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Zagreb Film Festival
16. - 21. Listopad 2006
Adresa
ZAGREB FILM FESTIVAL
SC - Savska 25
10000 Zagreb
Croatia
Telefon
385 1 45 93 692
Fax
385 1 45 93 691
e-mail
info@zagrebfilmfestival.com
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Presentation
‘My First Movie’ by Stephen Lowenstein
published by Propeler Film
In the afterword of the American edition of Stephen Lowenstein's book
Robert Croman, the king of B-films, said: „Every director tells a
different story, but they have one thing in common which I can testify
myself from the experience of my first movie – the joy and fear all
debutants experience. This is a must read for all fill students and
film lovers!”.
Corman should have added just one more thing: “My First Movie” is one
of the most thrilling books in the history of cinema. It is just
unbelievable how whims of fate made a difference in the making of the
debut films of famous world directors! If Jane Campion had not faxed a
letter of support to Ciby 2000, moreover sent it on the day of the
Company Management Board meeting, P. J. Hogan might never have directed
“Muriel’s Wedding”. Or in case of Kevin Smith’s “Clerks”! The underpaid
video store clerk at the time, he realized that he could get 25
thousand dollars on credit card loans, which was enough to begin making
the film. How he managed to work in the video store and on the film
production at the same time and on the same location is a fascinating
story about commitment and endurance. And not to mention the stroke of
luck when the only person in the audience who liked the film screened
in an unattractive Sunday morning slot of the independent film market
decided on the world success of “Clerks”! This really borders
fantastic! Barry Levinson was very lucky with his “Diner”. After MGM
had decided to shelf his debut film, one of the company employees had a
different opinion and managed to save the film – almost incredibly –
with the help of amazed critics. It would not be possible in Croatia,
but in America it obviously was.
Some of the interviewers got their debut films because they studied at
film schools, but even that was not an absolute guarantee: Ang Lee had
made a middle length film as a student, but for seven years after that
he waited a chance to start serious directing. Resourceful Kevin Smith
was much more practical: he enrolled to a film school in Canada and
dropped out half way through, because he found out that the students
who leave the school get half the money back. Anyway, he thought that
by that time he had learned everything he needed to start shooting
“Clerks”.
It is depressing to know that for a first-time director it is not of
much use the period spent working other jobs on film. Besides writing
film reviews Bertrand Tavernier was also a publicity person on many
French films and as such met most powerful producers. But when he
offered his script for “The Watchmaker of Saint Paul” they all turned
him down easily. Having finally persuaded Raymond Danon to produce his
film, Raymond did not know what to do with this strange product. If his
Serbian driver, who was also the projectionist, had not said “I think
the film is great”, maybe Tavernier would have gone back to publicity.
Some filmmaker, like Mike Leigh knew from the beginning what they
wanted to do, while other – like Pedro Almódovar – suspected that
experience and maturity would provide better production conditions and
perhaps yield more elaborated directorial procedure. It is most
interesting, however, that majority of the interviewed directors thinks
that their debuts were bad. “Pretty damn bad” is Joel Coen’s estimation
of his film “Bloody Simple” (few people would agree with this, but the
author has the right to his own opinion), and Neil Jordan thinks that
“Angel” is like naïve painting, “a film made by somebody who doesn’t
know the rules, who hasn’t learnt anything about the genre”.
Stephen Lowenstein did an excellent job. He squeezed the words out of
the directors who were not particularly talkative, and made those too
eloquent to still say something sensible about their beginnings. I
think that “My First Movie” will be a particularly valuable book to
wannabe directors. It will convince them that today acclaimed directors
were petrified when they found themselves on the set for the first
time, and it will reveal numerous ways how to overcome the crises on
shooting, problems with financing and teach them to keep on when
everything seems lost forever. If some of the future filmmakers say
that “My First Movie” was their most valuable textbook, the author
actually should not look for a greater thanks.
Nenad Polimac
foreword to the book ‘My First Movie’ by Stephen Lowenstein |
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