Jean-Jacques Beauregard

Za Znoret

2009-03-08T08:37:00.003+01:00

"Za znoret" is the title of the book of Slovenian writer Zoran Hocevar. Valter Dragan plays in mono drama based upon the book. And my friend Vittorio Paci made a video clip for that show.

J.J.B.

Election Silence

2009-03-06T14:05:00.004+01:00

Ok, the picture is not really great but it's a document. On Tuesday we finished the sound mix for the short Election Silence. We are in Viba Sound Studio - Slovenia, left to right: Sound Editor Julij Zornik, Martin Schinz - re-recording mixer, my good friend Boris Petkovic and Rudi Jesenicnik - studio assistant. In the background you can see the opening shot of the film, the ass belongs to main character Valter Dragan.

J.J.B.

Rainy December

2008-12-16T09:58:00.006+01:00

We've finished the 1st shooting day. It was very difficult to work because it was raining all the time but we still managed to shoot everything we planned for that day. The actors and the crew were wonderful. I'm very tired, so for the moment just three pictures.

J.J.B.

Elections for Movie

2008-12-07T11:34:00.007+01:00

We are a week in front of the shoot. For the film we have to create a pre-election time so one of the biggest steps was to make posters. Here are some of them.

These are main actors: Valter Dragan, Polona Juh and in the role of daughter Pina Bitenc. This will be jumbo size poster.

This is the variation for the end of the film. His party is Slovenian Democratic Union.

This is 1st a.d. Goran Vojnovic together with me. We represent extreme right nationalists with a punch line: Let's stop the corruption.

J.J.B.

Back to the Countryside

2008-10-28T10:09:00.008+01:00

I became Boris Petkovic again. For a while. Or a little bit longer. Who knows?
I've got two projects with government money involved so I moved back to Ljubljana - Slovenia (I hope everyone knows where is that:).
We started the shooting of the documentary with working title 100% Luksuz (100% Luxury) in July this year. We had spent almost three weeks on Trska gora (hill above Krsko) shooting two international workshops. One morning, when we tried to get people coming out from their tents, Vava Stojadinovic, one of the tutors, made this picture.

Karim Raoul was D.O.P., Cecile Horreau was in charge of sound and me directing. Because I preferred that we work as a small crew, I was also camera assistant and boom operator:). More pictures you can see here.
The film is for the moment in post-production, it's coming close to the end of editing, I plan to make a first cut in a week or so. I have a lot of fun with archive rushes. They go back to mid 90's when the association started to work.

The other project is a short film with a working title Just One Step. It's a story about violence in the family wrapped in Slovenian political milieu.
Here is a crew meeting, from the left 1st a.d. Goran Vojnovic, production designer Ursa Loboda and costume designer Jelena Prokovic.

And here, as a bonus:), you can see producer Danijel Hocevar, production manager Matija Kozamernik and production assistant Jana Flego.

We are two months in front of the shooting so more about the pre-production is still to come.

J.J.B.

Chez Raphael

2008-10-25T08:33:00.002+02:00

I'm back I guess.
For the moment just two fragments from life in Paris.
Raphael moved to a new apartment, the neighbourhood is quite interesting, as you will see in the clip.

His restaurant Cheri Bibi is doing very well. One night he tried to make a new record in carying glasses around.

That's it for the moment. In next post I will explain how I became Boris Petkovic again.

J.J.B.

I don't

2008-05-16T22:47:00.002+02:00

do this normaly but this is fucking great.

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

J.J.B.

New York...

2008-05-09T02:55:00.004+02:00

...New York, big city of dreams,
But everything in New York ain’t always what it seems.
photo by Karim Raoul

J.J.B.

Honoring The Man

2008-04-22T02:52:00.002+02:00

Exactly 37 years ago, on this day, Viktor Gotovic, one of the most famous Slovenian actors was born. His peak in Slovenian filmmaking was in '99 and 2000 when he appeared in several movies. Me and him were quite a friends but one day he's just disappeared. There are roumors saying that he is in California surfing the waves, the others say that he grows popcorn in Asia, the darkest forecasts are that he died from overdose in Columbia. I don't really believe to any of those. Still, I would like to know what has happened to him. If anyone has any news, please let me know.

J.J.B.

Sacred Objects

2008-04-16T01:13:00.005+02:00

Last week I was on the opening of the photo exhibition Sarajevo dans le coeur de Paris of Milomir Kovacevic - Strasni. He took the pictures of the objects which were taken by the people when they had left Sarajevo during the war. Among them there were some really intersting things; one guy took with him the key of his car - golf:)
Those people were leaving their homes not knowing if they will ever be able to go back. My story is not that hard but I also left Slovenia with just two suitcases (of course, I was not forced and I was able to go back anytime).
However, "the special" thing that I took with me is this:

This is a comic that Darko Perovic draw for me for the premiere of Straight Ahead. The guy in a wheelchair says: "Watch out to frame Boris running over the street for that red hair girl!". Blind guy: "How does she look like, bro?".
For those of you who left their countries, what were the things which you took with you?

J.J.B.

Elvis Jackson - Market Sweets

2008-04-06T14:05:00.003+02:00

One more for the archive: I think we shot this video in 2001. DOP was Radovan Cok for the "story" part and concert's shots have been made by me and Janez Stucin. We shot the concert with two 16mm bolex cameras. The guys who were preparing the concert were loughing at us because those cameras work on spring. We looked really old school but the images are great.

J.J.B.

I Like Paris

2008-04-01T23:38:00.004+02:00

I like Paris because of many things. One of them is that you can meet girls wearing shoes like this.

J.J.B.

paris.love - Reviews

2008-03-23T21:21:00.004+01:00

It was very nice, to be in Slovenia for a while. Reviews of paris.love are very positive. For Slovenian readers, here are two: Marcel Stefancic wrote one for Mladina, another one is for Radio Student.
Here is also interview that I gave for Polet, weekly addition of daily newspaper Delo.

J.J.B.

Karim is in da House

2008-03-12T12:24:00.002+01:00

Karim finally found him self.

J.J.B.

paris.love Starts Slovenian Distribution

2008-03-07T13:17:00.004+01:00

I've been in Slovenia since Thursday, 28th March. Just yesterday I finished the documentary portrait of Brina Svit. Here is a picture that I took just after sound mix. Sound designer was Matej Perih.

Next week, on Wednesday, 12th March we start with the distribution of paris.love in art house cinema Kinodvor. We will be actually opening the week of French cinema in Ljubljana. Before that, on Saturday, 8th March, we will have avant-premiere in Čajarna (tea bar) in Novo mesto.
My dear friend Borut Peterlin made a Striptiz portrait of me for Slovenian magazine Mladina. It was great seeing him again and, of course, I think he made a great job. Thanks again Borut.

J.J.B.

