Nisimazine Karlovy Vary #3

Nisimazine the magazine by NISI MASA - European Network of Young Cinema

KARLOVY VARY 2014

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Mon 14th July 2014

@ Film Servis Festival Karlovy Vary

Kebab & Horoscope Why don’t you play in Hell?

Cherry Tobacco Norway

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CREDITS

Editorial

NISIMAZINE KARLOVY VARY July 4-12, 2014 Edition of July, Mon 14th 2014/#3

And yet this year in Karlovy Vary I haven’t seen the newest Zvyagintsev movie, missed out on the intriguing Grand Piano, and even allowed myself to omit the screening of a promising Polish movie. More and more often I kept catching myself thinking that all of those will probably end up in the theatres back home sooner or later where I have time to see them. They will not run away, whereas the experience of living in the rhythm of the festival is coming to an always too early end. And after all, they are just films.

Picture of the day

I know, I can’t believe it’s me who has just written that sentence. But Karlovy Vary has proven to have a special atmosphere which can trick you into forgetting about the comfort of the

darkness that only a film theatre can bring. After all, it’s not only about watching movies, it’s about discussing them. And it’s easier to forget about a screening you’ve been awaiting for the last couple of months when you have a chance to share your thoughts on cinema with people whose eyes sparkle with enthusiasm at the mention of moving pictures. Be it with critics from a website nobody has heard about, or from the leading world magazines.

This year Karlovy Vary has awaken an observer in me. My head gets heavier with mental notes about the titles I have to catch up with after every conversation I have. And guess what, this time I will. Because I want to come back and look up the hills at the building where the Grand Budapest Hotel was based on, eat cherries for lunch on the grass with the view to the red carpet, and disagree about movies over a bottle of refreshing Czech beer. But most of all because it will be an unmatched experience to transform from an observer to a fully-fledged festival player.

by Ewa Wildner (Poland)

A magazine published by NISI MASA in the framework of a film journalism workshop for young Europeans EDITORIAL STAFF Director Fernando Vasquez Coordinator Matthias Van Hijfte Layout Francesca Merlo Contributors to this issue Višnja Pentic, Ewa Wildner, Raluca Petre, Matthias Van Hijfte and Vaiva Rykstaite NISI MASA European Network of Young Cinema 99 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis 75010 Paris, France +33 (0)1 48 01 65 31 europe@nisimasa.com www.nisimasa.com www.nisimazine.eu Special thanks to Tereza Perinova, Jo Mehlberger, Kristina Timmermann and Nikolas Samalekos.

With the support of the Youth in Action of the European Union. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

© Catherine Pouyeto (France)

If someone had told me a couple of months ago that I will allow myself to miss a screening at a film festival I would have reacted with a hideous laughter.

Me? I used to watch five movies a day when the time came to put the accreditation on, and I certainly wouldn’t allow myself to miss any of the big names or the titles everyone was talking about.

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review

Kebab & Horoscope

@Film Servis festival Karlovy Vary

Grzegorz Jaroszuk, Poland - East of the West Competition

Two lost souls find each other in a Kebab food bar. One man who has just quit his job there, because of the message in his horoscope of a magazine called ‘The Secret World of Animals’, the other is his client who actually wrote the astrological forecast. A new couple of aficionados is born: meet young Polish director Grzegorz Jaroszuk.

Not that the man needs long introductions, definitely not for his Polish countryman, because with his short Frozen Storiesthat won several prizes at respected festivals throughout Europe- he has set expectations high. A standard he meets with an opening scene that draws you in immediately and pulls out loud laughs in the audience. The mood is instantly set on Samuel Beckett temperature, thus an extremely random vibe goes along with it.

a grandpa who hasn’t lost his mojo. The least you can say of this team is that they forecast a certain degree of eccentric.

Henceforth, this film has a rare sense of Polish offbeat humour to it, rather than the witty sharp written dialogues of some Hollywood comedies. You could diagnose it with extreme levels of situational absurdness. This works throughout the whole film but the framework that holds it up collapses, thus leaving you lost in relation to the lives we should really stay invested on.

You never quite have the feeling that the relationship between our two self-declared marketing specials is a strong core for a dramatic feature. Although, the ensemble cast gives the best of themselves

Nonetheless, the sincere heart keeps on beating all the way through the picture. And we really do think that Roy Anderson After their unusual encounter, we follow our ‘kebab’ duo start and Aki Kaurismäki could benefit for another companion in off a partnership in marketing. They try to save a carpet store the circle of oddball and dry humorists. People who like these where work is at most a four letter word. We are introduced to a auteurs will find interesting stuff in Kebab and Horoscope. Of set of workers that could find its equals with the staff of classic course, Jaroszuk is definitely not on that hot list yet but with British sitcom Fawlty Towers. A young women who needs to the couple more frozen stories he will maybe one day pull that help her mom find a long lost love, a boss who has a couple off. of gold fish named after the Beatles, a handyman who keeps things handy by breaking stuff when things get out of hand, a Matthias Van Hijfte (Belgium) secretary helping a suicidal man actually get the job done, and 3

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review

Why don’t you play in Hell?

