Pictures!!

My last message. I am in Madrid again, and getting over a very long and sleepless travel day. We didn't win an award, although the film that did didn't deserve it because it wasn't a documentary! All the directors were very surprised.

Yesterday I had a 12 hour lay-over in Moscow, so got to see some of the city as well. Am now thinking of a film I can make easily and quickly, so I can send it to the Perm festival and return next year!! :-)

So, instead of a few pictures per day, here they all are at the same time. Click to enlarge.

Bye!

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On the flight in: after the Dutch royal family, ING, a phone company by the same name, the Ukranian revolution and the Spanish right-wing party, Aeroflot is also "going orange..."


Don't enter Japan. You may not survive it (from the inflight magazine):


Don't fly Nepal airlines either:


Perm airport on a cold early morning:


Open air museum - a historic village with an impossible name:


One of the most interesting items in the art galary (unintentionally I think):


... (words are not enough):


Lenin and me (he's bigger but I am alive):


Some of the directors:


My state after the final party and before the 22-hour trip home:


Moscow:


And more Moscow (this guy doesn't like his job but has no alternative):

Summer Camp

Just a thought before I leave to the screenings this morning. Every night we have dinner down in the hotel. The festival arranged for a live band to come and play for us, there is a local brewn beer and a buffet of snacks. We then hang around, a few bottles of vodka arrive and informally talk about the films we saw that day, other festivals, future projects, etc.

Yesterday everyone ended up around one of the tables, one director had borrowed a guitar from the band and at 1 at night, we were singing songs with 20 people, laughing and drinking... And it suddenly hit me: it's like summer camp! (There's the link Frans!!) I think we all feel years younger because of it. Summer camp with film screenings.

The festival staff, the critics who came in from Moscow, the jury... it's one big get-together every single night.

You wouldn't get this in Cannes... (just imagine)

Ok, off to start the day. Still haven't shopped, so have to do that, and there's closing award ceremony tonight. I'll try to log on quickly before leaving for the airport in the middle of the night in case we won something.

Have a great day. Just try to remember that summer camp feeling I'm sure you once knew.

K x

I screwed up...

Today I made a mistake and one of the festival volunteers was angry at me! Luckily it was all in good spirit.

I found out that Perm has the second-best ballet school in Russia, and wanted to see a performance. Works out that today there was a gala evening because of the opening of the season! So, I enquired with one of the festival staff a few days ago, but his speciality is not ballet but rather topless bars, and so he didn't get back to me. With the evening nearing, I asked another person. She asked someone else, and before I knew it (my intention was to go with two other directors I have befriended), they made a general announcement during one of the screenings that there was a ballet visit planned at the opera house, causing a general rush to the sign-up list during the credits of the then playing film.

BUT, the festival (or the Russians?) feel a constant need to keep us busy every minute of the day, and are incredibly hospitable, and had already planned for a visit to the local art galary and a freezing cold boat tour in the river.

A few hours later, the person trying to coordinate the social program tells me I have given her a headache and everyone wants to go to the ballet and the boat tour may have to be canceled... She was smiling, so no problem, but she was also stressed because things didn't go as planned which seems to be the worse thing which can happen here I think.

We did end up going to the ballet, and as it was opening of the season, there was a little bit of everything. It was SOOOOO beautiful. It almost made me cry! There was some opera (choral and solo), a beautiful orchestra, ballet in couples and, to top it off after the break, a short classical piece (45 mins) with more than 20 dancers of what I believe was Tchaikovsky. All in all we were off the street from 19 to 22 hrs, and it beat everything. I cannot describe it. Of course, in good old Russian fashion, instead of me and my friends going, finding our way and paying for our own tickets, the festival director called the mayor, who called the governor, who called Putin, who called the minister of culture, who callled the director of the opera house, who called the ticket office and we had free seats in the third row. Perfect!

Still no pictures. It's a bit of a nightmare, but I trust that tomorrow I can post all of them at the same time. Tomorrow is the award ceremony and the end-of-fest-party, so I have to sleep now... (we all leave on the same flght the next day: at 6 o'clock, which means we leave from the hotel at 3 o'clock... AM!)

Take care.
Koen x

The big day!

Today I showed my film. I am always a little scared, because all the other documentaries always seem so complex and complete to me, but it was a great success. The Q&A session at each of the screenings, especially the second one, was very good, and people showed a real interest in the process of the making of Casting, and my own feelings about the film.

The second screening, in a small cinema, was sold out and they used a very interesting way of translating: they lowered the volume of the film and in the back of the room a girl was reading the meaning of what was being said along with the film over the speaker system. She did a terrific job. The film at times is a quick succession of phrases, and I could tell the live-translator was out of breath a few times. After the screening, the first thing that came to mind was to ask the audience for an applause for her.