Lady Svit Dances in Buenos Aires

2008-02-18T23:15:00.002+01:00

The editing of documentary portrait of French-Slovenian writter Brina Svit is coming to the end. Here is an extract from the film. Location: parc in Buenos Aires. Still not color corrected and sound edited.
Brina and Sergio. And Tango. Beautiful.

J.J.B.

Straight Ahead

2008-02-10T17:58:00.003+01:00

You never forget the first one. This is Slovenian (or maybe from some other countries also?) saying and it refers to one's first relationship. Well, in this case is a bit different.
I started my filmmaking career on local TV, doing everything: being journalist, shooting, editing... And during and after that time I shot several short films on video, being also awarded for some of them on festivals of amateur film. Straight Ahead was my first real film, shot on 16 mm with a crew and actors and everything else.
So, Matjaz Javsnik and Drago Milinovic as main characters. DOP was Jure Cernec, sound Urska Kos, editing Varja Mocnik, sound mix Hanna Preuss and Borut Berden, make up Klaudia Kolaric, I wrote it, directed and produced it.
The screenplay was wrote upon a comic story from Darko Perovic and Enrique Sanchez Abuli.
The film got two international awards and I traveled quite a lot around with it.

Trivia:
- This was a first film appearance of Matjaz Javsnik. Today, he is quite big star in Slovenia
- Femme fatale in the film is Vesna Milek. Today, she is famous Slovenian writter and journalist
- Just before we shot the scene where the kids throw the water bombs on Matjaz and Drago, Natasa Bertalanic (a.d.) and I stoped in the shop to buy preservatives needed for that scene. I demanded 30 preservatives and Natasa, with an innocent smile, explained to the lady that we are shooting the film:)
- during a year after releasing the film we traveled around Slovenia with a 16mm projector doing the inside and outside screenings. That was acctually inspiration for my story in Desperado Tonic.

J.J.B.

Balkan Gypsy Evening

2008-02-10T16:42:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I went with Khaled to a concert of Taraf de Haidouks, the Romanian Gypsy band.The concert was at Elysees-Montmartre, just two steps from my place.

They play traditional Romanian music and they are really exceptional musicians. Apart from "the wedding and funeral" songs they also played some music from classical composers. I recognised the piece from Bartok (you can see and hear it here) and Khaled recognised Khachaturian's one.
Anyhow, the concert was great and since it was quite early, we went after for a dinner. Being in the Balkan Gypsy mood, we ordered a kilo of meat, we ate it in half hour and we didn't look like French people at all.

J.J.B.

Eicar - new website

2008-01-29T20:44:00.000+01:00

I'm receiving through this blog more and more questions about Eicar - International Film School. We have a new webiste, here is a link, check it out.

J.J.B.

The Last Cigarette in the Parisian Bar

2007-12-31T17:49:00.000+01:00

Here is how I smoked the last cigarette in the Parisian bar on 31st of December 2007.

J.J.B.

Vavaland

2007-12-26T18:36:00.000+01:00

I've just got home from short trip to Amsterdam. I've been there for 4 days and I stayed at Vava's place. Vava is a friend of mine that I met during the workshop in Krsko. He was a great host during my staying and since I'm not in the mood for writing a reportage, here are just some impressions.

It was very cold, even canals were wearing winter clothes.

In China's part of the town the streets names are written in Chinese. I wonder what would happen if in some parts of Paris the streets names would be also written in Arabic.

But London syndrome is also present: cameras are on several streets around Red Lights District.

You can buy bear in the cinema. But you can also drink bear in cinema.

This windmill is still a brewery.

Kaas means cheese, Zatte is a great bear with 8% of alcohol.

Vava's girlfriend Janneke took this picture. She put the camera down before the actual shot. Still, I like the picture a lot:)

On my last evening, Vava and Janneke in action.

J.J.B.

Casablanca

2007-12-10T19:33:00.000+01:00

It's been 2 months since we started with classes at Eicar. This year I teach production for bachelor 1st year and master 1st year. Those are mainly theoretical courses 2 hours a week.
"My class", where I teach directing, is 2nd year bachelor program. We have almost 40 students so we divided them into two groups and the other teacher is Adriano Valerio. We alternate classes so that both group can have lectures from both of us.
There are two premises in 2nd year program. First, how to tell a story in realistic way, stressing also the film structure, dramaturgy... Second, it's working with actors.
Last week we started with exercises with actors. The students get the given scene from films and then they have to direct with actors. Each year I choose the scene from Casablanca, where Ingrid Bergman comes to ask for transit letters from Humphrey Bogart, to be the first one because it's very easy to break it down into units and to find objectives and obstacles. In one class three students work with actors on the scene and then we analyse their work together, then the following week one of them shoot the scene.
So here is the picture from shooting, where actors Jon Russo and Heike try to do their best of Bogart-Bergman.

At one moment my student Madison took my photo and made some pictures. After, I found this one that I like a lot. D.O.P. August at work (not to forget, director was Brandon).

J.J.B.

La Cuisine Libanaise

2007-12-09T16:02:00.000+01:00

Few days ago Mirella and I invited Vinciane and Guissepe for a dinner. I was very glad because Mirella promised that she will cook Libanese food which I adore.
So, here how it was.
The starter was of course houmus (made from chickpea's, garlic and lemon - at the end, you put olive oil on top of it) and lebanese bread. Of course, you can eat houmus with the main course also, which was specialy marinated chicken with rice, almonds, rasins and pinuts.
And of course salad, tabbule, made from tomato, parsley and onions.
Hera are the happy eaters (I am not among them because I took the picture but I can assure you, I was the most satisfied one:)). Vine was French and for apettizer we drank viliamovka, which is Slovenian brandy made from pears.

Oh, I almost forgot: for dessert, chockolate, that Guissepe and Vinciane brought from Belgia.

After the dinner we were having a good time listening to music, esspecialy Mika, new Libanese star. I said that it reminds me of Walk like an Egyptian, the old hit from 80's. Because the girls are young, we had to demonstrate thew how we danced at the time.

J.J.B.

Reflection

2007-11-15T16:45:00.000+01:00

When I came to Paris in October 2003, I had a Russian plan: I will stay in Paris for 5 years no matter what happens and after that period I will draw a line and see if the things are working for me or not. The fifth year have just started and it's still a bit too early for final account, but here are some pluses and minuses in the last 4 years.

- After being in Paris for 2 months, in december 2003 I shot a short film-exercise on super16. I've already written about that here, now I finally uploaded the whole film.

in case of problems, try to open it directly from here

- first year in Paris was very tough for me, I was almost all the time without the money, I didn't understand the word of French and it didn't seem at the time that the things will change. I remember that I was crying out of frustration several times. However, through Balkan connections I got a job at Orly airport (I was "slapping" the luggage as we say in Bosnia) and somehow survived that first year.