Sion Sono, Japan Rivers of fake blood gush joyfully through Why don´t You Play in Hell?, Sion Sono´s latest extravaganza. The film is his homage to the yakuza genre and analogue filmmaking, both of which nowadays carries a strong air of nostalgia. Sion Sono, one of Japan’s foremost directors, is known for his twisted renderings of themes of revenge, hatred and incest which he usually masks in well made genre clothes. His latest is no exception. He wrote the script seventeen years ago but only decided to make it into a film with the arrival of digital technology. He proclaims Why don’t you play in hell? to be his very own “Requiem to 35 mm film” and in his bizarre way manages to deliver what he promises.

two warring clans, led by Muto and Ikegami, whose relationship is that of admiration disguised as hate. To make things even more complicated Ikegami falls madly in love with Muto’s young and beautiful daughter, Satsuko. She on her part desperately wants to become an actress and this is how this story intertwines with that of the renegade crew of amateur filmmakers who call themselves The Fuck Bombers. They are the innocent film buffs who mourn the end of film theatre attendence and moviemaking as we know it. When they cross paths with the bloodthirsty yakuzas determined to not only shoot their enemies but also movies, film history takes place, and it will look like a film bloodbath, of course.

Why don’t You play in Hell? is packed with extremely entertaining and violent action scenes reminiscent of those from Tarantino’s Kill Bill films. This masterfully done and highly amusing film also has a meta function of commenting on the yakuza genre, its rules and history. Gallons of conspicuously red blood used in the film look as if they are proud to be fake and thus send out the message that fantasy is so much more fun than reality. No one is more aware of this than the film crazed Fuck Bombers who stop at nothing to make a masterpiece. Using the yakuza genre tools Sion Sono manages to pay sentimental and entertaining tribute to a bygone era when filmmaking was reserved for those privileged enough or those crazy enough.

by Višnja Pentic

The yakuza story follows the all too bloody conflicts between This review was first published in Nisimazine Venice 2013

Nisimazine’s 2014 agenda Venice Film Festival 27 August - 7 September San Sebastian Film Festival 19 - 27 September Tallin Black Nights Film Festival 14 - 30 November For additional information and application please contact us at: fernando@nisimasa.com

www.nisimasa.com

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Cherry Tobacco

@Film Servis festival Karlovy Vary

reviews

Katrin Maimik, Andres Maimik, Estonia East of the West Competition It happened to me once, that‘s why I kind of liked the film. The age of something-teen, when the whole body is aching to experience the unknown. The clumsiness of conversations and a pale skin contrasting with the emerald green grass. The nudity of a bearded man and a young girl, both perfectly matching the landscape, luscious and ripe at its peak, as it only happens by the end of the Baltic summer. Laura, an innocent looking schoolgirl, goes on a hike to the woods together with her best friend Merit, and three other adults. One of them, the guide named Jospeh (altough the girls secretly call him «moss-beard man“) is the soul of the group and soon becomes a centre of Laura‘s romantic hopes. «Be carefull with him, he likes young girls“ - Laura is warned by her friend. But it seems a bit too late, as blueberry picking and nude swimming has already been painted in the light color of eros.

This is a lyrical story of a teenage crush told with an occasional witt. The film is rather slow and might require some patience if not starting to wonder: what is it all about? Tired of playing the waiting

The film has its quirky old feelwhereas only the smart phones gives out the idea of an era. The majoryty of action takes place in a forest, which treats ones eyes and ears with the definite feel of the summer.

Altough, having all these organic greens and the whiteness of Lauras skin in hand, the cinematography seems not have used the full potential.Flegmatic camera likes to keep the safe distance, or sometimes seems plain lazy to get close enough to see the texture of the surface.

Similar story can be told on the acting – the main characters seem to be doing a good job, although sometimes, whether it was purposeful or just a side effect of Nordic temper, but Lauras face seems just too blank to read. Some scenes give the impression of a parody, and if this was the original pupose, they do serve well. So is the exagerated acting of a mother and the wife – only if they play it as a joke. Or maybe it is the fault of the sometimes appearing amateur-like script.

