Interviews
Filmdogs Interview | The Director of Columbia’s official Oscar selection “The Colors of the Mountain””
Colors of the Mountain is the first film from Columbian director Carlos César Arbeláez, and it’s also the country’s official Oscar selection for 2012. It tells the story of three young boys caught in the middle of political conflict, while trying to retain some sense of their youth. I recently had the chance to talk with Arbeláez about his journey making the film, here’s what he had to say.
Carlos: [There was no film school in my country, I was self-taught.] I learned the craft by doing documentaries for ten years. I learned different crafts within the field, how to work a camera…I also belonged to various cine-clubs. In 1998 I began to do short films, fiction shorts. In 2002 I began to do my first feature film, long reel. I wrote the script for The Colors of the Mountain therefore I’m a screenwriter and director. This film The Colors of the Mountain took me almost ten years to do.
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Filmdogs Interview | The Director of Spain’s official Oscar selection “Black Bread”
I recently had the opportunity to talk with director Agustí Villaronga about his latest film Black Bread, which also happens to be Spain’s Official Oscar selection for 2012. The film concerns a young boy’s coming to terms with the harsh realities of the post-Spanish Civil War landscape. Here’s some of his thoughts on the film, and his approach to storytelling.
Filmdogs: Tell me a little bit about your background in Cinema.
Agustí: This is my fifth film, my first film was In a Glass Cage. It’s [set] in 1945 and after that I made five films more. I work as an actor also, sometimes in the beginning as a production designer and costumes. I never starred in movies I just worked as a position on a team. In the end I decided to make my own films.
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Filmdogs Interview | The Director of Iceland’s official Oscar selection “Volcano”
I recently had the opportunity to talk with Icelandic director Rúnar Rúnarsson about his first feature film, and the countries’ official Oscar selection for 2012, Volcano. The drama about an older man trying to make amends with his family, has been well received around the world. Rúnar was recently nominated for the Golden Camera Award at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. Here’s what Rúnar had to say about the film and his approach to filmmaking.
Filmdogs: First of all congrats.
Rúnar: Yeah, thank you.
Filmdogs: What can you tell us about your background in the film industry?
Rúnar: When I was a kid, I was taking photographs, making ugly sculptures and paintings from pictures, and when I was 17 there was a buddy of mine who got a VHS camera, and we made our first short together. It first was then that all this different media was coming, that I had been unsuccessful [with] came together in one medium, so to say. After that I starting making a lot of shorts, and then when I was like 20 or something like that I started to work on other peoples films. So, I was doing maybe, I think, [several] films as a continuity girl, Gaffer, Best Boy, etc.. And I just got infected. I got the disease. Of course wanted my films to evolve to get a little bit better, and I got a little bit better at what I was doing. It was 2003 that I got the first little bit of money to do a short film which became The Last Farm.
Filmdogs: And that film was nominated for an Oscar correct?
Rúnar: Yeah, and that film helped me into the National Film School of Denmark. That was my entry film. So, that was exactly what I needed at that time. There are limitations on how far you can develop yourself with no money, and it was being in heaven to me to be in film school, to have a budget to play with, to have all the equipment and to be in this program for four years with people who are interested in the same things as you and basically not do anything else…
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Filmdogs Interview | Oscar Nominated Writer/Director Luke Matheny talks about his short “God of Love”
Writer/Director Luke Matheny has had a pretty good year. Not only did he graduate from NYU’s prestigious film program, but his thesis film God of Love won the Student Academy Award last May. The good tidings don’t stop there however, as winning that award led his film receiving an Academy Award nomination this year in the live action short category. Word on the street is that he has a pretty good shot at taking home that statue as well…A few days ago I had the opportunity to talk to Luke the movie, which concerns the romantic misadventures of a lounge singer turned cupid, and discuss what it’s like to be an Oscar Nominee.
Filmdogs Interview | The Director of Belgium’s offical Oscar selection “Illegal”
Illegal is the official Oscar selection from Belgium this year, and it’s subject is one in which many Americans have strong opinions. The film centers on an illegal Russian Immigrant in Belgium, who after being detained in one of the countries’ controversial detention centers faces the harsh reality of being deported while her young son remains in the country. The movie is a somewhat shocking look at Belgium policies that I wasn’t previously aware of, and as of yesterday lead Anne Coesens received the FIPRESCI Award for Best Actress at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. I recently had the pleasure of speaking with the film’s director Olivier Masset-Depasse to discuss all things Illegal.
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Filmdogs Interview | The creators behind Kazakhstan’s Official Oscar selection “Strayed”
Last week it was with some surprise that Filmdogs was contacted by a rep for Kazakhastan’s Official Oscar selection this year, the thriller Strayed. Mr. Matt had done a quick write up about a rebuttal of Borat that was being made in the country (read that story here) thus, I believe spurring the interest in our site. Either way I was interested in seeing the film, which concerns a man who while driving across country with his wife and child has a breakdown, leaving them stranded in the middle of nowhere. After waking the next morning the man discovers that his family have gone missing, thus beginning a frantic search that takes him to some dark places. It’s a effective thriller that reminded me quite a bit of the early work of Roman Polanski. Watch the trailer here.
So, it was a great pleasure to be able to conduct a phone interview (with the help of a translator) with the director Akan Satayev, the writer Timur Zhaksylykov, and the lead actor Andrey Merzlikin. Enjoy.
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