NISIMAZINE APRIL 09

NisiMazine *20 April 09

Expat Filmmakers

Editorial A

m I considering myself as an expatriate?

Due to the lexicon an expatriate person is a) “somebody living away from it's native country” which is right in my case. I was working for the EO in Paris during 11 months and I missed Berlin and some German specialities (like bread and liquorice).

Nevertheless, I don't feel like b) “an exile” because I was doing French Studies at university, I have lived in Québec and France and I know probably more about French language, culture and literature than about the German equivalents. What I want to say: it doesn't change my life and my habits so much whether I live in Germany or France (and I suppose that's the same for other European countries).

Though, as my time in the NISI MASA office is finished by the 1st of April (this is my last Nisimazine), I will move again; not back to my “native country” but to Brazil and I think that this will be a completely different experience because here you can find real cultural differences which are sometimes hard to understand.

So why people like me search for this new kind of experience again and again? What are the motivations for them to live and to work abroad? Are they forced to leave their country due to political persecution or war? For economical or private reasons? You have to consider as well that we are the first generation for which is it almost normal to live a long distance relationship, we have to be mobile these days for several reasons.

This issue will present different expat film makers of the NISI MASA network which have chosen to live and work in another country. Can you discover this expat experience in their films, in their work?

You will also find a historical overview on expat film makers and probably the last Quiz because Atso is leaving the office as well, another expat who won't go back to his country...

Enjoy reading whether you are in your native country or abroad!

Nina Henke

For more info on NISI MASA activities, check out www.nisimasa.com!

Agenda April, 15 All the network Launching of the NISI MASA script contest April, 25 All the network Deadline for applications for Cinetrain workshop II

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Next Issue...

NISIMAZINE # 21 ~ May 2009 Special focus: The 8th editioN Of the nisi masa script contest IN THE SPOTLIGHT: THE NEW BOARD!

Nisimazine is a monthly newsletter published by the association NISI MASA. EDITORIAL STAFF Director of publication Esra Demirkiran Editor-in-chief Nina Henke Secretary of the editorial Maximilien Van Aertryck Layout Nina Henke Contributors to this issue Sarah Grohnert, Atso Pärnänen, Magdalena Rahn, Melissa Suárez del Real, Çagla Zencirci NISI MASA (European Office) 10 rue de l’Echiquier, 75010, Paris, France; Tel/Fax: + 33 (0)1 53 34 62 78 + 33 (0)6 32 61 70 26 Email europe@nisimasa.com Website www.nisimasa.com

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Expat Nisimasians

Tumbleweeds

“

What makes a man wander ? What makes a man to roam?”, sings Tex Ritter over the title sequence of Ford’s The Searchers. Whether it is Chaplin heading to Hollywood, German filmmakers forced out by fascists, East Europeans by communists or studios relocating their shoots according to tax policies it is part of the lifestyle of a filmmaker to be on the move, to live a nomad life and like a cowboy head to the next town when the job is done. Sure, there are those in their ivory towers but usually only after a careful search for a proper place and setting. Studying abroad, EU programs, networking, city hopping and smaller equipment, satellites or emails have made the nomad life an option to many more filmmakers of today. Take part in a NISI MASA workshop and you get a quick crash course on cultural differences, working methods and broaden your horizons in an unforgettable way. I’ve had my fare share of expat filmmaking experiences and the reasons for those can be different for everyone, whether it is the conditions, chances of the film industry in your country, wish to roam, to be accepted or simply because sometimes “the road less travelled” is the one for you. Besides, if we are in the business of moving images it does not hurt to go and sense how the “shit” stinks in another place. It can be quite a refreshing experience.

Atso Pärnänen

Turkey - France

irst, I should precise that I'm not an expat F filmmaker, but an expat who became a filmmaker afterwards. So going out of the known territories was the first goal, and as it always does, it teaches you more about yourself than anything else.

When we made our first film with Guillaume Giovanetti in 2004, we were really wondering if it would work, if we were talented enough or simply if what we made was a film or not. None of us made cinema studies and we didn't know anybody in the cinema network, but we were really wishing to realize this small movie.

