»Interview by Emilja Petreska

I chose Macedonia for the world premiere of my latest film.
....................................................................................................................................................................... It was long ago when the world discovered his name. Susan Sontag compared it with the film magnitudes as Alexander Sokurov and Bela Tarr. Our memories are fresher when he came for his "Golden Camera 300" in 2011 for "The Turin Horse" of the ICFF "Brothers Brothers" - Bitola and next year to be President of the Jury of the main program. The newest curiosity as one of the world's most talented cinematographer connects to Bitola, is his personal insistence for the world premiere of “Sweets” to be exactly in Macedonia. In this short interview that we had the honor to receive first, discover the small sweet truths.

Emilija Petreska: You see yourselves in a mirror – what do you see?
Fred Kelemen: My never same looking physical manifestation of my being in this world.

E. P.: And how would you present yourselves through moving pictures?
F. K. : I present myself, my spirit in every image I shoot.

E. P.: How life has influenced your art?
F. K.: My life has influenced my art every day since I was born as the sum of all I experience.

E. P.: Where do you find the motives?
F. K.: In my heart and mind.

E. P.: Which is the person in your life that has contributed most to get to what you are today?
F. K.: My parents and ancestors. I would not be here without them.

E. P.: How strong is the relationship between you and the moving pictures?
F. K.: As strong as the relationship between me and my heartbeat.

E. P.: What cinematography can show to people?
F. K.: An insight into life and our human existence in the worlds we live in.
E. P.: Describe us the cinematography today in few words?!
F. K.: Impossible without starting to be categorical which immediately would be false. But globally we will lose the light in the art of film by losing the film material, and though we lose the darkness and the shadows. We lose dimension. And as the painter Cezanne said: "Everything vanishes; we have to hurry if we still want to see something."

E. P.: What means to you the great names of movie directors for whom you have worked?
F. K.: Great names mean absolutely nothing. The real person matters.

E. P.: If you had the opportunity to work in a movie about Macedonia, what would you like to show?
F. K.: The lost, rich Jewish culture and life which once existed there and which was finally destroyed with the murder of the Jewish people during the Shoah ("Holocaust"). The first image of my film would be a many-minute long travelling shot of the old Jewish cemetery in Bitola.

E. P.: Why choose exactly Manaki Brothers Festival for the world premiere of your new film?
F. K.: Because of my love for the festival and for the Mitevski Sisters.

E. P.: On the list of your seen movies is there a Macedonian movie? If it’s yes than in which one you find yourselves most as cinematographer and as spectator?
F. K.: I do not find myself as a cinematographer in films I watch.

E. P.: What are your future projects?
F. K.: To develop myself as a human being and an artist.
..................................................................................................................................................................... (Emilja Petreska interviewed Fred Kelemen on 26 August 2013)
REPER - weekly art & culture magazine / Macedonia, 1 September 2013 / www.reper.net.mk