21st THESSALONIKI DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL [1-10/3/2019]
Open discussion with Gustav Deutsch
Austrian film director Gustav Deutsch introduced the audience to the secrets of his sui generis cinema in an open discussion which took place on Monday, March 4th 2019 at the MOMus-Experimental Center for the Arts, as part of the 21st Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, and in the presence of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival Artistic Director, Mr Orestis Andreadakis. This year’s TDF edition pays tribute to Gustav Deutsch’s work by screening seven of his signature films.
Gustav Deutsch, a restless and wild spirit, switched from architecture to cinema at the late 1980s, adopting a unique filmmaking style which defies the rules and transforms archival material into fascinating cinematic reality. The artist was introduced by Mr Andreadakis, who noted among other things that “his presence here is a great honour for the TDF”.
In the course of the discussion, moderated by TIFF’s head of international program Yorgos Krassakopoulos, Gustav Deutsch talked about what he considers to be true magic in cinema, made comments on technological developments in cinema and revealed the secrets of his art.
Austrian director denied that he forms part of the so-called experimental cinema. “I personally feel that I’m just making cinema. I possibly deviate from the typical definition of cinema, since as a filmmaker I’m tiptoeing to the edge of genres, but the truth is I cannot find differences between fiction and documentary”. As he said, the element of surprise is crucial for the audience to connect with his work, and with cinema in the wider sense. Every artist has to move in a different way each time. “If an artist does not pursue constant restlessness and movement, I believe the whole thing becomes unimportant. I started as an architect, but went to Bauhaus School, where all arts were brought together. As an artist, I have to say that architecture is a great starting point for any form of artistic creation. I am impressed, of course, by the fact that many cinematographers have started from architecture. Its relationship with cinema is close. In both arts you have to think about the steps you will make, and you have plenty of time, about 3-4 years, to complete your next project. At the same time, you have to collaborate with many people, so team spirit is necessary. You also have to encourage your crew members, cooperate closely with them and inspire trust in every step of the creative process”.
As to his target audience, the director noted: “I want my audience to be curious and willing to detect something in the films like I do. In fact, if they see something completely different than what I detected, I get even more satisfied. As a viewer and at the same time as an artist, Gustav Deutsch repeated his opinion that surprise must be cinema’s main ingredient: “For me, every film must contain that element. Every director must believe that their work speaks for itself, and know that it won’t be perceived the same way by all audiences. So they have to be open to various alternative readings, and certainly not try to be didactic”.
As to his films’ ingredients, which more often than not are archival material, Gustav Deutsch replied that cinema was not born in one day and has two structural bases: the investigative-informative, and the entertaining. “Especially for my Film Ist. Project, I looked for footings dating back to the early days of cinema. Later, I started to collect cinematographers’ quotings on what cinema is, in order to understand them. The film shows that cinema has enormous potential. Films move through time, light, darkness. They present to us people on the move”, he said.
Gustav Deutsch called his short films “pocket films” and explained his way of thinking during filming: “I place the camera in a crossroad, press the “On” button and a little while later I see what was recorded. This process always contains surprises, often by people passing by and stopping to take a peek at what’s happening. So first I observe the image and then what I call microdrama, meaning the thing that is happening. During observation, I notice what the image’s subject is”.
As a film director, though, he focuses on cooperation, which is critical for making a film: “Cooperation is necessary, so it’s necessary to trust your partners, even if they are file clerks. Partners are the ones who will help you find what you’re looking, with their visual memory. Take for example my wife, Hanna Simek, who has seen hundreds of films and helps me each time in my research”. Gustav Deutsch noted that cinema does not lose its magic even if you watch films all the time. On the contrary, through constant research, one can change their perception of things. As he said: “It’s not easy to watch films all the time. You always have to be concentrated and careful. However, each time there is a scene, a moment, which appears before you in a different way, in a way that you have never seen before”.
Asked about the future of cinema, the film director said that cinema has not changed in fact, but has to be innovative and daring. However, the film industry tries to intervene in order to wipe out these elements. “For me, cinema is an art, not an industry”, the director noted, adding that he focuses more not on technical means, but on education and aesthetics: “Our work has the power to influence. I feel that it’s tragic to have knowledge of so many technical issues, but not caring at all about the power of image”.
Gustav Deutsch said he never makes the distinction between fiction and documentary. As he said, “As you know, there are film directors even in documentaries. So, it’s rather a pseudo-distinction”. In his opinion, every image can be considered interesting, each one in its own way: “I don’t believe there are boring films. You can look and find something interesting inside, even if there was no such intention by its director”.
The Austrian filmmaker is particularly interested in home movies: “I’m not interested in them as a glimpse on people’s private life, but as a piece of History as it is composed by many personal stories. In previous times we did not give special attention to such material; this changed in the last few years, since this kind of footage is much more original than the professional”. Mr Deutsch also stressed out that constant research for amateur audiovisual material teaches cinematographers a lot. “When someone shoots something, they automatically adopt a particular view on things. In home movies there are no professional rules, such as the ones learnt in film schools. Every shot is particularly important for the one who takes it. Of course, technology and access to photography and video-producing devices is impressive nowadays. However, this results in decreasing quality”, the director said. And added: “In previous times you had a film and had to honor it. Nowadays, we have plenty of recording devices, but we lost quality. People take so many pictures, more than they have ever taken in all previous stages in the history of photography. I think that in the future, the current situation will be described as middle ages”.
