This is the indicator of the state of democracy in France. Or it's a reaction on elections? Or it's a prediction how France would be if Sarkozy won the elections? Or...
J.J.B.
Monday 30 April 2007
Democracy in France
Recently I'm not really in the writing mood and somehow I don't spend much time on my computer. I guess it's the weather. But yesterday when I left my appartment, I almost steped on this:
This is the indicator of the state of democracy in France. Or it's a reaction on elections? Or it's a prediction how France would be if Sarkozy won the elections? Or...
J.J.B.
This is the indicator of the state of democracy in France. Or it's a reaction on elections? Or it's a prediction how France would be if Sarkozy won the elections? Or...
J.J.B.
Tuesday 24 April 2007
Shoots, shoots, shoots...
Yesterday, probably under the impression of elections, I went to see French film Le Candidat. I was not really impressed and I'm not in the mood to analyse it. In front of the cinema this guys were preparing a shot.
I didn't ask anything, I saw HDV camera and I assume it was commercial. However, today I passed by another shoot. Stylianos Constantinoy, 2nd year student, was shooting his 35 mm selected project in the church. Luckily, the church authorities didn't know that the film speaks about sexual abusment of the child made by priest:). Here are some moments.
Just before that I met my old friend (she is not old, the friendship is old :))
from Slovenia Hanna Slak. She is on her way back to Berlin with her boyfriend and they stopped in Paris for few days. She is also a film director and we know each other for more than 10 years. We did together Desperado Tonic, and last year I have worked for two days on her last film Teah directing the extras (we created a party in the forest with people dancing all around). The project is finished and it will be presented at Film Market in Cannes (where it should be also screened her first feature Blind Spot). Good luck!
J.J.B.
I didn't ask anything, I saw HDV camera and I assume it was commercial. However, today I passed by another shoot. Stylianos Constantinoy, 2nd year student, was shooting his 35 mm selected project in the church. Luckily, the church authorities didn't know that the film speaks about sexual abusment of the child made by priest:). Here are some moments.
Just before that I met my old friend (she is not old, the friendship is old :))
from Slovenia Hanna Slak. She is on her way back to Berlin with her boyfriend and they stopped in Paris for few days. She is also a film director and we know each other for more than 10 years. We did together Desperado Tonic, and last year I have worked for two days on her last film Teah directing the extras (we created a party in the forest with people dancing all around). The project is finished and it will be presented at Film Market in Cannes (where it should be also screened her first feature Blind Spot). Good luck!J.J.B.
Monday 23 April 2007
Day After
I was just thinking that I will slowly have to pack my suitcases after yesterday's results when I received this by e-mail:
There is still a little bit of hope in second round but here you can see that even in the urban areas Sarkozy won by majority of votes. Everywhere in the world the right wing politicians are using the fear which spread among the people after 9/11th. Years ago in Slovenia, there was a campaign against discrimination with a tag line "All different, all equal (all having the same rights)". It changed till today into "All different, all unwelcome".
J.J.B.
There is still a little bit of hope in second round but here you can see that even in the urban areas Sarkozy won by majority of votes. Everywhere in the world the right wing politicians are using the fear which spread among the people after 9/11th. Years ago in Slovenia, there was a campaign against discrimination with a tag line "All different, all equal (all having the same rights)". It changed till today into "All different, all unwelcome".
J.J.B.
Sunday 22 April 2007
22nd April
Today in France everything is in the sign of elections. I passed by one of the voting places where Mirella was doing interviews for documentary Democracy in France.
After we had a lunch together because we were celebrating the fact that Victor Gotovic was born exactly 36 years ago.
I'm hardly waiting for the results of the first round.
J.J.B.
After we had a lunch together because we were celebrating the fact that Victor Gotovic was born exactly 36 years ago.
I'm hardly waiting for the results of the first round.
J.J.B.
I was in Cyprus with my film
I came back on Friday but I needed two days to recuperate. Unfortunately from Cyprus I was not able to post my impressions. Anyhow, the Cyprus Inernational Film Festival has finished, the awards were given and now is the time for analysis.
