Rainy December

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

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

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.

paris.love - Reviews

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

Karim finally found him self.

J.J.B.

paris.love Starts Slovenian Distribution

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.

Eicar - new website

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.

Summer Time

...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.

Brave New World

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.

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.