- second year started much easier since I got a scholarship from Slovenian Ministry of culture. Suddenly I had a lot of free time since I didn't need to run around like crazy trying to earn few euros. Consequance will be described in next line

- I spoke with at the time my directing professor Ilka Jarvilaturi. I told him how frustrated I'm because I don't speak the language. He told me:"To learn a language you have to either shoot a feature in French or you have to find a french speaking girlfriend.". Just to be sure I did both :)

- third year, partial breakthrough, I got a job as a professor of film directing at the school where I was a student. Great international environment. Big plus.

- that same year passed by working on post-production of paris.love

- fourth year, continuation of teaching. Started a project with Brina Svit, travelled with her to Buenos Aires and spent a summer shooting in Slovenia

- voila, here we are, fifth year, not bad at all. The only big minus that's following me all this years is French breaucracy. Although Slovenia entered the European Union in 2005, the things for me haven't changed much; I still need to wait in queue to get my working papers and the fact that I'm from European Union doesn't make the things really easier

- anyhow, recently I started to work as a camera operator and editor with a swedish journalist shooting the news for swedish TV. Although I started my career back in 94 working the same things, I enjoy a lot rediscovering it now

- so, when I don't work at school or with swedish guy, I edit the documentary about Brina. So, here I'm am, doing my best of Rodin's Thinker.

J.J.B.

ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

2007-10-28T13:43:00.000+01:00

Sunday started with a sad news: Franci Slak died yesterday. The death doesn't ask if it's suitable, it just strikes and I, stranger in a foreign country, feel a need to write in a foreign language that my heart is full of pain.
Our first closer meeting was on a premiere of Straight Ahead, my first short film, back in 1998. After the screening he came to me and said: "Congratulations, great effort and even bigger achievement". The moment is still very vivid in my memory, the great filmmaker approaching the young one. He told those words in his pathetic style of filmmaker, of true artist, that I rarely met in my life ever again. I really admired him because of that and I'm gratefull that he made my entering in the world of filmmaking something that I will never forget.
In the next years I was meeting him quite often, as we were good friends and colleagues with his stepdaughter Tosa. But in the last few years we got closer. In 2003 he produced The Frontiers of My World, documentary that we shot in Western Sahara. His help in the editing was priceless, he guided us with his enormous knowledge and he never crossed the line trying to impose something that was not part of our vision. There I first met a great pedagogue who had shared his knowledge over the last 20 years with Slovenian students of film directing.
While I'm writing, the memories of summer 2006 are jumping through my mind. In that period I had lived almost two months in his house in Slovenia, while finishing my film paris.love and working as his assistant on his film On Earth as it is in Heaven. Although he was very much affected by his illness (his weight was around 54 kg), I was astonished by his energy, by his will for living. Always in the move, always thinking, imagining new things, new projects. During that time we had spoken quite a lot, about his life, his work. We watched his old movies and he was remembering the interesting things, never really in a sentimental way but rather analytically and with a lot of humour. During those two months he shared with me not just his home but also his emotions, feelings, thoughts... I'm very proud that I shortly followed Franci on his personal and creative path of his life.
Our last meeting was in August 2007, when he came upon my invitation to be a part of the party scene in a documentary about Brina Svit. He was as always, charming and witty, full of new plans. Two months after he proudly wrote to me that he became a grandfather. It sounded as a begining of a new period in Franci's life.
But cancer won one more time. We lost a great humanist, pedagogue and filmmaker. The spirit of filmmaking without him will never be the same. FADE OUT

J.J.B.

Ratatouille - film location

2007-10-08T17:06:00.000+02:00

Today I passed by this place and I finally made a photo. I remember how impressed and shocked I was the first time I saw it, few years ago, before the film came out.

For cinema buffs who will visit Paris, you can find it on 8 rue des Halles in the first arrondissement.
J.J.B.

Sstress

2007-10-01T17:14:00.000+02:00

It's a good title for what I'm going through at the moment but I will be able to speak about that in few days. Meanwhile I continue uploading my films.
So, Sstress was shot a year after Director's Cut, following two basic ideas: first, film reels are again the leftovers from the frige (this time Danijel Hocevar gave two and Franci Slak one), second, the film should be in one shot following the idea that the specific of the frame is that there are some things outside it that we can't predict or imagine.
So, the crew: Vladimir Vlaskalic sat on a chair, again Bozo Zadravec as D.O.P., Mojca Gorogranc as make-up artist, Marjan Jelnikar as a grip, Julij Zornik sound-mix, editor Janez Bricelj, producer Danijel Hocevar and I operated the camera and directed it (I am credited also as a producer). We shot it during several hours one sunny night.

Trivia:
- the electric chair was primary designed for video clip of a famous Slovenian group Siddharta by Pepi Sekulic

J.J.B.

Films, Films, Films... - Director's Cut

2007-09-15T20:47:00.000+02:00

I've just started uploading my short films and other stuff on internet, because I would finally like to have most of my work in one place (which will be on this blog - in several days I will rearrange Filmography section).
I've decided to publish them also on posts, as I will upload them, with the short stories about shoots, festivals, etc...
So, here we go:
In winter 2001 I was sitting in Emotionfilm production office chatting with Danijel Hocevar about god knows what. He prepared me a coffee and I went to get some milk, I opened the frige and I saw inside 3 small reels (120m) of 35mm film (I think two were 500 ASA and one 800 ASA). I asked him what's that for and he explained that those were the reels - leftovers from previous project, they didn't use them and soon they would be out of date. I turned around and told him: "Dane, I have an idea!".:)
As I remember, that year we didn't shoot a lot of films in Slovenia, so for one afternoon shoot I called my friends, Sloveniian film workers to help me. Dunja Zupanec and Blaz Valic accompanied by Jurij Meden were actors, Bozo Zadravec was D.O.P., make-up Alenka Nahtigal, costumes - Sabina Buzdon, grips Stane Podobnikar jr. and Marjan Jelnikar, prop master - Rudi Pozeg, sound post-production Julij Zornik, Danijel Hocevar produced it and I was screenwriter, director, editor and camera operator.
Here is a crew.

And a picture from rehearsal.

Funny thing was that this was really no budget shoot, so we borrowed the electricity from Nino&Jelena's appartment. To fix it over the street it looked like this.

Anyhow, here is the film. It was kind of festivals hit, they really liked it, esspecially showing it on closing ceremonies.:) And the film is really made for cinema, because it uses the cinema hall as a film element.

Trivia:
- the voice of producer at the end of the film is acctually the voice od Danijel Hocevar. As I remember Julij Zornik recorded it directly from his mobile phone.
- Jurij Meden, Slovenian famous film critic and filmmaker plays the role of the director.
- on the first few screenings in Slovenia, at the sound of teared film and blank white frame, the cinema operators were constantly stoping the projection. We had to accompany the film reel with the warning: "In this film the effect of teared film is used. Please don't stop the screening.".

J.J.B.