And after several attempts and rejects from festivals, finally one of them selected the film, and it was the small push that made us “filmmaker” today. We were doing what we liked to do in life and what we think that we would still like to do 30-40 years after; it turned out to be “filmmaking”. Sometimes we say we are filmmakers because we can't do anything else.

And I think this is the right answer.

I’m living in Paris because as beginners our film projects have more chances to be realized here than anywhere else. Filmmakers very often think that

thanks to the outnumbered funding and scholarships in this country, it is easier to make films in France.

But they don't take into account that at least 2 out of 10 walking in the streets of Paris want to be a filmmaker.

The competition is very hard, you should use all your skills to get your project financed, and you can't just sit, think and create. What makes things easier in this country is that it never stops giving you hope about seeing your project being realized one day, so you keep on working.

For me, being far from home is about layers. The first layer is “trying to know the country and the people”. Then it goes like this: “worrying about your integration”, “understanding that you will never be fully integrated”, “rejecting this country and missing home”, “understanding that you are now also different from people at home”, “disconnecting from both parts”, “trying to rebuild yourself”.

I'm very surprised to see that all those layers are somehow visible in our films but I can only notice it afterwards. So I'm impatiently waiting to see our next film to discover the next layer. It can be something like “trying to find the middle way”.

Çagla Zencirci

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Expat Nisimasians

Germany - UK

Mexico - Spain/France

Got your glue?

A Study case 1

E

xpat. Here we go, a label. I feel strangely reminded of…glue. May that be because in my ‘Expat’ country of choice, England, there is a famous glue called ‘Pattex’. Yes I know…here’s one hell of a word acrobat. Yet, and that’s the beauty of finding strange connections in everything, this leads me nicely into the theme of my view on the subject matter: Glue - as in ‘holding two separate things together’. Which is something that naturally comes with the job description of expat filmmaker. © Luca Percivalle

So, my route to England starts in Germany, goes via Bournemouth film school and finally places me in London. Plenty of rejections, some festival successes and eventually a selection into the Director’s Guild newcomer scheme later, I feel a little closer to the idea of having settled in. Temporarily.

What drew me towards a change of scene was initially as simple as trying something new and broadening my horizon. I’ve always felt the strong need to travel and live in other places and actually through that discovered my love for telling stories through filmmaking. It put me in the shoes of an explorer.

Being in a new place, surrounded by a culture that is not your own does heighten your senses and presents you with a constantly refreshing point of views, stories and characters that you might have never found otherwise.

You get the double edge regarding funding and job opportunities, with two fields to play and the benefit of standing out in either one: slightly exotic for living in a different country from your own and slightly exotic for coming from a different country than the one you are living in. But mind staying connected to your roots, you can end up in limbo too! For your consideration: be prepared to adapt but hold on to your visions and do the pick’n mix: choose the best of both worlds. Oh, and (haha)… don’t forget your Pattex.

Sarah Grohnert

I

loved the first time that I introduced myself as a scriptwriter, a few years ago, and I guess I still do.

About the expatriate part, I don’t really love it and I rarely mention that I’m Mexican (I have an accent anyway), after 4 years living whether in Madrid or in Toulouse, I think I should be able to say a few words about it.

Well... how to start? Yes...Naturally, it’s not easy being far from home. Yes...adaptation can take ages, and it continues even after you think it’s already over. I still don’t know who are all this characters, toys, drinks and jokes that Spanish or French people grew up with, and I probably will never fully get it.

Anyway, I’ve had to re-learn basic facts in cultural behaviour, such as greeting with kisses in both cheeks instead of a single one or not hugging people to say goodbye. But more relevant issues come out when leaving your country. Surprisingly, coming from Mexico to Spain means learning how to use the same words in a different way, even if we are supposed to speak the same language or to be culturally close. And of course it also means, in a certain degree, losing a valuable filmmakers network.