Personally, the festival was one of the most horrifying experiences in my life. When I came to the airport in the middle of the night, noone was waiting for me. I took a taxi, came to hotel at 5 a.m. just at the time to hear the first morning prayer from nearest mosque. Next day, Friday 13th :), I asked at the receptionist desk, where is the cinema where the festival takes place. First, the receptionist didn't know anything about the festival, second, he told me that the cinema is far away from city center and that I have to take a taxi. So, taxi again. When I came there, I couldn't beleive my eyes. This is what I saw:
Of course, the cinema was completely empty (actually, very soon 300 kids arrived to see Mr. Bean). Guy and the girl from the festival were there doing I don't know what. At 5.30, when the screening of paris.love started, we were two (2!) people in the room: Akemi Tachibana, the Japanese director and me. No audience. Not to mention that the first 5 min of the screening was with slovenian subtitles, until I finally didn't find the cinema operator. When the screening ended and I met Stephanos and Danae from the festival, they didn't seem at all disturbed that there was no audience. I was so shocked that I even forgot to be angry. In front of the cinema another shock: fucking limo was there to take Akemi and me back to the hotel. They should use that limo to bring the audience to that from god forgotten place. And these are my feet having fun inside.
However, here I will stop the diary narrative because in next six days things didn't change at all. We were 6 to 10 filmmakers who were watching their films by them self (I arranged another screening of my film so at least 5 people saw it :). If the screening was interrupted less than 3 times, we felt lucky. Some of the films were stoped at the half and never screened till the end. Normally, when we were searching for the cinema operator to tell him that there were problems, we couldn't find him. The worst is that the organisers didn't care about all those things, even worse, they were not even there. Very soon we started to joke about everything, the last defense one can take is to escape into the humour. The first joke by Victor Barrera was that the one who gets the main award will have to stay there for another year :), my joke was that we are collateral damage.
The conclusion is that recently a lot of new film festivals had appeared on the map. A lot of them (qouting guys from Crossing Bridges that just came from one) are run by the people who doesn't have any connection with the cinema: neither as a filmmakers, nor as a cinema lovers. They don't respect filmmakers, they don't care about screenings, they don't care about the audiance (the three most important things!). Obviously they care just about the money (which I don't care if the three first things are fulfilled).
So, be aware of Cyprus Film Festival. And even if you submit your film there, think 10 times before you attend it, because be aware that your dignity as a filmmaker will be challenged on every step. And on their website will everything still look nice and clean.
P.S. - 03.04.2010 - don't mix this event with Cyprus Film Days - their website look like they are serious film buffs
J.J.B.
Personally, the festival was one of the most horrifying experiences in my life. When I came to the airport in the middle of the night, noone was waiting for me. I took a taxi, came to hotel at 5 a.m. just at the time to hear the first morning prayer from nearest mosque. Next day, Friday 13th :), I asked at the receptionist desk, where is the cinema where the festival takes place. First, the receptionist didn't know anything about the festival, second, he told me that the cinema is far away from city center and that I have to take a taxi. So, taxi again. When I came there, I couldn't beleive my eyes. This is what I saw:
Of course, the cinema was completely empty (actually, very soon 300 kids arrived to see Mr. Bean). Guy and the girl from the festival were there doing I don't know what. At 5.30, when the screening of paris.love started, we were two (2!) people in the room: Akemi Tachibana, the Japanese director and me. No audience. Not to mention that the first 5 min of the screening was with slovenian subtitles, until I finally didn't find the cinema operator. When the screening ended and I met Stephanos and Danae from the festival, they didn't seem at all disturbed that there was no audience. I was so shocked that I even forgot to be angry. In front of the cinema another shock: fucking limo was there to take Akemi and me back to the hotel. They should use that limo to bring the audience to that from god forgotten place. And these are my feet having fun inside.
However, here I will stop the diary narrative because in next six days things didn't change at all. We were 6 to 10 filmmakers who were watching their films by them self (I arranged another screening of my film so at least 5 people saw it :). If the screening was interrupted less than 3 times, we felt lucky. Some of the films were stoped at the half and never screened till the end. Normally, when we were searching for the cinema operator to tell him that there were problems, we couldn't find him. The worst is that the organisers didn't care about all those things, even worse, they were not even there. Very soon we started to joke about everything, the last defense one can take is to escape into the humour. The first joke by Victor Barrera was that the one who gets the main award will have to stay there for another year :), my joke was that we are collateral damage.
The conclusion is that recently a lot of new film festivals had appeared on the map. A lot of them (qouting guys from Crossing Bridges that just came from one) are run by the people who doesn't have any connection with the cinema: neither as a filmmakers, nor as a cinema lovers. They don't respect filmmakers, they don't care about screenings, they don't care about the audiance (the three most important things!). Obviously they care just about the money (which I don't care if the three first things are fulfilled).
So, be aware of Cyprus Film Festival. And even if you submit your film there, think 10 times before you attend it, because be aware that your dignity as a filmmaker will be challenged on every step. And on their website will everything still look nice and clean.
