amazing locations to film. I met a lot of actors before shooting, they felt confident with me. Sometimes we had to redo the shot several times. The people in the street can look into the camera, but not the kids.

How did you construct the storylines?

All the people I choose had to have a project. For one it was having a restaurant, for the other making a cd, and one wants just money. I didn’t want to do un film miserable, I wanted to show how beautiful they are. What marvellous energy they possess. But I must say that the main character of the film is the music! Music is involved in all the moments in life: at birth, when dying, love and sadness. Music was my conductor.

You found an almost perfect balance between pain and beauty, how did you find it?

I had a very good editor, Marie-Hélène Dozo, we worked five months on the editing. It was important to do it without any regrets. The energy, the pace, the music, it all came naturally.

Do you feel that Kinshasa Kids can make a difference?

Who knows? It is good that it is being shown in Venice, it will also be in Stockholm, New York, London and more… Maybe it can make some kind of fuzz or sensation. If it can I will be happy. It is a scandal what’s happening there, it is one of the riches counties if you look at their natural resources: but the government doesn’t do what it is supposed to do. They all want to go to school, but you have to pay. I hope the people feel something when seeing the movie.

Did the movie change you and the children somehow?

After such a long time it is difficult to feel emotion because I see problems everywhere.The kids have certainly changed, we pushed them. We forbid them to call each other ‘witch’. After the shoot they were more confident. No more shèguè!

superstar

di Xavier Giannoli
Francia 2012, 112'

INTERVISTA AL REGISTA

Kinematrix

Recensione

Xavier Giannoli : Je ne suis pas un intellectuel. J'essaie de répondre aux questions que je me pose avec les moyens du cinéma. Je trouve intéressant de raconter l'histoire d'un homme qui ne veut pas être célèbre et ce refus le rend encore plus célèbre. Il a de la dignité. Il devient une icône moderne et exprime un aspect de notre époque. Quand j'écris un film, je commence par faire une enquête comme beaucoup de romanciers. On a rencontré une journaliste, avec Cécile de France, qui nous a aidé a construire son personnage. Je voulais saisir le trouble existentiel de cette journaliste de télévision.
Quand j'ai lu le résumé du livre L'Idole de Serge Joncour, j'ai pensé à La Métamorphose de Kafka et au thème de l'absurde qui m'a toujours intéressé. L'idée de ne pas expliquer pourquoi cet homme devient célèbre était une idée de mise en scène, je n'ai jamais été tenté de le faire. L'absurde me semblait être en fait le chemin le plus réaliste. Le travail avec les acteurs, la mise en scène rend cette question secondaire.

Kinematrix Pouvez vous nous parler de votre travail de mise en scène ainsi que de votre travail avec les acteurs ?

Cécile de France : J'aime beaucoup travailler avec Xavier, toute la technique est au service du jeu, on est à la recherche de cette sensibilité. Il a beaucoup de respect pour les acteurs. Il a une grande exigence et beaucoup de passion et nous emmène dans son monde. C'est un grand cinéphile.

Kad Merad : Cela fait une quinzaine d'années que je connais Xavier, qui m'a proposé de faire son premier court métrage. J'avais un petit rôle mais je me suis senti acteur très tôt, grâce à lui. Il avait déjà cette recherche de la vérité. Je pense que c'est un des plus grands cinéastes francais.

CdF : Je le pense aussi.

XG : J'aime le cinéma direct. Je suis attaché à la dimension charnelle du film. Le cinéma doit avoir un pouvoir de révélation du monde dans lequel on vit. Le roman était un point de départ très important : un inconnu devient célèbre sans savoir pourquoi. C'est le "sans savoir pourquoi" qui m'a intéressé.

Est-ce difficile d'interpréter un inconnu alors que vous êtes connu ?
 

KM : On a travaillé le personnage avec Xavier, je suis allé chercher ma part "pas connue". Je vis entouré de gens pas connus, cette vie là me parle.

XG : Je voulais parler de cette angoisse d'être dépossédé de son destin. Je me suis employé à ce que cette sensation dépasse l'anecdote et livre une vérité humaine.

