The audience of the 55th Thessaloniki International Film Festival had the chance to participate in a particularly interesting masterclass and an open discussion with filmmaker and TIFF honoree Ramin Bahrani, on Tuesday, November 4, 2014, at Pavlos Zannas theater.
The financing, distribution and the challenges during the production of a film were the main themes that Ramin Bahrani discussed during the masterclass.
The documentary Lift you Up kickstarted a discussion around the main character who is tormented by the eternal question of which came first, the chicken or the egg? Taking cue from that, the filmmaker was asked whether his desire for artistic creation was innate or whether it came about by watching movies: "As a child I was very creative, starting with drawing, painting and ultimately with the visual arts. As a teenager, I loved reading and I was lucky because at home we had books of Kafka, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky. I was absorbed by reading and I started writing stories. In high school I met a professor who introduced me to film through the films of Coppola, Scorsese, Woody Allen. I rented all kinds of movies from video stores and I gradually moved away from the 70s and started watching the classics".
Commenting on how the idea for the film Man push Cart came about, Mr. Bahrani stated that it was in 2001 after September 11, when he was penniless in Paris, without having anywhere to stay. "I saw the news of Bush bombing Afghanistan and I tried to think of all the Afghans I knew in New York - all of them selling food in carts. I also had the myth of Sisyphus in mind. In January 2002 I returned to the US, I went to Ground Zero and I tried to make sense of what I was seeing before my eyes. I spoke with many such vendors. Some thought that I was an agent of the CIA. Anyone with a dark complexion was in panic, and so were immigrants with a temporary residence permit. I read that many Brooklyn residents from Pakistan and Bangladesh were lost, their traces disappeared forever. I went to check what was happening in the area and at some point I got hungry and looked for something to eat. There, I met the man who would become the main character of my film. He wasn’t a professional actor. We later became friends”.
The inspiration for 99 homes came about during the housing crisis in the US, which disturbed the life of millions of people. "I panicked; I was afraid that another director would beat me to the punch and make a film about the same thing. I decided to go to Florida and it took two months to decide whether I would focus only on the character who gets evicted or also on the one who forces the eviction, like a killer who tells the victim to “stop” and then shoots them”, he explained. "Is it important for a director to be the first to touch upon an issue? Does otherwise the film lose its momentum?", was the next question to the director. "Yes and no. Take for example, Bennett Miller’s film Capote: there had been other Capote films before, but this one was excellent. Oliver Stone is now trying to make a film about Edward Snowden, but perhaps someone else will do it first and it could undercut its course. It is important for me to know if someone else is dealing with the same issue. If you know you're doing something original, you feel that you're two steps ahead, "he explained.
Regarding his favorite director, Ramin Bahrani said: "Besides your typical ones, I would mention Paul Thomas Anderson. I think he is the best director in the US. There is no one like him, he is ahead of his time."
Bahrani also talked about the importance of the script: "The structure is the most important thing regarding the story. In my fourth film, Chop Shop, I was carried away by the details and I lost the structure. Now I write the most important notes on post-its, it helps. The post-its on my wall are much more important than the script itself. Now I devote more and more time to the structure, i.e. the ''foundation'' of the film, which must be very strong. Otherwise the universe you build will crumble down. The first 30 minutes are of highest concern to me. The rest can be solved, but if the introduction is wrong, you cannot solve the problems at the end, you suffer during editing. "
In his films, Ramin Bahrani has worked with both amateur and famous actors. In At Any Price Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron starred, and in his latest, 99 Homes, Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon and Laura Dern have the leading roles. "The amateur actors need to be trained for several months. With professionals, if the casting is done right, you don’t need to do much. As far as casting is concerned, sometimes you have to change the story if something comes up that you feel works better. This happened in my film Goodbye Solo, where the main character was a boy originally, but I finally decided to turn him into a girl and I changed the entire script ".
Speaking about whether household names can help a film’s funding, the filmmaker said that it is indeed true, "unless you make movies like Avatar where you move towards a different direction and in order to save money you don’t hire well-known actors, but invest in special effects." He added: "In the US they give you fifty days to shoot a film, otherwise you go over budget. I try to have it done in thirty days. It is important to make good use of your budget. If I run over budget or delay it might lead to my replacement, which is a threat hanging over your head - you have a responsibility to the sponsor. It’s hard to find money for independent films, so I want to create a good name to use with possible future sponsors".
Regarding financing, a member of the audience said that funding fiction is easier on TV nowadays and he asked Mr. Bahrani if he would do something like that. "I don’t know what the future holds for film. I think more and more about television. Although I haven’t watched TV since 1998 - not because I don’t think it’s good, it’s just that my TV set doesn’t work. If it did, I’d be stuck. The stories I have in my mind wouldn’t fit in an hour-and-a-half slot. I would like to create a period drama series".
The filmmaker was then asked about his cooperation with the renowned director Werner Herzog, who was involved in his short films Plastic bag and Lemonade war. "We became good friends. Our lives are very different, but they also have similarities. During editing, I watch the footage and make notes because I think that our initial reaction to the material, the first impression is very important. I sometimes edit in the computer, while Herzog is old school and this makes him angry. A live performance is exciting, but on the screen your acting is completely different. That's why I say to camera operators that I want to have the monitor near the actor, to let him know that I am there. Sometimes I use small wireless monitors to let them feel my presence and my protection. In earlier times, you had to wait for the end of the day to check your footage, now you know on the spot what works and what doesn’t”.
Speaking about the role of film reviews and his relationship with the great movie critic Roger Ebert, who described him as "the best director of the decade" a few years ago, Ramin Bahrani said: "Roger played a very important role in the beginning of my career. Most people know me because of him. The role of critics and festivals is important. The film Man push Cart won the Audience Award here in TIFF in 2005, because the public here is “trained” in a way. It is very important that the critics write that there are other voices in cinema. Without good critics and festivals, the public would never have the chance to be informed about these films. Sometimes I fear that the whole civilization will be replaced by vulgar selfies, something that I try to avoid through my work".
The question about his collaboration with famous actors came up again in relation to rehearsals. Mr. Bahrani explained: "Some actors don’t have time or you cannot pay them for their rehearsals, so they appear like 'parachutists' for a few days. For example, we had Dennis Quaid for two days. He was tired, he arrived straight after a night shooting another film in another time zone. We had talked before that and he had seemed very friendly but suddenly he was distant. I called Werner Herzog and I said 'what do I do? He is not involved''. He replied that he is a professional and does not need to rehearse. And, indeed, this was the case. In 99 homes Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon were available for about ten days. We read the script and Andrew proposed to do improvisations, while Michael refused - so that ended the discussion. We didn’t do any rehearsals.”
The filmmaker, who was born and raised in America by Iranian parents, was then asked about the role his roots have played in his work. "Heritage in terms of culture is important. I am a combination of both worlds, but I also see many other things inside me. My Iranian origin is highlighted because my name is not American. However, I think that new generations do not care about these things. Things have changed. If you care so much about someone else's nationality that may mean you’re afraid”.
