PRESS CONFERENCE
JAFFA, THE ORANGE’S CLOCKWORK –
AUTUMN GOLD –
“PARADISE” HOTEL
Directors Sophia Tzavella (“Paradise” Hotel), Eyal Sivan (Jaffa, the Orange's Clockwork) and Jan Tenhaven (Autumn Gold), gave a press conference on Sunday, March 13, 2011, in the framework of the 13th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. Their films participate in the international program.
“Paradise” Hotel, directed by Bulgarian filmmaker of Greek descent Sophia Tzavella, tells the story of a “social experiment” aiming at integrating the Roma people in the Romanian daily life. In a provincial Bulgarian town, the communist regime had settled a community of 1,500 Roma in a building complex, featuring all the modern life conveniences of the day (parquet floors, intercom system, central heating, street lights) – it was a paradise by the standards of the time (hence the name of the complex: Paradise Hotel). However, as the years passed, the complex degenerated into a group of abandoned buildings without running water, light or heating. “I regret to say that, as far as the Roma people were concerned, things were better under communism”, explained the filmmaker, adding that “the Roma themselves shared the blame” for the degradation of their quarters. However, despite all the poverty and squalor, the documentary records the joy for life of the tenants. “My film does not pass criticism on the living conditions or the way of life of the Roma – it just captures their outlook. What they taught me was that to withstand poverty you need an element of surrealism and indulgence and that oftentimes happiness can be hidden below the apparent misfortune. In my view, what is important is not what Descartes said – ‘I think therefore I am’ - but “I feel therefore I am”, said Mrs. Tzavella. But what was the fate of “Paradise Hotel”? The director explained that shortly after the film was made, the mayor of the town decided to demolish it, invoking the threat of dissemination of infectious diseases.
Sivan’s film has a quite different thematic. The documentary uses the famous oranges of Jaffa as a narrating thread to depict the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and western stereotypes on the issue. He was inspired to make the documentary after reading a story in the Israeli Press in 1998 about the privatization of the previously state owned «Jaffa» brand name. The documentary narrates the story of the citrus fruit through the eyes of Palestinian and Jew workers, who used to work close to each other in the fields. Essentially, we are seeing the history of the land itself unfold. According to the director, the greatest obstacle in allowing the two peoples to accept the common history of their land is “the traditional orientalist approach of the East by the West and the fact that western states failed to settle their Jewish issue… When the West stops treating us as victims alone, then things might change“.
The filmmaker refused to receive funding from the Israeli state. “Too many Israeli documentaries are made with funding from the state’s propaganda apparatus. I wanted to make a film not thanks to the Israeli democracy, but despite of it”, he said. The film was screened in various cinematheques and an Israeli documentary TV network, but Mr. Sivan said that the audience did not receive his work in an unbiased way: “I am considered a reactionary filmmaker and a “well known instigator”, so the Israeli media made sure the audience did not have a chance to make up its own mind about the film“.
Jan Tenhaven talked about Autumn Gold, explaining that he was inspired by a news report. “When I first read about the track and field World Masters Athletic Championships for the elderly, I thought it would be a bizarre and scary sight. By getting to know these people, my perceptions about old and young age were transformed. To be honest, they often made me feel old”, confessed the filmmaker. The documentary narrates the story of five athletes as they train for the world championships. The track is the excuse that allows the filmmaker to focus primarily on the dreams and life view of the elderly. “Sports give these people something to look forward to. The world championship takes place every two years, and in the meantime there are European and local championships... If it wasn’t the track, it could have been dancing, singing or any other passion”, added the filmmaker. When Mr. Tenhaven first met one of his protagonists, the latter was already 98 years old. “I will take part in the film, but I am not sure I will make it through”, he told the filmmaker “They are people who have found the right balance between ambition and self-sarcasm. They don’t listen to others opinions’ all that much, when they tell them they should relax or even that they are making a fool of themselves. They are not interested in setting any records; they feel they have nothing to prove. So I think that our generation, obsessed as it is with youth and beauty, has a lot to learn from them”, said the filmmaker, adding: “I knew that the film would receive a warm welcome especially by young viewers, since they are the ones wondering how they will be when they get old”.
