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Even though we have talked about it before [click
here], do bring us up to speed: Your new movie The Kingdom of
Shadows - in a few words, what is it about?
The Kingdom of
Shadows is a personal retelling of the biblical creation
myth in which we explore how the psychological knots of our ancestors are
passed on from one generation to the next. It draws upon mythology, dreams
and the history of cinema. It is a mystical cinematic experience which
stirs from the darkness the spirits of our ancestors and reawakens the
horror of unresolved crimes and denied desires. You'll see a family
trapped in a house who are tormented by unseen forces, a lost figure
desperately attempting to escape his crimes, two lovers drifting in
eternal darkness and a hooded alchemist who seeks the key to inner
transformation. Last
time we spoke about The Kingdom of
Shadows, the film was still in pre-production - so how has the
project evolved since then, story-wise, and how true did you remain to
your original idea? The original script consisted of two
sheets of paper with a list of scenes and lots of images from paintings
and silent movies so even from the beginning it was clear that, rather
than having a fixed plan for what the film would be, we had a map of the
direction we would travel, we wanted to venture into an unexplored land
and discover something new and unexpected at every step of the way. The Kingdom of
Shadows is exactly the film we set out to make but the final
film is dressed in the most magical garments that we could never have
imagined!
The Kingdom of
Shadows revolves about a family with a rich and not
always conflict free history - is any of the film's story based on either
of your families?
The film is deeply tied to the stories of
our ancestors, some of it directly, some of it indirectly. Many of the
sequences are based on stories, vague memories and dreams, sometimes the
line between true family history and imagined history becomes blurry and
it is in this misty spot that The Kingdom of
Shadows exists. In many ways,
The Kingdom of
Shadows looks and feels like a silent movie - does that
filmmaking era hold a special place in your hearts, and to what extent
have you actually been influenced by vintage movies? Our
film springs from the mythic past and is about how the actions of the past
still linger within us in the present, not only is this film an
exploration of our own ancestors and the founding myths of our culture,
but also the story and myths of cinema itself and how the images of
cinema's past emerge through the films we create today. The title of the
film is taken from one of the earliest film reviews written by Maxim Gorky
in 1896, his article starts with the following paragraph: "Last night
I was in the Kingdom of Shadows. If you only knew how strange it is to be
there. It is a world without sound, without colour. Every thing
there—the earth, the trees, the people, the water and the air—is
dipped in monotonous grey. Grey rays of the sun across the grey sky, grey
eyes in grey faces, and the leaves of the trees are ashen grey. It is not
life but its shadow, it is not motion but its soundless spectre." For
years we have thought about how mysterious and strange it must have been
to see moving images projected for the first time, in our film we wanted
to capture some of that mystery and connect with those early moments of
cinematic creation. Our inspiration doesn't come only from silent cinema
though, we take inspiration from a great many films from the entire
history of cinema, the history of cinema is the history of dreams, it is
one of the arenas where the modern myths manifest and the imagination
roams free. We are totally obsessed with this mysterious thing called
cinema!
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You
just have to talk about your wonderful location for a bit, and did you
write your movie with it in mind already, and how did it influence the way
you made your movie? The film was shot on location in
Portugal and one of the central spaces we use is the old house. This house
belongs to Clara's grandmother and it had been closed up for many years
since her grandfather died, part of the journey of this film has been
about us both digging into our family history and exploring the shadowy
corners where unspoken secrets lay, the creative process has been one of
performing rituals of personal archeology. Making a film of this kind is
like performing a séance, we call up spirits and unleash demons and once
that doorway between worlds has been opened we must face up to phantoms
and begin to heal them. We knew what we were getting into when we set
about this journey and we did not jump into it lightly, for the last few
years we have been involved in a deep psychological investigation which
has laid the groundwork for this process. All the costumes and props used
in the film belonged to several of our ancestors, with a few having a more
recent personal history of being from our previous films. We wanted to
make sure every single object, location etc was charged with a personal
history, and that even though this wouldn't be known to the audience, they
might still feel it, something comes across. What can you tell us about your
overall directorial approach to your story at hand?
The Kingdom of
Shadows was shot without any sound at all, everything
you hear in the final film was recorded in a studio, every breath,
footsteps, thunder, everything. This approach to making the film enables
us to work in a very unique way on set, while we are shooting we are
behind the camera talking the actors through their actions, guiding them
through the scenes. There weren't any rehearsals at all, most performers
arrived on set only having the vaguest sense of what they were getting
into, we worked slightly differently with each performer depending on
their personality and the type of character they were playing. Our process
is very collaborative and requires trust on both sides, we direct clearly
but the performer also brings so much, we want to allow space for them to
also be creative. The film is a meeting place between their physicality
and our imaginary world.
Do
talk about your cast, and why exactly these people? We
worked with the most amazing group of people, none of the cast are trained
actors but all of them are artists in their own right, we had dancers,
poets, filmmakers, photographers and musicians. This was a key factor in
the success of the production, all of them understand the creative process
and were able to trust us and follow us on a journey that we couldn't put
into words. We were able to shoot with the most minimal amount of
explanation, we gathered the cast together and then jumped right into
filming without any rehearsal and it worked beautifully, everyone gave
their all to this film and it comes across on screen. A
few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere? The
shoot was very short so we had to conjure an atmosphere that would put
everyone in the right state of mind and enable them to live in the world
of the film. So we started the shoot with a guided meditation in which we
took the cast back into their childhood homes and once there they made
contact with the source of their creative spirit, from then on without
talking we began filming and guided the performers through the scenes. It
was intense but pure magic!
The
$64-question of course, when and where will your movie be released onto
the general public? We finished the film in October 2016
and had the world premiere as a part of the Microcinema strand of the
Cambridge Film Festival. Since then we have had an amazing screening at a
cinema in Portugal, which sold out and was a great success, due to the
demand we are having another screening in Porto on the 13th December. We
have big plans for 2017, with our previous films we have focused primarily
on festival screenings but it can often be hard when you make films like
this, which fall in the gaps between genres and the usual festival
categories, so we have decided to take matters into our own hands and book
screenings directly with venues and film clubs. In March we will be doing
a three week UK tour, after which we plan to take the film on a European
tour. Any future projects you'd like to
share?
We are currently in post-production of another feature film called
Black Sun, which is the first in a series of films exploring humankind’s
relationship to darkness. It is a film about a descent into the depths of
the soul and an investigation into the portrayal of female characters in
European fairy tales, painting and literature. It will be finished early
next year.
We are also in pre-production of an epic sci-fi infused mystery called
The Cloud Of Unknowing, which we will be shooting throughout 2017.
Your/your movie's website, Facebook, whatever
else?
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Our website:
www.theundergroundfilmstudio.co.uk
Our Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/TheUndergroundFilmStudio
Anything else you're dying to mention and I have
merely forgotten to ask? Alongside making films we also run
Film Panic, which is a magazine and series of screening events which
showcases experimental and underground films, you can find out more on our
facebook page here: www.facebook.com/filmpanic Thanks for the interview!
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