It is difficult to pin point what exactly was missing there, but still, even there were moments that totally charmed me with it‘s beauty of naiveness and „it is the end of the world aka a crush“ nostalgia, the film has little chances of entering a must see list. The main danger, I‘m afraid, is not feraring for Laura making her first mistakes, but feeling exactly like her – bored. Ormaybe it takes the certain mood, maybe it has to be Sunday, maybe – being the certain age to make those 93 minutes to feel shorter.

by Vaiva Rykštaitė (Lithuania)

@Film Servis festival Karlovy Vary

Norway

game, Laura discovers the moss-beard man has a secret life of his own. Romantic illusions are destroyed, but it takes just one song or the blow of a familiar smell to build the sand castle again. There is another boy and few other people, episodically taking quite entertaining roles. The fun is for us – the viewers, because despite the few comedy like situations, Laura finds no amusement in her mother‘s nor friend‘s words. „I‘m aways bored. It just about my age“ says the girl.

Little does she know – when you are seventeen everything appears bigger than it is. The smoke from the cherry smelling pipe turns in to a cloud, so does the hopes of the young mind, taking everything way too seriously. It‘s all about the first times, if you ask me.

Yiannis Veslemes, Greece East of the West Competition

I fought hard in our editorial meeting to have this film assigned to me, I offered bribes in the form of beers and traded interviews. I had good reasons to be excited about Norway: it promised to be a slowburning, moody Greek vampire film with a political subtext. Given the perceived “weirdness” of the Greek New Wave and Jim Jarmusch’s dreamy indie take on vampires in Only Lovers Left Alive, the sound of a hybrid tantalised many. Little did I know that I had signed up for a very disappointing ride.

Norway follows deadbeat, alcoholic vampire Zano through his first night in 1980s’ Athens, as he parties the night away in a scummy underground club and comes across various characters. They try really hard to be intriguing and fail miserably. As a vampire, Zano’s constant state of coldness and his search for “warmth” lend the film its name; he comments to a Norwegian drug dealer who he has just bitten that he does not know how Norwegians can handle the coldness. At least that’s the clue we are given as to why this Greek film is called Norway, a point that has been commented upon around the festival, leaving more than a handful of viewers confused.

Zano finds warmth in sultry Alice, who lures him into the Athenian underworld and ultimately, to a dying Hitler-moustached figure of authority that hopes to force Zano to bite him, thus making him immortal. Yes, a quirky allusion to the stronghold of the extreme right

in Greece. Its humour marks a rare moment in the film that leaves one feeling like Veslemes actually thought of offering his audience something to grab onto. Indeed, the idea of a dystopian 1980s Athens supporting a Fascist character’s rise to everlasting power could have been a strong foundation had it been stressed more coherently.

Instead, Veslemes often goes off in different directions and wants to say too much.

We are not offered any insight into the characters and hardly care about them; when Zano is forced to make a moral choice at the end, it leaves one as cold as he. Brief encounters with a variety of lost souls of the underground may bring Jarmusch to mind again. However, while Jarmusch’s characters’ dialogue is so enriching, Veslemes’ ones hardly convey anything. Zano is played by Vangelis Mourikis, who is known to festival audiences for the father’s role in Rachel Tsangari’s Attenberg. Had it not been for him, perhaps the film would have been worse, as he adds as much charisma to the hyperactive vampire as he could have.

Most of the film’s effort has gone into aesthetics. Kitschy neons and the warm afterglow enveloping a car in a sea of darkness contribute to a mood that is reminiscent of that in Nicholas Winding Refn’s Drive. Yet, if Winding Refn is criticized for excessive stylistic selfconsciousness, Norway ought to lead critics to cut him some slack, as Refn’s formal self-awareness has nothing on Veslemes’. The Greek director wants to make a cool-looking film that references other authentically cool-looking films or comics and won’t let anything stand in his way, even if its style further exemplifies the hotchpotch of layers the film insists on having. The blood of the protagonists is coloured in neon shades of blue and yellow, an element that the director explains as indicating that the film is set in an alternate reality (interview on page 6). However, this is hardly transmitted, leading to further confusion. The music, also composed by Veslemes, is the most effective stylistic element, its vintage synth rhythms allowing us to take in the moment of Zano’s and Alice’s drive and experience it in the poetic way in which Winding Refn’s renowned piececan.

Greek cinema has been talked about in terms of its bizarre, alienating characters. If we are to judge Norway by that criteria, it fits perfectly within its national parameters. However, unlike some of the best pieces within this current, simply making a film for the sake of pretentiousness will hardly draw viewers in or gain points for innovation.

