Please tell us about the projects you worked on before making ‘UBI SUNT’. How did you start, and how did you learn to make films?
Since 2010 I have made over twenty experimental short films. I began to explore filmmaking around fifteen years ago during my BA studies. I was inspired by avant-garde filmmaker John Smith, a lecturer on the course and the director of our filmmaking group. He encouraged me to experiment with actuality and abstraction, which at times seemed to me to be so incompatible. I started to work with a 16mm camera and began to explore the multi-faceted language of cinema.
My BA and MA studies have been a fascinating challenge that has inspired me to further explore and develop my work and knowledge. My desire to understand and contextualise my filmmaking further led me to undertake a Professional Doctorate, which I achieved at the University of East London in 2021.
Tell us about ‘UBI SUNT’. How do you describe it?
‘UBI SUNT’ is a short experimental film. It’s a reflection on life and death, present in absence, sense of loss, memories and unconscious processes. The film pays homage to my mother, aiming to capture the essence of her remarkable personality.
UBI SUNT (literally “where are they”) is a rhetorical question taken from the Latin “Ubi sunt qui ante nos fuerunt?” - "Where are those who were before us?" (Encyclopedia Britannica/philosophy).
‘UBI SUNT’ comprises a single long take – drawing parallel with an individual person’s life. I used a room devoid of people as a character. In the shot the viewer sees only part of the room. The combination and juxtaposition of black-and-white, where we observe only an open window with the transparent curtain, bright rays coming through the dark space of the room, take on a metaphoric meaning. Bright open window like an open portal, that brings us into the world and is then taking us into nothingness. An open window serving as a metaphorical transit from life to death. The light, reflection and wind have a deep symbolic meaning.
The long take symbolising the continuity of time and memories. It allowing viewers ample time for visual exploration and emotional immersion. Long take invites viewers to immerse themselves in the scene and project their own feelings and interpretations.
The soundtrack of the ‘UBI SUNT’ filled with the presence of people and it is clearly in contradiction to the empty room. Fragmented sounds in the film mirror the fragmented nature of memory processing, serving as an editing framework, which shapes the mental transitions between the sequences of the story. The soundtrack consists of various sounds related to memories of my mother, including snippets of music, radio speeches, ambient noise, and sounds from everyday life, guiding the audience through a sonic journey of remembrance and reflection. By employing associative montage, symbolic meanings and metaphors are created, transcending the film’s context and prompting emotional recognition and intellectual reflection in viewers.
Please tell us about your favorite filmmakers.
I have been greatly influenced by different filmmakers such as Federico Fellini, Andrei Tarkovsky, Jean-Luc Godard, Paolo Sorrentino, Yōjirō Takita, Ingmar Bergman, Arthur Lipsett, John Smith, Roy Andersson, Luc Besson and Brad Mirman. They have been a source of inspiration, encouraging me to experiment different methodologies in filmmaking.
If you were given a good budget, what would be your ideal project?
It would be an auteur intellectual film, that blur the lines between imagination, reality and memory with an intricate sense of humour.
Describe how you would ensure that production is on schedule. What steps would you take?
Steps that I would take to ensure that the film production is on schedule:
1) A vision followed by a great script (written by me).
2) Well detailed budget of the film production.
3) I never start the film production without having the required funds on account.
4) Having real professionals heading each team with skilled artisans and experts.
5) Effective communication and coordination that include meticulous creation and distribution of call sheets.
6) Extensive research on selection locations for the shooting and the logistical challenge, securing permissions. Contingency strategies for unforeseen issues.
7) Equipment and Resource Allocation.
8) Well-structured shooting schedule, when whole cast and crew are well orginised by having a schedule for each day.
What was the hardest part of making ‘UBI SUNT’.
The making process of the 'UBI SUNT' was very different from my other films due to the deep emotional involvement that it required. The creation of the film was a very personal, moving spiritual dive into my family's past, with a strong connection to my mother.
If possible, tell us about your next work. What plans do you have for your future work?
“If you want to make God laugh, tell Him about your plans.”
No, I don't like to talk about my future work. However, I hope that I will have one in the nearest future.
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