A bout de souffle - commercial

2007-09-08T18:58:00.000+02:00

Voila, finally.
I helped Andrew Brooke, the friend of mine, who last year graduated at Eicar film school on his commercial assignement.
He didn't need to persuade me a lot, A bout de souffle is one of my favorite films and I had a lot of fun editing this. It took him another year to fix the music and sound but finally, here it is.

J.J.B.

Slovenia Mix Summer 2007

2007-09-01T19:40:00.000+02:00

As I promised, here we go.

I took this photo in the plain day but it was raining as hell. I took it with flesh so this is what I got. Those are Jure Cernec and his girlfriend Svetlana.

One day we were sitting in the evening on workshop Divided God in Ljubljana: Vava, Tom, unknown, Zelimir Zilnik, Maja Ziberna and Dzeni.

My friend, Slovenian film director Zoran Zivulovic.

On the first part of the shooting with Brina we visited Bled. I insisted on taking photo of Brina and Pascal in front of ex Tito's villa.

Here is a link where you can see a lot of photos from the workshop The One Minute Jr.

And at the end, last day of the second part of the shooting with Brina, party at her place.

J.J.B.

Back In Paris

2007-08-31T16:49:00.000+02:00

Voila, after 40 days of travelling around I'm finally home. Actually I came a week ago but usually when I come to Paris after a long period of time I allways need a week or so to adapt. However, for the beginning, two things:

First, I plan to do in a day or to a photo review of my summer activities around but here are two pictures that go out first. One day, while I was on holidays on Croatian island Krk, I had seen a poster announcing the tv screening of the football match between Hajduk and Sampdoria in a bar near sea.. I thought it will be fun so I went there. As you see here, tv was placed on the beach side, with a sea behind it and it was connected with hundreds of cables and antena from 70's. The game started and we could barely see the players moving around but because of the noise in the picture the ball was completely unrecognisible. So we protested to the boss of the place and then the real fun happened. He started to move antena left and right, up and down and in all possible directions that you can imagine. Very quckly also we, the spectators, joined the club; each one had his own idea what to do to fix it. This lasted till the end of the first half time when we got tired and decided to relax during the break:). But ones the second half started we were all there again trying to fix the picture. I think it's not neccessary to mention that we didn't see the minute of the game but we had had great fun.

Today I received an e-mail from my friend Karim Raoul. We worked quite a lot together (among other things he was D.O.P. on paris.love) and after he moved back to New York we stayed in touch all the time.
Anyhow, he opened his website (the link is also among my favorites) with his photo work. Definitely worthy to check. I found this picture, that I'm publishing here with the approval of the author, very strong (bird=airplane); I just don't understand how he didn't sell it at the time.

J.J.B.

I Am On...

2007-08-11T09:38:00.000+02:00

holidays:)

Coming back after 20th August.

J.J.B.

Summer Time

2007-07-29T12:33:00.000+02:00

...and the weather is easy. After the heat-wave last week I can finally do few things (not just trying to survive in horizontal position). Last week, apart from few meetings, I haven't done much. I shot a statement for Slovenian internet portal vest.si regarding the situation in Slovenian film industry. It's a long story and I don't want to go in details here but few guys in power managed to destroy the politic of Slovenian Film Fund literally over the night. The text in the statement is:
The situation in Slovenian film is finaly balanced and it can be explained by Newton's 3rd Law: If object A exerts a force on object B,
then object B exerts an equal and opposite force on object A.
Populary we call it the law of action and reaction.

Yesterday we had a barbecue with a guys from Luksuz Production. At around 6 p.m. it was still quite easy and then exactly at 7 p.m. we started. I was chef, because I really enjoy in that and the great thing isthat the day before Tom bought new grill.

In few hours I will go to Ljubljana. The whole next week we will continue shooting Brina's portrait for national TV.

J.J.B.

Business With Pleasure

2007-07-17T10:15:00.000+02:00

As usual, I would say. As I moved to Paris, my visits to Slovenia are always connected with some work and a lot of pleasure. Last week I spent two days in Ljubljana because we were shooting "Slovenian part" of the documentary Lady Svit. I stayed at my friends appartment Nino and Jelena. I know them for quite long and we have also very long professional relationship: Jelena made music for my first video films, then they both made music for Straight Ahead, after that I've worked for almost two years on docu-fiction TV emission Odklop and Nino was making the music and again we worked together on paris.love.
Shooting days with Brina were very nice. First day we spent in Ljubljana shooting interviews with Zdravko Dusa - her editor and Peter Kolsek, writter and old friend of Brina. Peter was a bit ill so we couldn't do a lot with him, but the part we shot was very nice and we caught some emotional moments.
Next day we went to Kras, where Brina and Pascal have their house - summer residence. Unfortunately no pictures from there but for the next time I promise some because the place is magnificent.

J.J.B.

Welcome To Slovenia

2007-07-16T16:44:00.000+02:00

I know, I know, it's been a while. So, I'm in Slovenia since last Monday. My friends from DZMP gave me the place to stay. Here you can see it:

I came in Slovenia in the middle of the night. On our way to Krsko we picked up two hitchhikers, Legba and Lauren. Here is what they told us, after a night spent in the club:

J.J.B.

Leçon de cinéma

2007-06-30T13:43:00.000+02:00

Sometimes it happens; the atmosphere is right, there is something in the air. Several days ago, after we had lunch and we had discussed the school issues, we stayed sitting in a restaurant: Nenad, Adriano and myself. School year is over so we drank few glasses of wine. At one moment and I don't remember by what was it provoqued, Nenad started to analyse Adriano's last film. And one of those magic moments started. We call Nenad maestro, because his knowledge of cinema and art in general is huge. He shares that knowledge with his students and also with us, his collegues, on a daily basis. But just sometimes it seems that all his passion wakes up, and than he goes with all his heart deeply into the life and cinema. I hope I can bring you closer the moment of that day through some of these photographs. It started like this:

This is like the opening sequence; Leçon de cinéma was just about to start:

J.J.B.

Easy Days

2007-06-20T23:32:00.000+02:00

Week in Paris after two trips. I'm slowly trying to get back to normal life, whatever that means.
Anyhow, last week I met Brina. We were speaking about the shoot in front of us and other things. A while ago I got a test version of her book and I used the opportunity and gave it to Brina to signed it. Concidering the fact that this is a unique version, I hope that in 30 years this could be my old age pension:).
In the midlle of the week Karim came. The same day we went for a dinner to Cheri Bibi where we stayed quite long. Raphael surprised us with the news that he will become a father. Around two o'clock I made this picture.
Weekend passed by hanging around with Karim, of course L'Art Brut, dinner chez Mirella... He left on Sunday.
Today I went with Nenad to cinema Balzac to speak about possibility of screening Eicar International section student films in October. It was nice to see Mr. Schpoliansky again. And it was nice to listen to conversation between him and Nenad because they are both very witty.

