PRESS CONFERENCE
PRIVATE UNIVERSE / ELEMENTAL / THE FLOWERS OF MY FAMILY/ EUROPE - TRAP
Directors Helena Trestikova (Private Universe), Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee (Elemental), Juan Ignacio Fernandez Hoppe (The Flowers of my Family) and Anna Giralt Gris (Europe - Trap) gave a press conference on Sunday, March 17, 2013 in the context of the 15th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.
Helena Trestikova started filming Private Universe 37 years ago. Working on a school project, she made her first short film on maternity and how it transforms women. “I picked a friend of mine who had just given birth to a little boy. When her son turned two years old, I decided to follow the boy and his family. When your protagonist is a 2-year old boy, you can never be sure how the film will unfold, but I accept the element of uncertainty in the work of a filmmaker and I always say that life is the real scriptwriter”, said the filmmaker. Trestikova continued to follow the life of the family from 1976 to the present. Her camera also captures the wider changes that led to the collapse of communism in Czechoslovakia and the transformation of Czech society in the past four decades. “I follow the protagonists of all my films. I do parallel work on more than one project, and currently I am following 20 people”, she said, adding that Private Universe was the hardest film I ever made. In includes two narrations; one is about Honza and his family, while the other is based on TV news bulletins and focuses on the wider society”.
In his documentary The Flowers of my Family, Hoppe follows his own family. “I borrowed a clunky camera and, wearing my pyjamas, I started filming my shadow on the wall, my dog, my balcony. Then I heard my grandmother say ‘you should film the flowers!’. When I asked her what she was doing there, she replied: ‘I don’t remember, I probably came to hang the laundry’. In Spanish, we use the same word to say ‘hang the laundry’ and ‘build a bridge’. And this is how I interpreted her request: I thought she was telling me to film our life”. Hoppe had a hard time keeping his distance from his characters. “I had to leave them space to act normal, without me getting in the way. But since I am part of the family, it was hard to be the distant observer. The film was made by all three of us. I was helping them in their daily life as a son and grandson, and they helped me shoot the film”, he stressed.
Elemental focuses on three people joining forces out of love for nature. They decide to tackle some of the most pressing environmental problems of our time. “Their relationship with nature shapes their lives”, said director Vaughan-Lee, adding: “They are strongly motivated by a desire to achieve their goal. Their dedication is part of their identity”. The director has firsthand experience of what it means to drop everything and dedicate yourself to something. At the age of fourteen he dropped out of school to play jazz. “I can understand what it means to be obsessed, caring about little else”. The two directors followed their characters even in harsh conditions: “We had to adapt, to take part in the cause of our characters. Some crew members even fell sick. It was not easy”, said Vaughan-Lee, adding: “Our theme was the need to reevaluate our relationship with nature and change our priorities”.
The heroine in Gris’s film Europe - Trap carries her own cross. Zakereh is a young mother, a widow and refugee from Afghanistan. With her underaged son, Omeed, she tried to flee to the West. Mother and son are separated, however, in the Athens airport. Zakereh eventually reaches Spain, leaving Omeed behind. Commenting on the issue of immigration, the director said: “Greece is an entry point for a vast number of immigrants, like Spain used to be. Unfortunately, both countries fail to protect the rights of immigrants. Addressing the problem by erecting walls is a mistake. Laws are useful, but political will is also very important. Citizens in host countries can also help, by understanding the reasons behind the decision of those people to flee their countries and become immigrants and refugees”.
The films are among the events of actions of the 15th TDF, which are financed by the European Union’s Regional Development Fund for Central Macedonia, 2007-2013.