I don’t know how it is for an architect or a lawyer. For a scriptwriter, I think, even if that linguistic adaptation takes a lot of time and makes it impossible to stop looking at reality with fresh eyes, the learning doesn’t replace the original way of thinking, speaking or reacting. Somehow we manage to gather all this information; traditions, popular sayings, recipes, ideas and myths. It all congregates in our mind, and thankfully, if magic happens, the expatriate scriptwriter can get even and take advantage of the fact of thinking differently. Some might even call that originality, a precious gift for a writer.

Melissa Suárez del Real

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Expat filmmakers

Two views on working in the Bulgarian film industry

F

rom the way he gets into talking about it, you might think that Joost Scholte (see picture) moved to Bulgaria just to join the national amateur volleyball team. He explains that he just came from practice – and that he's the only foreigner on the team. He would have learned the Bulgarian language better, he says (he relocated to Sofia in January 2006 to work full-time at Nu Boyana Film Studios, where he is currently the development and new products manager), but that "part of the problem" was that his teammates always responded in English. No worries.

The Netherlands native enthuses about the opportunities he had previously had while working in various temporary positions at Nu Boyana that all worked to earn him a good name and the good will of those in charge. While Scholte exudes a positive view on work here, he says that it can be challenging in a foreign environment (only about 2 percent of Nu Boyana’s staff of 600 are from outside Bulgaria), because “you do not know how people will do things. There are certain customs, cultural differences that you just have to experience”.

Patrick Sandrin, a producer from France, takes a much calmer view on life in Bulgaria, to the point that he almost comes across as melancholy. Looking at the books piled on his desk (Jean Rouch, Abbas Kiarostami, Brook-by-Brook/ La tragédie d'Hamlet, L'origine du Christianisme...), it's no doubt that this man contemplates. He came in search of something. Sandrin's first visit to Bulgaria was in 1992, to help a young local director. Three years later, he returned, and founded the production company Sofilm. Now a near-permanent resident of Bulgaria, he sees it as a “duty” to assist in cultural co-operation with the West, calling Bulgaria “a country that the West had abandoned”. Instead of the consumerism that is ever-increasing, he would like to see more imagination, and more spirituality. Through his Classe libre workshops, which bring the Bulgarian public in contact with film industry professionals, he hopes to help change this.

Magdalena Rahn

NISI QUIZ

EXPAT FILMMAKERS

1.Which Scandinavian master was forced to work outside his home country because tax officials launched an enquiry into his accounts?

2. Where did he work?

3. Dino De Laurentiis built studios in Italy and named them Dinocitta. After he moved to the US where did he yet again built a new studio complex?

5. Which American filmmaker captured the life of the Biriths upper class in Gosford Park?

6. Milos Forman and Ivan Passer both who made their careers again in Hollywood are originally from which country?

7. Most Hollywood moguls of the golden era were considered to be from Jewish and from Eastern Europe but who came from the Midwest and founded the 20th Century Fox? 8. England’s Ridley Scott is number among European directors working in Hollywood whose films have collected the highest amount at the box office. Who is number two and from which country?

9. Which French based director directed the film Murder by Numbers starring Sandra Bullock and is known for his many expat filmmaking periods?

© Metin Özçakir

10. Anthony Quinn who was often billed as a Greek because of his famous role as Zorbas is actually originally from…?

1. Ingmar Bergman 2. Germany 3. Willmington, North Carolina.

4. Stanley Kubrick 5. Robert Altman 6. Czechoslovakia 7. Daryll F Zanuck 8. Roland Emmerich from Germany 9. Barbet Schroeder 10. Mexico

4. Which filmmaker kept his Bronx accent after having lived years nearby the little town of Saint Albans, UK?

by Atso

Pärnänen

Latest news Kinokabaret (sweden)

Three (now ex-) board members, Azed Kettani, Lasse Lecklin and Daniel Deak were conducting their visit of “bye byes” by attending the KinoKabaret event in Malmö, Sweden which was organized by NISI MINI and Kino5 during the 26th BUFF film festival.

In the 24 hour KinoKabaret event filmmakers were given a limited period of time to get their films done.

“It was a hectic process and people made a lot effort which resulted in some good films”, Azed says. Participants came from Austria, Spain, France, Sweden etc. “The event is a good example of the international dimension of workshop participating as different nationalities come together to make a film”, Azed comments.