J.J.B.

paris.love in Slovenia - part 2

2007-06-13T19:46:00.000+02:00

Outside is raining at the moment so the best thing is to finish with what I have promised.
Sunday was the day of the screening(s). First was at 11 a.m. When Mirella and I came to Kinodvor, there were around 30 people sitting there. Mostly men. Koen told us that each Sunday Albanian comunity gathers and they drink a coffee there. It was very funny. On morning screening we had something like 15 people among whom was also my family: my mother Metka, my brother Andrej and my nieces Manja and Nika. While driving to Ljubljana my nephew Matic got really sick so his mother Mojca took him back home so at the end I didn't see them at all. Mirella's coment after the screening you can see in the first video. Vlado Skafar also came in the morning saying that he doesn't want to take precious seat in the evening. Thank you Vlado. Anyhow, the projection was nice and after it we went for a lunch with my family. It was nice, we spent a nice time but they were in the hurry so they left soon and Mirella and I went for siesta in the hotel. Around 6.30 p.m. Tom, Dzeni and Tomaz from Luksuz Produkcija came to take us back to cinema where we met again Koen and Nina and they invited us for lunch. I was already very excited so I drank also a glass of cognac. At the screening I met a lot of my dear friends and colleagues, I will not tell the names because I'm sure that I will forget someone. As I forgot, when I was presenting the team of collaboraters, to present Jure Moskon, Tom Gomizelj and Tomaz Pavkovic. Guys, I'm really sorry. Next time I will have a list on the paper.

J.J.B.

paris.love in Slovenia - part 1

2007-06-12T23:32:00.000+02:00

We came back yesterday (on Monday), today I was trying to put together videos and pictures. It's almost midnight, on googlevideo.com is impossible to upload for a moment, my space has also some problems and on you tube the situation is the same. Till now I succeded uploading two, there are three more to come (maybe I will publish them tomorrow).
We came to Ljubljana on Friday evening. Vlado from Gustavfilm waited for us at the airport and he drived us to hotel. We went out for a dinner, we drank a glass of vine and that was it. On Saturday we met Jure Moskon. We went together to Kinodvor to make a test screening.

After that we were sitting, drinking coffee. This is how I surprised Jure Meden who was working on something. After a while we also met our dear friend from Paris, Reza Serkanian and I made a quick interview.
reza serkanien

The guys from Charlie TV arrived so they made an interview with me and immediately after Katja Lenart made an interview with me for vest.si (you can see it here). And the reverse shot that I made is here.

Then we went for a lunch: Mirella, Reza, Jure, his girlfriend Ivana and me. I took them to Bosnian restaurant to try our speciality cevapcici. Mirella didn't like kajmak (she called it vanilla ice-cream), I was more than glad to eat her portion by myself. After that Jure and Ivana went home and we went back to Kinodvor.
We met there Koen - the program director and Nina - the festival director. The cast on his hand is a consequence of a traditional football match on Isola Cinema Film Festival between guests and voluntary brigade.
He posed for us in front of our poster and after he took a photo of me and Mira. In between we went to see The Teacher, I am ashamed to admit but I felt to sleep although the film was very interesting. Cevapcici in my stomach were just too heavy. We spent the afternoon walking around. We passed by Metelkova where we stoped in Jalla, Jalla. Mira spoted the poster of Desperado Tonic, I haven't even seen it.

The evening was easy, Mirella started to feel sick so we went to sleep early.
Part 2 is cooming soon.

J.J.B.

Slovenia Strikes Again

2007-06-07T22:31:00.000+02:00

After Buenos Aires I've rested for two days and then I was again on the shoot. Another Slovenian student Gregor Andolsek was selected to shoot a film on S16 mm. He wrote the script together with Spanish student Ivan Tobalina. Supervising this shoot was quite ok, they were doing a good job so I didn't interfere much. First day, on Monday, they were shooting in the bar.
While Gregor was rehearsing with the actors, Camille, the producer was preparing the food for the crew. I'm glad Gregor "got" his bar in Paris (once you shoot in it, you "owe" it, mine is this one). What I envied him is the name of the nearby street. I would kill to be able to shoot on that street in Paris :). Anyhow, next day we were on the street in Plaine Saint-Denis, shooting the sceene in front of the doors. We had access to the building because we took the electricity from there. However, we didn't have the key from the doors and by Murphy's law, at 2 in the morning someone by mistake closed the doors. Of course a lot of stuff got locked inside. But the window on the second floor was open. We tried with the highest ladder that we could find but of course it was not high enough. Luckily, that night we had a security guy with us (two weeks earlier the van full of equipment was stolen from our students not far away) and he called a friend of him, the fireman. So, he climbed up and opened the doors. That action was definitely the highlight of the day (pardon, of the night). Yesterday, we were again on streets of Paris, nothing really special happened. The shoot finished at around 5 in the morning. Here are more photos.
Apart from that, Brina called me today, she's just got from Buenos Aires and her book went into the print today. We will meet next week to organize next shoots. Tomorrow, me and Mirella will go to Slovenia for a screening of paris.love. Looking forward.

J.J.B.

Short Look Back

2007-06-03T22:22:00.000+02:00

Voila, I'm back in Paris since Friday. I've got a bit cold on the airplane, so it made me good to rest for a while. Shooting a film in Buenos Aires was a great experience, a lot of fun but also a lot of hard work. And two days it was really, really cold (winter is just about to start there). Anyhow, I shot a bit for the blog first and last day (in between I was shooting a movie:)), so here is a video. First, crew gathering before the shoot and then final party at Sabina's place where you can see Sergio dancing with Lorena, Brina and Sabina.

Btw, more videos about our week in Buenos Aires you can see on Sabina's blog.

J.J.B.

Lady Svit in Buenos Aires

2007-05-26T15:38:00.000+02:00

Voila, here we are. I came the day before yesterday in the morning after the 13 hours flight. Together with Sabina I spent the afternoon and evening putting the equipment together. Yesterday at 11 o'clock we met with other two crew members Lorena and Pedro for equipment checking and around 2 p.m. we finally started shooting. I brought with me from Paris the text (I got it from Brina's publisher) of Brina's new book designed as it will be for print. This is a moment when the book is finished but there are still minor details to correct so I wanted to capture the moment when Brina gets it in her hands. And it was quite ok, I guess I got some emotions from the scene. In the afternoon we shot Brina and Sergio having a private tango lesson in the middle of the parc. Here is the picture.

After the dinnner we went to the same parc to document some more moments. Brina took part in milonga as she does every day. We shot some moments and that was that for the first day. Today we will walk with Brina around Buenos Aires and try to get just some moment of her and the city. As for the evening, of course, another milonga.

J.J.B.

Bueno Buenos Aires

2007-05-20T19:00:00.000+02:00

Things are slowly coming together in Buenos Aires. I'm leaving Paris on Wednesday and hopefully I will be there on Thursday morning. Brina has been there already for two weeks. At the moment our Slovenian contact in Buenos Aires Sabina Dogic is renting the equipment and putting together the crew. We will be shooting on HDV but today I checked super 8 camera (thanks a lot Alex) because throughout the shoot I want to capture small moments also on super 8. Anyhow, just for a taste, here is a short moment shot by Sabina with Brina in one of the dance halls in Buenos Aires .