Great experiences are about the people you meet, and I think this is the warmest and most interesting and hospitable festival I have been at. It is truly terrific, and it makes one want to make a film designed just to be able to return next year, and the year after. I met a well-known Dutch filmmaker called Rob Rombout, who is giving some master classes, and it's his fifth time here! He even made a documentary film about it a few years ago. It's called PermMission.

In fact, I was thinking, it's nice to come to a place like Perm, instead of Moscow or St. Petersburgh. You get the real experience here, people aren't used to visitors and hence aren't trained to tell you what you want to hear. It feels authentic.

Today we were having lunch with eight directors and one of the translators (we have to know what we are eating, obviously) and she suddenly asked: "Are you all professional directors?" I asked what she meant by "professional" and she said: "Do you have a diploma?" (I don't, I have to admit).

It gives one a glimpse of an eroding yet very present notion from the Soviet era: the need to have a stamped paper confirming your status. Although the festival staff (as they always seem to be) are all very young and don't remember the Soviet days, their use of the words "supervisor" and "administrator" (referring to those who decide, or one needs to refer a question to) is very present.

Tomorrow a few of us are going to skip class like little school children and escape to do some shopping. You're thinking: black plastic suits with grey turtle-neck sweaters, but no. The local speciality is silver and gems (and salt, but we have that in Spain). I hope we don't get caught and punished by the administrator and the supervisor.

I also think that tomorrow I will finally be able to post some pictures. For now, I only have this one:


It's the plane we came in from Moscow. Solid Russian-made stainless steel straight from Flash Gordon (there's Queen again!). It felt very heavy when we took off, my legs didn't fit, and the stewardess looked like Wilma Flinstone... (and as is clear, I can't get over it - sad...)

More tomorrow.
K x

Finally!

Finally the internet connection is working, and I can get started... For those who were wondering (especially my mother and father - who left a comment to my previous message), despite a bumpy ride on a Tupolev airplane from Moscow to Perm, I am safe and well. And enjoying myself quite a bit. The connection is not working properly yet, and I cannot post pictures yet, so stay tuned for those.

In the meantime, a few impressions.

I left on Friday at midday from Madrid to arrive at Moscow five hours later. The Russians have a funny rule that if you have more than a 3 hour layover, you are not allowed to check your luggage all the way through but instead have to collect it and check in all over again in Moscow. I can tell you that I needed nearly all my five hours just to get to the other terminal rolled up like a sardine in a black-smoke-puffing bus, go through security and then check in again.

My first impressions about the country are full of contrasts. It's big and I haven't seen anything yet, but a few things stand out immediately. Russia is a very old-fashioned country in desperate need of some maintenance and a new tie. The airport area in Moscow was an absolute mess, and the people all seemed tired and in need of a joke or a big kiss to get them to smile. Waiting for my connecting flight on a Friday night right after midnight, I saw nothing but drunk people! Everyone seemed to have a beer in their hand or was stumbling around. And as was to be expected, the Tupolev airplane was old, cranky and bumpy, and you should have seen the ground staff vehicles at the Perm airport... It all fit my stereotypes.

But then, as ever and after that first visual impression which is always confusing and distant, you quickly get a chance to experience the human aspect. And hey, nothing but good stuff! The only locals we have contact with are the staff members of the festival, and we have had only fantastic, welcoming and warm experiences. Russians really know how to make one feel at home, and as such, how to throw a party (I am referring to the party after the opening ceremony of the festival, which included over-aged local traditional singers and birthday-party type games - not to mention that transparent stuff they like drinking over here).

I say "we" because there is a nice collection of directors from a variety of countries, which is always interesting. And the documentary community is so small, that we all know the same people. We haven't seen much audience, so we all go to each other's screenings and are the first ones to start clapping. Despite the obvious competition, as we are in fact after the same awards...

Yesterday at the opening ceremony they showed the Danish film Monastery (dir: Pernille Rose Gronkjaer), an absolute masterpiece. I don't know if it's going to be on somewhere near you, but keep an eye out for the title this coming year or so. And tomorrow they're showing a film called Casting!! Haha. I have a screening at 11AM and one at 6PM, so wish me luck. I learned a few Russian phrases for my presentation.

And with that, I have to leave you, because I should get some sleep. More tomorrow. Hopefully with some pickies...

Bye! K x

testing 1-2-3

When I was in India I wrote in Spanish. Now, for the other half of my family and friends, and for those who enjoy linguistic-overlapping-skills, my trip to Perm in Russia is being reported on in English.

Tomorrow I leave. I start writing (and taking pictures) in the plane. For now, all there is to read is my profile...