Cannes Next film festiShort film cor- val (romania) ner (france) The third edition of the Next – During the Cannes Film Festival, the Short Film Corner is the essential rendezvous for short film makers. The next edition will take place between the 13th and the 22nd of May 2009. You can register your shorts (up to 35 minutes long) until the 18th of April; copies must have been received by April 21 at the latest.

See the 4 conditions to register your short at the Short Film Corner: www.shortfilmcorner.com/ Home_us.html

Keep it in mind fellow Nisimasians.

Workshops can lead to contacts and working teams of current, present and past expats.

The films can be seen at www.daazo.com/kinokabaretmalmo/

Network Promotion (SWeden)

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During the Dream Factory (Drömfabriken) event, which will take place in Stockholm (23rd to 25th of April), Nisi Mini (Sweden) will present themselves and NISI MASA. The Dream Factory, a three day long inspirational event for young film makers, has attracted thousands of young cineastes since it started in 2001. There you can meet established professionals, gain an insight into the various stages of production, view works in progress and network with like-minded people and future colleagues.

The Dream Factory is organised by the Swedish Film Institute's Information Department. Contact: dromfabriken@sfi.se

Short & Medium Length - film festival will take place in Bucarest from the 1st to the 5th of April 2009. Created in memory of film director Cristian Nemescu and sounddesigner and composer Andrei Toncu, NexT Film Festival focuses on two main coordinates: film directing and sound-design. The whole structure of the festival is built around these two main directions.

Find more information on: www.nextproject.ro/en

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kinodynamique (austria) Spring is drawing nearer and that means it's KinoDynamique time. Like every year, film enthusiasts gather together in Vienna during the first weeks of May to produce short films within 60 hours and they invite Nisimasians to participate.

So if you are interested send your application form (downloadable at www.kino5.net) till the 14th of April.

For more information click on www.kino5.net.

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funding Atso Pärnänen, who is moving on from the EO after having done his EVS and worked as a script tutor at the European Short Pitch, has received funding for a project set to be based in Italy.

His latest production in which he served as a co producer is going through ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) as we speak and will be ready soon.

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In the spotlight: INESTESIAS is a SFN (Spying C Film Net) whose matrix is settled in Madrid. Its agents are now spread

in different countries and continents fulfilling their crucial espionage missions. Currently, Madrid’s cell is emerging with new crew members to enhance the AVC sphere (Action Visibility and Contacts).

Activities During the last years, Cinestesias’ real activities have been concealed by different actions such as monthly Screenings in Tesauro, Photography and Cinema Workshops, Film events – like the Silence Party- and the prior Jury Meeting and General Assembly in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid.

This is the description of some of our crucial secret members:

Some members Caroline Fournier is an archivist and searcher at the Filmoteca Española of Madrid. She has been involved for a long time in NISI MASA; she has participated in the first jury meeting and in many NISI MASA Workshops.

She has been part of the board, as a Distribution Manager. Currently, she is moving to Lausanne, in Switzerland as a spy curator in the Cinémathèque Suisse.

Yoko Tsuda joined the association through Julia, Nadia and Laura, when they worked together in a short film for the University. Then she started getting involved and met Caroline and other members. The first meeting she attended was in 2006, the Helsinki Jury meeting. Then she went to the Jury Meeting in Kars, Turkey in 2007 and to other workshops, like Amsterdam or to the GA in Alba.

Melissa Suárez del Real was recruited as a special agent after winning the 2008 NISI MASA Script Pictures from the top: Nadia, Leila, Laura, Julia & Carolina Compiled by Laura Thanks!

Contest with “Furniture”. She was born in Mexico City 27 years ago and lives in Madrid since 2006. She studied Audiovisual Communication and then specialized in scriptwriting.

She has worked as a cultural journalist, advertising copywriter and currently she’s a part of the creative team of Ali&Cia, a Food Art studio.

Laila Hotait Salas is a SpanishLebanese filmmaker. She co-directed with her sister Nadia “Beirut…coming back to you is not painful” (2005) that instantly won awards from the Spanish Association of Arabic Studies. This lead to their documentary “The south is back” (2008) which was produced

by Rosellini Associatti and Vox Populi in Italy. She is currently studying at San Francisco State University under the Fulbright scholarship.