J.J.B.

Busy Days

2007-05-18T00:38:00.000+02:00

This blog was a bit abandoned in the last week but I have so many things to do before I leave to Buenos Aires to shoot a documentary. Work at school takes me a lot of time, meetings with students, different drafts of the scripts, different versions of films in editing... But ca va. I'm at the moment also involved in a lot of coordination with Gustavfilm about the screening of paris.love on 10th of June in Kinodvor in Ljubljana. Btw, here are the posters.

J.J.B.

Devil In Disguise

2007-05-10T20:56:00.000+02:00

I've got inspired to write about optical illusions from this Slovenian blog. Of course, the premise is that the cinema itself is one big illusion. So, let's go back to beginings. English doctor John Ayrton Paris in 1826 created a first device for optical illusion - thaumatrop.

On one side of the encircled paper is a drawing of a bird, and on the other side there is a cage. With a very quick rolling around the horizontal axis one gets impression that the bird is in the cage. I used to create this kind of toys when I was a kid and yesterday, inpired by the elections for president in France, I did one again.

This optical illusion synthesizes two static pictures into a new one on a characteristic of human eye, which is called a retinal persistency (in english I found it under the persistence of a vision). The fact is that the retina in human eye retains the picture for a brief moment. So, in the case of our thaumatrop, the bird stayes on the retina long enough that when we "catch" the next one, is already replaced by the cage. This effect is used in cinema theaters, where the film is projected 24 (or 25) pictures per second and after each picture it comes a moment of black (shutter effect). TV uses the same effect in a bit different way, instead of one picture having two half pictures. The fact that the cinema (even the most realistic stories) is a big illusion, can't be more true.
J.J.B.

Brave New World

2007-05-05T23:04:00.000+02:00

There are some really great films at cinema MK2 Beaubourg at the moment. And it's obviously a time for documentaries. Last week I watched We Feed the World, which is a great film. I look on the shelfs in the shops and the food I see it's just disgusting. The mass production of the food have stolen it's taste, not to mention that it's destroying local economies all around the world. The strongest line is anyhow the one from Jean Ziegler, UN Special Reporter on the Right to Food: "Given the current state of agriculture in the world, it could feed 12 billion people with no problem. Or to put it another way: any child who dies of starvation today is in fact murdered." It makes you think.
Yesterday I saw Jesus Camp and it scares you from the other side. The film follows group of children in their summer camp, where they play, dance and do all the other things that kids do. But what is a specialty of this one: it’s Evangelical Christians gathering and they teach the kids some amazing things: that the school theory of evolution is wrong and that they should believe in creationism, islam is of course equal to the terrorism, support of American troops in Irak is not a question and George W. Bush is the best guy in the world. They teach the kids (even that young as 6 years old) how to be Christian soldiers in God’s army. And the church leaders, without any bad conscience, speak about the fact that what you teach the child in the age between 7 and 10 years it stays in his mind for the rest of his life!! They approach to the youngsters as a key generation that will change the face of America. Of course, the key generation, indoctrinated kids who will grow up in crusaders fighting all around the world with a sword and a torch for the one and only existing god (interesting article you can read here). The filmmakers presented in the movie also the only voice of intellect, the guy who has a radio talk show in which he is opening the raising questions about that subject. Followed with his voice coming from different radios, we travel through America. As an editing structure, those parts reminded me a lot of M.A.S.H. which uses the speakers to connect smaller scenes through the story line. My favorite moment in film is when pastor uses the water to purify the kids from their sins. It’s a Nestle bottle of water. And in We Feed the World there is an interview with a Nestle executive director, in which he says that point of view of NGO’s that the water should be free for everyone is horrible and that we should attach a value to the water.
Obviously, great time is coming. Very soon they will probably start charging us for the air we are breathing and then we are really fucked. Even if global warming doesn’t exist.

Voila, here is one more time the picture that I took in New Mexico.

J.J.B.

Democracy in France

2007-04-30T22:47:00.000+02:00

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.

Shoots, shoots, shoots...

2007-04-24T21:25:00.000+02:00

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.

Day After

2007-04-23T22:47:00.000+02:00

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.

22nd April

2007-04-22T18:22:00.000+02:00

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.

I was in Cyprus with my film

2007-04-22T18:04:00.003+02:00

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.

Hey Ho, Let's Go

2007-04-12T11:48:00.000+02:00

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.

She Is the Boss

2007-04-09T17:04:00.000+02:00

"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.

L'Art Brut

2007-04-05T11:21:00.000+02:00

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.

Cinemas

2007-04-03T14:56:00.000+02:00

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.

The Last of the Mohicans

2007-03-30T21:35:00.000+02:00

There are not much more of them on the streets, masters of puppets. Sometimes on Sundays one can see them in front of Sacre-Coeur or in Jardin de Luxembourg making the shows for the children but on the streets, nope. This guy is one of the last ones, one can see him quite a lot all around Paris and he seems like really enjoying in what he is doing. And the music is always good also:)

J.J.B.

About

2007-03-29T12:34:00.000+02:00

tracking shot I want to speak today. On Sunday I took the train to reach the shooting location. Driving with the metros all the time I almost forgot how beautiful is to travel with the train and to look outside the window. It's just a loooooooong tracking shot. Ok, it's not exactly 1:1,85, even less a wide screen, but still: moving images par exellence. And then, the real beauty comes out when you start to combine those shots with other camera movements. I guess, sans precedent was Orson Welles' opening shot in Touch of Evil, over a 4 min long shot in which the frame heights are changing all the time and we travel through the whole city, through many different atmospheres, hundreds of extras and at the end, still in the same shot, we even change the country. Although Hitchcock shot Rope in 1948 (the whole film in 9 shots), it's impossible to compare those shots with Touch of Evil in a way of richness of the mise-en-scene. Robert Altman's opening scene in Player is a great hommage to Orson Welles and I like it a lot. As I also like the opening scene of Kusturica's film Time of the Gypsies where (I'm just speculating) they did a good job together with director of photography Vilko Filac. After all, I'm not a great lover of Sokurov's Russian Ark, because he had to help himself with a kind of narrator, and for me, it was a bit of just showing the muscles. I got the same feeling with Haneke's Code inconnu.
Anyhow, I shot quite some of my films by myself and, especially in my student's years, I did some camera work for the other directors also. Here is a shot I did in a short film by Shailesh Macwan and there is some motivated camera movement. The idea was to have steady shot at the begining (we shot with Aaton A-Minima S16 mm camera so it wasn't really steady :)) and when the actor approaches we start with dolly and it finishes with hendheld when the fight starts. I was assistant director on Slovenian film Headnoise directed by Andrej Kosak, where director of photography Dusan Joksimovic had done something similar and I just wanted to try it by my self.