P.S. - 03.04.2010 - don't mix this event with Cyprus Film Days - their website look like they are serious film buffs
J.J.B.
Thursday 12 April 2007
Hey Ho, Let's Go
This is my table today with things not to forget to take with me on a trip. I've just red the newspapers, the traffic controllers at CDG are on strike, so 2 from 3 flights will be cancelled or delayed. Concidering the fact that the screening of paris.love at the festival will be tomorrow, on Friday 13th, I will obviously have a lot of fun.
J.J.B.
Monday 9 April 2007
She Is the Boss
"I've never been to the film festival before and now, my first one will be Cannes." That's what Mirella Habr told me on Saturday while we were celebrating the news that she got selected among 60 other young cineasts from France (she represents Parisian region!) to participate The Cannes Film Festival. Seven from them will form Jury-Jeunes, the jury that will decide the laureat of Prix de la Jeunesse. During the festival they will attend a lot of screenings and workshops and of course, they will meet a lot of interesting filmmakers.
My cooperation with Mirella goes back to first years at Eicar film school. We worked a lot together, at the time she was the most wanted script supervisor at the school and I DOP-ed her fiction short film Crisis in Hell. After that, at her age of 22, she produced my feature paris.love. Here is a nice picture of her from that shoot.
After that I again DOP-ed her documentary Little Beirut and our cooperation went into several other directions, but here, I will keep them hidden:). She speaks five languages fluently and she is one of the most talented and creative people I've ever met. Be aware, she is on the move.
J.J.B.
My cooperation with Mirella goes back to first years at Eicar film school. We worked a lot together, at the time she was the most wanted script supervisor at the school and I DOP-ed her fiction short film Crisis in Hell. After that, at her age of 22, she produced my feature paris.love. Here is a nice picture of her from that shoot.
After that I again DOP-ed her documentary Little Beirut and our cooperation went into several other directions, but here, I will keep them hidden:). She speaks five languages fluently and she is one of the most talented and creative people I've ever met. Be aware, she is on the move.
J.J.B.
Thursday 5 April 2007
L'Art Brut
Two days ago I passed by the bar L'Art Brut. When I was searcing for the link, I found this website, where among other things is also written: "A charming little bar specialising in Belgian bottled beer. Often studenty crowd with a very sarcastic barman.". :) I'm 100% positive that they were thinking about my friend Milan. So, here he is:
With a new image, Dali's moustache and as he told me, with a new wife also. And here I stop, because I really don't want to go deeper in his private life. I met Milan four years ago when I came to Paris. The story is quite interesting, after two months being in the film school, my script got selected to be shot on S16 mm. Normally, in Slovenia, to organise a film shoot is a matter of few phone calls, I know people and they are more or less ready to do me a favour. But in Paris at the time I didn't know almost anyone. Because my story mostly took place in the bar, I went out to try to find one. I drank a lot of beers here and there, but (as we are in Paris) everywhere they wanted a lot of money. Suddenly I remebered that someone told me about the bar owned by two Serbian brothers. I got the address and went there immediately. I stoped near the bar, waiting. The barman approached. I said (in Bosnian): "A glass of red wine, please". "Is vranac ok" - he replied. "Perfect". "Milan". "Boris". "Nice to meat you". While I was slowly drinking my wine, Milan was doing his job. After a while, he stoped near me and asked: "So, what are you doing in Paris?". I answered: "I'm studying film and in my school, they fucked me really hard. They selected my script, I have to shoot in the bar but I can't find one.". His smile was big as his heart: "You will shoot here, of course!". And of course, we shot the film in two days, turning his bar upside down but at the end he was also very pleased with our work (because bar looks just great). The DOP was Luc Walpoth, producer Ana Jordanova, music by Boris Pokora and main characters Olga Zekova and Julien Boissaud. Here is a short extract.
Anyhow, if you want to hear some good music, to enjoy drinking while slowly eating cheese and sausages, this ia a place. L'Art Brut, 78 rue Quincampoix, just a step away from Centre Pompidou.
J.J.B.