Nadia Hotait is a Video-artist, currently living in Chicago (very madrileña). She is a Cinestesias member since 2004. She is now working with Cinestesias in the development of a collaborative videoproject on Distance.

‘Want to know more…? See www. nadiahotait.com Julia Sabina Gutiérrez graduated in Audiovisual Communication in the University of Madrid. She then studied one year in the Cinematography department of the Charles de Gaulle University and at the INFOCOM institute, France. Her script called "Eastern Castilla" was selected in the Short Pitch Project in ClermontFerrand Film Festival 2007. Her script for a feature film: “Blood under the sun”, was selected in the Script & Pitch Workshop and at the Berlinale Talent Campus.

Laura J. Almendros has a Bachelor’s Degree in Audiovisual Communication (Complutense University of Madrid). After finishing her academic studies, she worked in Mexico as responsible for the Cultural Section of El Mundo News in Veracruz. She also worked as Production Manager for the Mexican Cultural Channel (Channel 22) and the Mexican Institute of Cinematography (IMCINE). Laura currently combines her job as a Documentary and TV Producer with her ongoing studies in Visual Arts in Madrid.

PORTRAIT

Atso Pärnänen & Nina Henke (EO)

W

hen I first arrived in the European Office, I spent the whole first week with Atso because the rest of the team went to Cannes. Atso was a great help in the beginning for getting through this whole special NISI MASA vocabulary (what is the difference between ESP and Script&Pitch again?), formulating e-mails in English and much more. In the lunch brakes we shared cheap food in the park and had endless discussions about books and films. One should know that Atso is known as the “cinema-brain” in the EO whether it's about movies, film music or a special film maker. And his knowledges isn't limited to American cinema even if he enjoys this reputation in the EO. Soon our small team was joined by Stefan and Mirtha, the summer finally arrived in Paris and the troop went to several open air screenings, free museums on Sunday, “Paris Plage” or to the Canal side.

In the office, Atso was in charge of productions and kept contacting festivals and producers. We had both our articles in the Nisimazine and created the quiz. Later on, Atso wrote the quiz on his own and helped out with the monthly concept of the magazine. If you are asking him for an article, you will have it on the same day; the quiz will popup in the skype window some minutes after the request. Yeah skype… Another big deal between the two offices. After Emilie left in August, I joined the other office and a lot of the communication lived through skype and the lunch breaks. In September, we had the pleasure to attend an EVS formation in the middle of nowhere and already at this point we started to discuss our future after NISI MASA. Atso doesn't seem to like this question (and he doesnt't like pictures of himself as you can see). As a real expat he will live somewhere abroad but for sure not in Finland. Anyway, what is real Finnish about Atso?

Nina Henke

I

n May 2008, Nina Henke, freshly back from travels in Asia and updating the German OMDB website arrived to the European Office of NISI MASA to start her EVS experience. It did not take long for this organized person to be put into the middle of the many projects of the network. Soon Nina was in charge of the May 68 project, which culminated with a filmmaking workshop in Brest.

Simultaneously she contributed to the Nisimazine; made lists of food films, bulletins, TAM reports, excels of DVDs, etc... The list is long and during the year she went from assisting with Nisimazine to pretty much at times running the show. And if a workshop in Brest was not enough, right after it Nina took the train to Amsterdam to be one of the organizers of the IDFA Nisimazine.

Recently she has focused on designing the ESP book and other marketing materials, like the ones for the Food project, making sure that the ingredients of the soup that is starting to cook all find their right places.

During the year she has been a crucial addition to the ever changing team at the EO and one would expect to see her in the field of cultural organizations, associations in the future too.

There would be many words and approaches to use in trying to describe her but to conclude let’s just say that do not be fooled, make any easy analyses based on her knowledge of wardrobes according to the season or the light reflecting from her eyes. Make a shallow approach and you will meet a rebel ready to fight. An attitude that will soon storm the beaches of Rio. Oh, how will the machos survive…?

Atso Pärnänen