By Raluca Petre (Romania)

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interview with

Yannis VESLEMES

Š Catherine Pouyeto (France)

Director of Norway, Greece East of the West Competition

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interview «Norway» was one of the most anticipated films at this year´s edition of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. This story of an unusual vampire lost in the underground life of an almost unrecognizable Athens, turned out to be the source of much debate in the corridors and balconies of the Thermal Hotel. As such we could not have missed out on the chance of sitting with the Yannis Vesemles to try and understand what drove the young greek filmmaker to create such a bizarre and curious universe.

Q: The catalogue description mentions that your film has steampunk elements. What are the specific steampunk elements in this film?

A: I haven’t written this description...But I can understand why people think that. Steampunk for me means making science fiction film with vintage looks and elements of the late 19th Century. This is not exactly the case with Norway. But I used to make short science fiction films with steampunk elements. I’ve done two or three shorts set in the late 19th Century and in the future as well....But with this film I feel that you can say it’s a steampunk film in the sense that it is set in a parallel 1980s Greek universe. Sometimes, it feels futuristic in a way.

Q: Your film has a very similar feel to that of Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive. Was that an inspiration?

A: It’s funny because we shot the films at the same time. In his interviews, Jarmusch has talked a lot about vampires that are not in the mainstream, films that have a lot to do with vampires but very experimental or abstract, arthouse films about vampires. I really like films like that too, such as Tony Scott’s Hunger or Abel Ferraras Addiction, where they actually use the vampire mythology to speak about real people.

In my film, the vampire is someone that loses himself in the night and he’s hyper all the time. He just drinks blood to survive; he’s a cursed character in a way.

Q: And what was the similarity between real people and vampires in Norway?

A: That more or less they feel the same, that in Norway, the vampire and the real people have the same sensibilities. They are bad or good in the same way, there’s no actual difference between them. They are not elegant and Gothic vampires, they are like real Greek people. Here, we have a person who is self-destructive, he just wants to live for now.

And there is the other guy that wants to live forever.

Q: Why did you choose Hitler?

A: He’s not Hitler, he’s a man with many disguises. At the beginning he’s Bram Stoker, the creator of Dracula, then he becomes like a Hitler imitation. Then he becomes a solider. No one really knows who this guy is. I have named him Methuselah, who is a really old person. The film plays in an abstract way with what is real and what is not. The blood has many colours, the train is a toy train. The city is made out of paper. So no one is actually what he seems to be, aside from the protagonist.

what is happening in Greek society right now. In the Western civilization, the Nazis or the Fascists have constructed their own mythology and in Greece they tried to make their own hybrid of mysticism, Nazism, Fascism and Greek right wing extremism. It’s a parody of all these things, represented in this occult of Mathusalas.

Q: What are Zano’s, the vampire,political leanings?

A: It’s funny because he’s not on one side or the other, his moralities are peculiar, because if he wants to survive, he bites, he kills. I wanted to show that the character has his own morality, he has his own rules. When hes forced to do something, he doesnt do it because it’s not in his personal morality. But I’m not sure he refuses to bite the Methuselah because he feels that him becoming immortal would be a bad thing. I wanted to say that nothing is very clear when we are talking about these things, who is the right-wing, who is opposite to him, what is real fascism. There are grey lines in these things so this confused, let’s say, protagonist reacted in this way.

Q: Why is it set in the 1980s?

A: The film is set in the imaginary 80s world because it’s a set-up that I like and I feel I know and I want to explore aesthetically through the reference of the pop culture of the era. There are many people now because they were born in the late 70s and 80s that are influenced by the sub pop culture of that era and they tried to fuse that in contemporary stories, in subjects. But in a way I feel that it is pure aesthetically but it also suits the story. Now, Greece is more globalised than it used to be in the 80s. It was a transitional era in Greece from dictatorship that ended in the 70s to the new Greek democracy.

So it’s a very peculiar era. But then again, I like this kind of music, I like this kind of nightlife, the kind of movies that were shot in that era, things like that. It’s something that the national audience could understand,all the secondary characters are very well-known actors of the videotape subculture, pulp films of that era.

Q: Do you think Greek audiences will understand all the layers?

A: Probably yes, probably not. Here in Karlovy Vary, they laughed in three, four moments, very different from the ones that the Greek laughed in. I’m not worried if someone will understand, because it’s a layered film that has a small story but a lot of details and abstractions and I sense that you dont need to understand everything thats happening. I’d just like to remind you of things that you have lived or seen before.

Q: Does the Methuselah represent a certain political community in Greece?

By Raluca Petre (Romania) A: Yes, he represents the old authority figure, maybe hes a soldier, maybe hes a political extremist, Fascist...He has all around him this pseudo-mysticism occult thing, which is something that represents

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@ “ The Tree” Film Servis festival Karlovy Vary