J.J.B.

Undisclosed

2007-03-27T14:41:00.000+02:00

On Sunday we finished another student's shoot. It was the 2nd term awarded script by Adriana Calvo. The film was shot on S16 mm and the shoot was very well organised. Most of the days we were at Epinay-sur-Seine, 20 or something kilometers out of Paris.
Undisclosed

J.J.B.

Lady Svit

2007-03-23T13:34:00.000+01:00

Two months ago I was speaking with a young distributer from Paris. He asked me: "What do you prefer to work on, fiction or documentaries?". My answer was: "I like to do documentaries while I'm preparing fiction." At the moment, I'm very slowly working on the new idea for my new feature (about that maybe some other time). And of course, I'm doing a documentary. It's acctualy a portrait of Slovenian writer Brina Svit. She has lived in Paris since 80's, at the time she was writing books in Slovenian language, and then, few years ago she changed the language and now she writes in French (last two books and the third is coming). That's quite a big step for a writer and some of the difficulties of writing she described in her book Moreno. Interesting thing language wise is that her last book Un coeur de trop has, as I remember, 8 pages more in French than in Slovenian. And here we speak about the language, about the beauty of French language in which one can convey so many feelings and emotions in so many ways(one of the next posts I might devote to the same subject from the point of view from filmmakers; especially among the international filmmakers there is this joke that these days in French films there are no activities but they speak so beautiful:)).
Anyhow, back to the subject, I'm trying to follow Brina few days a month in different situations in Paris, in May we will spend some time in Buenos Aires dancing tango and of course we will be with her mostly during the summer in Slovenia. The film is produced by TV Slovenia - documentary program and it will be screened there hopefully in the begining of 2008. So, here is an extract from Wednesday session of tango with a famous Argentinian tango dancer Coco Dias. We shot in a small appartement in Paris, credits go also to Jean-Nicola Risler who was recording the sound and Andraz Sumrada, camera assistant who also shot this small moment of our work.

J.J.B.

Chéri bibi opened the doors

2007-03-20T21:01:00.000+01:00

On Saturday internet died in the area of Montmartre. I spoke with two friends, they both have different providers and the situation was the same. Apocalypse Now. Colaps of the system. On Sunday it worked occasionaly. However, with a bit of delay, Saturday's opening of restaurant Chéri bibi, 15 rue Andre del-Sarte. I had a great time, free drinks all night and Lulu and the Comets All-Stars Band.

J.J.B.

Sierra Grande Lodge

2007-03-15T18:50:00.000+01:00

I'm cleaning my drawer, putting the archive slowly together. So, here is commercial that we shot in August 2005 in New Mexico (published on this site with a permission of the author). Screenwriter and director was Karim Raoul, Director of Photography Gilles Arnaud, I was the assistant director and later the editor, Andrew Brook was assistant camera and Ishan Shapiro a gaffer. Sound post-production was made by Jean-Nicola Risler and I forgot the name of the guy who wrote the music (Karim please help, so I can update this later).
Anyhow, we shot it in a town with a really funny name: Truth or Consequences. When I entered the States, the border policeman hardly believed when he saw this name written as a destination. Btw, the story with the name is quite interesting. Back in 50's there was a very successful radio show called Truth or Consequences. They offered some free publicity to the town in US which will take the name. So, the town called Hot Springs took the opportunity and changed the name into the Truth or Consequences (more about that you can read here). The story goes further; after changing the name, local economy, which is mostly established on tourism (health resorts with hot springs) instead of growing up, started to fall down.
Anyhow, in 2005 it reminded me of an old and abandoned film studio.
But here is the commercial, shot in 35 mm, and the post-production was made in HD.
sierra grande

To get the feeling of the town and our shoot, here are some photos (for a teaser, just this amazing religious advertising).

J.J.B.

CHERI BIBI

2007-03-12T18:45:00.000+01:00

Two days ago I got a message from my friend Raphael in which he was inviting me to inauguration of his restaurant Cheri Bibi. The opening is about to happen this Saturday. Raphael is otherwise an actor and he played in two of my movies: in short film Touché and in feature paris.love (here is a picture of him from the film).
Btw, Raphael was my first contact in Paris. Four years ago, when I was about to move here, I wrote several e-mails to my friends all around the world asking them if they know anyone in Paris. Few days after, my friend Jorg Vincent Malotki, the actor from Germany, answered: »His name is Raphael, this is his address, he will take care of you.«. Actually, few years earlier Raphael went through the same situation when he had moved to New York for a year. His contact at the time was Jorg and he didn't know him neither (friend of a friend of a friend story). So, in October 2003 I knocked on Raphael's door. I've stayed in his appartment for three weeks until I found my own place.
Anyhow, today I passed by the restaurant and the situation was as following.

Looking forward to Saturday!

J.J.B.

The Air is on Fire

2007-03-11T14:42:00.000+01:00

Jenny was late. As usual. Not that it really bothered me. I don't care waiting, at least I have time to observe surroundings. And Neil was already there speaking about some things that had happened to him the day before. I devoted him three percents of my attention, just nodding here and there. The queue was long and I decided to play a game which I'm usually playing when I'm surrounded by the crowd. I was imagining that I'm in bee-hive, hearing just one big buzz. Then I started to analyse particular voices, putting them on one stage: sopranos, alts, baritons, tenors. I had almost put together the whole orchestra, when Jenny arrived. It started raining. Jenny was wearing blue. And the rain was black. Or was it just becuse the night came earlier? I couldn't really say.
A minute later we were in. The band was already playing, not bad but rather flat. A dog was barking in a dictance and a child was crying in a room nearby which created quite interesting sound picture. Jenny and Neil plunged in the crowd while I was still standing indecisive. I saw some familiar faces. Sally was there, all in black as usual, with some blood stains on her face trying to look scary. Bob and Mr. Redman would appear in different corners. Bob was screaming while Mr. Redman was standing behind him with a knife in his hand. Their regular performance.
I moved to the bar. Something was out of the place. I had this image in my head of a chicken following me and screaming: »Put me together, put me together!«. A moment later it felt appart and I was followed by the particular parts: wings, thighs, back, neck. I ran all around the place but the chicken was behind me not leaving me for the slightest moment. In the corridor I met Neil and Jenny. They looked horrified. Neil was shouting while he was fighting with something invisible in the air: »Fishing-rod! Give me a fishing-rod!«. I had enough problems with my chicken so I ran away. That was actualy a good move because when I turned around I saw my chicken speaking with Jenny. I opened the first door in front of me and I found myself in a complete darkness. It was raining again. Black rain. I can tell that for sure because I enjoyed standing there while black drops were melting on my face. First image appeared: drawing of a strange chair on the napkin. Then the second. And the third. Strange shapes and objects drawn on even stranger surfaces: envelopes, bills, puking bags... I closed my eyes but the images were still there. There was no point in trying to escape from them.
I don't remember how long I was standing there but when I opened my eyes, I was standing on the beach and The Air was on Fire.

