Young cinematographers delighted with their closeness to colleagues: Last night while we were having dinner, Dante Spinotti sat down behind me and said, „Bon appetite“
At today`s press conference within the framework of the annual edition of the ICFF „Manaki Brothers“, the audience listened to cinematographers Mitja Lichen, Gergő Somogyvári, Sergej Sarchevski and Grimm Vandekerckhove.
“The film is a critique of the elite. The characters in the film somehow materialize our dark thoughts. None of us would probably open the door to a stranger. And in some ways the film tells a story about an incident, they wouldn`t have opened the door if it wasn`t for their guest. I personally know the actors who play in the film. We had rehearsals with them, workshops, it was easy to work with them, we talked openly about everything and there were no problems. The film was filmed between November and December and because at that time of the year due to the weather, the light is not as strong as during the rest of the year we had less time available for
shooting. But there was always enough time”, said Mitja Lichen, the cinematographer of the film „Toxic“, which was screened as part of the European Lo-Cap program.
The documentary „Fairy Garden“ is entirely authored by Gergő Somogyvári and tells the story of a transgender girl who lives with a homeless man outside Budapest.
„In 2019, a law was passed in Hungary banning homeless people from sleeping on the street. With a friend of mine, who works as a social worker we decided to do a short documentary with a homeless person who would like to cooperate. We wandered through the woods around Budapest looking for an interlocutor, and one day we found this beautiful little house and a girl who was friendly and wanted to
work with us. She told us the story of how they met and became friends and started living together. When I saw the camera footage of the two of them after the first shoot, which lasted for 20 minutes, we decided to make a film. Luckily I had my own equipment and I managed to overcome all the challenges we faced on the set. I love working with directors, but this time it was really good that there was no one else between me and the characters we worked with, and I enjoyed working with them. We bonded during the filming and I still worry about what`s going on with her. She doesn`t have an easy life and it`s very difficult to maintain a distance after four years of shooting and decide if we`re friends, if she`s just a subject, or part of the film… But the main idea is to be humane, we shouldn`t set strict boundaries between us“, Somogyvári said, explaining in more detail the status of the homeless and members of the LGBT community in Hungary.
The short program featured the films „A Joke“ and „Across the Waters“, and today cinematographers Sergej Sarchevski and Grimm Vandekerckhove spoke about the significance of being part of the “Manaki Brothers” Festival, their way of working, and what inspired them to work on these films.
“The scenario inspired me to work on this film, considering that it talks about how small things can change your perspective. This was fascinating because I also sometimes think about who we are, where we come from, and how do we form our influence”, said Vanderkerkehove.
An original story by Chekhov is a basis for the film „A Joke“. They were thinking to maintain the original form, but then decided to modernize it and to make it more contemporary.
“We were supposed to film for four days, but it turned out that five days were needed. The budget for filming is never enough, and on the day we started shooting it started to rain, so we rescheduled and we had to take the set to the studio and continue shooting there. In the end it turned out pretty well," Sarchevski said.
They both expressed their pleasure to be in Bitola and said that they are happy to be here for the only and the oldest festival dedicated to cinematographers, where they can approach famous fellow cinematographers much more directly than at any other
festival.
„Last night as we were sitting down to dinner, Dante Spinotti sat down behind me and said, „Bon appetite“. Something like this can`t happen to me at any other festival“, Vandekerckhove recounted.