Vous dressez un portrait peu flatteur du personnage de journaliste ? Comment envisagez-vous le journaliste idéal ?

CdF : Je n'ai pas de point de vue personnel. Ce qui est intéressant, c'est le travail effectué avec Xavier. Cette journaliste a été notre guide. Ce personnage est une idéaliste qui peu a peu se fait piéger. Cette vérité humaine qu'elle voulait défendre, elle oublie de la respecter. Cet homme va la réveiller car elle s'est perdue, compromise. Grâce à lui, elle en prend conscience et traverse cette crise existentielle. Elle se métamorphose et reprend possession d'elle-même.

Pourriez-vous nous parler de la fin du film ?

XG : Grâce à mes producteurs, je suis un réalisateur indépendant, on ne peut rien m'imposer. J'essaie d'exprimer mon rapport au monde. J'ai voulu avec cette fin ouvrir sur un espoir. Je voulais exprimer le fait que quelque chose est possible, même quand les circonstances sont noires. Et vous remarquerez la dernière image du film ce sont des télévisions...éteintes.

FLY WITH THE CRANE

di Rui jun Li
Cina 2012, 99'

INTERVISTA AL REGISTA

Maria de Gier

Recensione

Rui jun Li Not at all, he gave us all the freedom we needed to interpret the story in our own way.

Q: How did you get the actors, especially the children to act so naturally? Was there room for improvisation or did you tell them exactly what to do?
 

They are not professional actors, they are family or people I know. The first thing to do is to become friends, to completely trust each other. So I tried to spend time with them every day. I made preparations a long time before shooting. I taught them a lot, told them how to improve their acting. If you have this strong relationship everything really happens very naturally. We shot the movie in my hometown, the place where I was born. So it was easy for me to find good locations.
 

The scene where the villagers cut the grass along the waterside, is it criticism on how people treat nature? There is also a big contrast between how animals are seen as spiritual beings and how they are treated in everyday life, is this on purpose?
 

Yes, this was on purpose. I wanted to give a symbolic meaning to nature; the water is like a reflection of the spirit world of the old man. When they cut the grass, they ruin his spirit. It’s about the relationship between people and nature.
 

Traditional living is conflicting with the regulations of modern society, it’s an important issue in your movie, can you tell us something more about your look upon a changing society in relation to the story?
 

China is the most speeding developing country in the world, it’s an Asian country with different folklore and traditions in every region. I used environments to symbolise society, I used different landscape scenes to give meaning to this variety living. Just as I did in my previous films. It is very clear to me, if you are living in harmony with nature, you will feel less the will to conquer it. In opposite, if the people have a strong woe against their environment… the world will perish. It’s a big contrast that is present in all my films. If you saw ‘Old Donkey’ you recognize this as well. In the series of films I did I always talk about how people live, with a strong connection to the landscape or opposing it. You might understand it more if you see my previous work as well.

We see big commercial movies from China more and more, but also very interesting independent work, what are your thoughts about these opposites in cinema?

I went to a film academy, before that I only saw Kung-fu movies, very commercial ones, or propaganda movies. But I came across some films that gave me a strong feeling and a certainty in my mind that I could make films that were different as well. Strong independent movies are just like salad. While big successful action movies are like turkey. Everybody wants turkey but it is salad that you need for nutrition.

How was it to work with the musician He Xiao for the film score and the main song of the movie?

He is quite famous in China, famous for his pop-music but on the other hand he makes very avant-garde music too. I met him at a soul festival in Korea. He came in company of another director for whom he was composing a score, we walked together. There is some religious music in the film about the meaning of nirvana. He tried to use a particular instrument in very different way. You think you hear a cello but it could also be a guitar. He watched the movie a lot of times and understood the deep meaning of the images. Otherwise you cannot collaborate. I told him something about the meaning, but I didn’t tell him where it was located in the movie. I also didn’t tell him where I needed the music, I realised he just understood.

What feeling or emotion do you want to convey to the audience with Fly with the Crane?

I want to show the public this naïve emotion of the beginning of life and love and how something is lost every day when you grow up. I want to reflect a natural world of people, especially the inside, the spirit.

Sigla di venezia 69.

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Vessela Dantcheva

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