P.S. Yesterday I went with my friends Luc and Beatriz to see exhibition of David Lynch's work. When I woke up this morning I was still overwhelmed by the images that I had seen the day before. So, while I was drinking my second coffee, I put this story on the paper. Btw, I took the photo above few years ago in Dubrovnik. And here Bea and me in front of the exhibition are doing our best for Luc the photographer.

J.J.B.

La Cinematheque Francaise

2007-03-08T19:41:00.000+01:00

Yesterday after the shoot I went to BiFi - Bibliotheque de film (national French film library) in Paris to make some photocopies of some articles concerning the famous Slovenian movie star from 20's and 30's Ita Rina. My friend Spela, who works at Slovenian Cinematheque, asked me to do that because they are preparing the book about Slovenian borned actress. I've spent several hours exploring the articles from the French magazine from the 20's "Pour Vous". I have to admit that I felt a bit like a secret agent from the cold war movies, searching through the microfilms, trying to get some important datas concerning his country.
Anyhow, when I came to Paris, I used to spend a lot of time at BiFi, preparing some essays for the school or just watching the films from the movie's library (mediatheque). At the time BiFi was a separate unit and not as today part of the French Cinematheque at Bercy (find some pictures here). Although the step that united cinematheque and library (plus restaurant and huge exibition facilities) was great, I'm still a bit nostalgic about the "old" cinematheque that was placed in Palais de Chaillot. Not just because of the history and smell of the old times, but also because of it's position in Paris - just a step away from Eiffel Tower. I think it was just belonging there. As I think it just not really belongs to Bercy.
However, the good news is that they finally made a good reduction for spectators: for 120 Euros a year or 12 times 10 Euros you get a free pass to all screenings and exibitions plus some discount for special events. Definitively place to be in Paris.

J.J.B.

Student's shoot - Andraz Sumrada

2007-03-07T23:25:00.000+01:00

Today I started supervising second year Eicar – International Film School short film. At the end of each trimester we select several scripts to be shot on 35 mm, S 16 mm, 16 mm, HDV or DV. This is Andraz Sumrada's selected project Freezer from the 1st trimester. Here are some moments from the 1st shooting day.

student's shoot

J.J.B.

And paris.love goes to...

2007-03-05T23:03:00.000+01:00

Few days ago, my friend Caspar Schjelbred came for a visit. He has just finished the first part of his master's studies in History of Science, but otherwise he is an actor working with a group of people in an international improvisational theatre in Paris. We actually met to celebrate the news that my latest feature film paris.love, in which Caspar plays a supporting role, got accepted to Cyprus Film Festival (not in bad company there :) ). Anyhow, here is a short insert from the film with Caspar (with baguette) and Andrew Shemin - the main character.

I found also some making of shots made by Tomaz Pavkovic, 2nd camera assistant. We had shot the movie during 16 days in June and July 2005 using Canon XL-1S DV camera with a basic crew of 8 people. Always near the camera were Karim Raoul – director of photography and Beatriz Ciliberto – 1st camera assistant. Sound was recorded by Jean-Nicolas Risler, gaffer - Olivier Arnaudo, assistant director - Arnaud Gamet, cattering – Dorine Simon and Mirella Habr – producer. You can also see the main female character Samantha Larriva.

making of paris.love

Sorry for the bad sound, but making of was even more low budget than the actual movie.
J.J.B.

Eicar - international film school

2007-03-03T19:49:00.000+01:00

This is the picture of Nenad Dizdarevic, Head of the Studies at International Film School Eicar, where I've worked since 2005. We have around 110 students from more than 50 countries from all around the world. This year I teach film directing for 1st and 2nd year. The first year program is based on introduction of the film language and basic film structure while the second year basises are how to tell the story in realistic way, dramaturgy and working with actors. After two weeks vacation, we'll start with lectures on Monday, 5th.

Biography

2007-03-03T18:01:00.000+01:00

- April 1971, born as Boris Petkovic in Zenica, Bosnia
- 1983, moved to Slovenia with his family
- 1985/86, played guitar in punk band Free 48
- 1990, diploma at Boris Kidric Tehnical and Medical Secondary School
- 1991, moved to Piran, Slovenia
- 1992/93, wrote for student’s newspaper Tribuna
- 1994-96, street performances
- 1994-96, youth program at local TV station Vas kanal, Novo mesto, Slovenia
- 1996, Traffic Engineer – diploma at Faculty of Nautical Science and Traffic
- 1996, first awards for video films Escape and 10 Years of Free 48
- 1997, moved to Ljubljana, Slovenia
- 1998, first short film Straight Ahead
- 1998, main role in student's film Sine (credited as Viktor Gotovic)and supporting role in student's film Rop Stoletja
- 1998, 2nd Prize on Break 21, independent festival of young artists Ljubljana for Straight Ahead
- 1998/99, director and co-screenwriter of docu-fiction TV emission Odklop
- 1999, prize Viktor for the best TV emission – Odklop
- 1999, best first film on "Message to man" - international film festival in Sankt Petersburg – Straight Ahead
- 2000, directed TV emissions and commercials for VPK
- 2001, assistant director – Headnoise
- 2001, video clip Market Sweets - Elvis Jackson
- 2001, - First prize - Festival of Slovenian and Italian videoclips Mirano 2001 (Hihat - The Stroj)
- 2002, assistant director – Spare Parts and How I Killed the Saint
- 2002, short film Director’s Cut
- 2003, short film SStress
- 2003, documentary Frontiers of My World
- 2003, moved to Paris, France
- 2004, short film Touché
- 2005, started teaching film directing at International Film School Eicar
- 2006, documentary Devil’s Colony
- 2006, feature film paris.love

Filmography

2007-03-03T15:18:00.000+01:00

Feature films

paris.love - 2006
Desperado Tonic - 2004

Documentaries

Devil's Colony - 2006
Frontiers of My World - 2003

Short Films

Touché - 2004
SStress - 2003
Director's Cut - 2002
Straight Ahead - 1998

Short film exercise

2007-03-01T00:59:00.000+01:00

This is a short exercise that we've made in the third year of international film school eicar. The first trimester was about making commercials, so this is 30 seconds exercise that we've shot during one morning in October 2004 in Ivry - Paris. As I can remember, Jack Wung was camera operator and editor, Luc Walpoth did some basic lighting, Mirella Habr was an assistant director and I wrote the script and directed it. Our directing teacher was Ilkka Jarvilaturi.
Just a note for young filmmakers; in the shot before last one, we used the split screen, but in this case not as an effect but to cheat the number of people in the shot. If you watch very carefully, you will see that most of the people appear twice, ones on the left side of the screen and the other time on the right side.