»"FRED KELEMEN"

Interview with Fred Kelemen
by Hugo Emmerzael - GAIFF Daily / Armenia

At a time when countries, politicians and individuals are increasingly worried about who crosses their borders and why, it can be something of a relief to revisit the films of German director, cinematographer, screenwriter and editor Fred Kelemen, even though his films can deal with heavy, existential themes. GAIFF is screening four films which Keleman either directed or worked on as a cinematographer, which were shot in four different countries: Germany (Fate), Portugal (Nightfall), Latvia (Fallen) and Israel (Sweets). This crossing of borders is not only reflected in the geography of Kelemen’s cinema, but also in his perspective on filmmaking: “I’m looking for the moment when a film starts to reveal the second film that is hidden behind it. That second, invisible film is the film that matters.”
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Hugo Emmerzael.:
You’ve made films all over the world. Can we call you a filmmaker without borders?

Fred Kelemen:
I think art should not have borders in general. As long as you are interested in talking about human beings and their circumstances of existence, fears, struggles, hopes and desires, it should not matter where you shoot the films and who watches them. We should overcome this idea of nations and nationalism. I really understand the whole world as one place for being creative.

H. E.:
Your approach to filmmaking seems similarly against the idea of separating various fields: you’re a director, cinematographer, screenwriter and editor.

F. K.:
I would not say that everybody should do this, because you have to understand what your strength is. If you are only strong in scriptwriting it is better that you are not directing or shooting a film as a cinematographer. These are natural borders we have, because we are all limited. What we should not do is create artificial borders. You will find your own borders by yourself. They should come to you naturally. When I started at the film school in Berlin I understood that I liked photographing a lot. I liked using the camera, but I also liked to invent stories, to write scripts and to direct. So I just did what naturally came out of me without staying in artificial borders. I generally believe we should not limit ourselves. We should not limit our creative abilities, we should not limit our human abilities, and we should not limit our abilities to love and to give.

H. E.:
How do you show this to your students at the different film schools you teach at?

F. K.:
If I see that somebody has certain strengths, I try to support that. Some years ago, I gave a workshop in Riga and I invited students from the film school of Potsdam to come with me. It was a workshop for cinematographers and directors, but one student – she was an editor – asked to join as well. She did not want to stick to the strict limitation of just being an editor, but of course nobody would give her a chance to direct. She came with us to the workshop in Riga and I developed a project with her, a documentary that she directed. The film is called Moskatchka and its is by Annett Schütze, now Ilijew. It’s a beautiful film of ninety minutes, which was shown here at the festival where it won an award. This is an example for how someone who studies editing can also be a director. We should always make individual decisions and not follow the rules too much. The best thing about rules anyhow is to break them.

H. E.:
You seem to have developed your own idea of how you approach objects and characters with your camera. In Béla Tarr’s The Turin Horse, for which you did the cinematography, your camera lingers on objects for a long time. It can even give a shot of a potato on a plate emotional depth. Can you explain what motivates this way of shooting?

F. K.:
Film is very much about seeing and I think we should be more attentive in life, to see more and hear more and recognize more. My way of shooting also has to do with time and with finding the moment when time is not just physical anymore, but when it transforms into metaphysical time. It’s about going beyond the object. Let’s take a face, which is a better example than a potato: if I watch a face for an extended period of time, the face starts to change and I start to see something in the face that is beyond the face or behind the face. Maybe then I start to get in contact with the essence of this character, with his heartbeat. Maybe after a while – even though I only see his face – I start to see my own face. I start to connect. That can be a moment when we’re connecting on a deep human level with one and another. This is what I’m looking for: this moment where a film starts to reveal the second film that is hidden behind the visible one. That second, invisible film is the film that matters. But this only happens if you look long enough and if you try to go beyond simple categories and concepts. This works with faces of course, and probably even with a potato.

H. E.:
As a cinematographer you have worked with several directors. In what way have those collaborations influenced your perspective on filmmaking?

F. K.:
I think that everything we do influences us. Whenever I shoot a film I’m learning from what I’m doing. Everything I see is consciously or unconsciously entering my mind and that all influences me in a way that it enriches me. It does not fundamentally change my idea of the art of film, but it completes it more and more. It is the same when I work with students. Their work also enriches me and completes my idea of what film is and what film can be.

H. E.:
Do you think that your idea of what cinema is can ever be completed?

F. K.:
No, never. Nothing can ever be completed, because the world we’re living in is a world of change and movement. Everything that moves can never be finished. If something would be completed it would stop. It would die.
................................................................................................................................................................... GAIFF Daily #3, 2016 July 12, Yerevan/ Armenia