With a new image, Dali's moustache and as he told me, with a new wife also. And here I stop, because I really don't want to go deeper in his private life. I met Milan four years ago when I came to Paris. The story is quite interesting, after two months being in the film school, my script got selected to be shot on S16 mm. Normally, in Slovenia, to organise a film shoot is a matter of few phone calls, I know people and they are more or less ready to do me a favour. But in Paris at the time I didn't know almost anyone. Because my story mostly took place in the bar, I went out to try to find one. I drank a lot of beers here and there, but (as we are in Paris) everywhere they wanted a lot of money. Suddenly I remebered that someone told me about the bar owned by two Serbian brothers. I got the address and went there immediately. I stoped near the bar, waiting. The barman approached. I said (in Bosnian): "A glass of red wine, please". "Is vranac ok" - he replied. "Perfect". "Milan". "Boris". "Nice to meat you". While I was slowly drinking my wine, Milan was doing his job. After a while, he stoped near me and asked: "So, what are you doing in Paris?". I answered: "I'm studying film and in my school, they fucked me really hard. They selected my script, I have to shoot in the bar but I can't find one.". His smile was big as his heart: "You will shoot here, of course!". And of course, we shot the film in two days, turning his bar upside down but at the end he was also very pleased with our work (because bar looks just great). The DOP was Luc Walpoth, producer Ana Jordanova, music by Boris Pokora and main characters Olga Zekova and Julien Boissaud. Here is a short extract.
Anyhow, if you want to hear some good music, to enjoy drinking while slowly eating cheese and sausages, this ia a place. L'Art Brut, 78 rue Quincampoix, just a step away from Centre Pompidou.
J.J.B.
Tuesday 3 April 2007
Cinemas
Normally, when I work a lot, I don't go to cinema very often; maybe ones or twice a week. But then I have periods in my life when I see even two movies a day. So, here they are, all my cinema cards:
Starting in the left up corner is Le pass, a card which allows me to see all the films in cinemas MK2, Gaumont and Pathe, and also in some art et essai cinemas (18 euros per month). Next one is the annual ticket for Forum des images, a version of cinematheque emphasizing the films connected with Paris, free pass to all screenings (100 euros per year). Hors les murs card gives the reduction for forum des images screenings in other cinemas because they are at the moment in a process of renovation. Of course, finally, annual ticket for cinematheque, free pass to all screenings and exhibitions (120 euros per year).
Two days ago I saw Nick Cassavetes' film Alpha Dog. It's based on a true story of the young drug dealer who orders a murder of a 15 years old kid because of some unsetled affairs with his brother. Cassavetes take us on a journey to west cost, to suburbs of middle class houses and spoiled unimployed kids (which was the first association of mine) or rather youngsters and their alienated parents. Ca c'est province, said my friend Guissepe after we saw the film. Of course, there is nothing to do except swiming in the pool, smoking pot and watching gangsta videos the whole day. And very soon reality is far, far away. The structure of the film is mix between actual story and "documentary" shoot with "real" persones involved in the story. Split screen is used in a very interesting way (Brian de Palma influence?) bringing us the same scene from different angles. The thaught appeared to me, are we approaching the sevenscreensonmycomputer style in the future? Quicker, faster, more?
The acting is very impressing, all the youngsters did a very good job but I enjoyed a lot in episode appearing of Harry Dean Stanton and Sharon Stone.
Anyhow, the apple doesn't fall far away from the tree, father John would be probably very proud.
J.J.B.
Starting in the left up corner is Le pass, a card which allows me to see all the films in cinemas MK2, Gaumont and Pathe, and also in some art et essai cinemas (18 euros per month). Next one is the annual ticket for Forum des images, a version of cinematheque emphasizing the films connected with Paris, free pass to all screenings (100 euros per year). Hors les murs card gives the reduction for forum des images screenings in other cinemas because they are at the moment in a process of renovation. Of course, finally, annual ticket for cinematheque, free pass to all screenings and exhibitions (120 euros per year).
Two days ago I saw Nick Cassavetes' film Alpha Dog. It's based on a true story of the young drug dealer who orders a murder of a 15 years old kid because of some unsetled affairs with his brother. Cassavetes take us on a journey to west cost, to suburbs of middle class houses and spoiled unimployed kids (which was the first association of mine) or rather youngsters and their alienated parents. Ca c'est province, said my friend Guissepe after we saw the film. Of course, there is nothing to do except swiming in the pool, smoking pot and watching gangsta videos the whole day. And very soon reality is far, far away. The structure of the film is mix between actual story and "documentary" shoot with "real" persones involved in the story. Split screen is used in a very interesting way (Brian de Palma influence?) bringing us the same scene from different angles. The thaught appeared to me, are we approaching the sevenscreensonmycomputer style in the future? Quicker, faster, more?
The acting is very impressing, all the youngsters did a very good job but I enjoyed a lot in episode appearing of Harry Dean Stanton and Sharon Stone.
Anyhow, the apple doesn't fall far away from the tree, father John would be probably very proud.
J.J.B.
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