Your segment Forever
Man in the anthology Doomsday
Stories - in a few words, what is it about?
It is about rescuing and prioritizing our humanity from any dehumanization to
which we may be subjected.
With Forever Man
being of the dystopian science fiction variety, is that a genre at all
dear to you, and some of your genre favourites? My
origins and main work are based on horror but I've found sci-fi very
appropiate to say the things I was saying using horror genre. (Other)
sources of inspiration for Forever
Man? Omega Man, The
Day the Earth Stood Still. Environment of the protagonist and
image respectively. Do talk about Forever
Man's approach to science fiction!
I always admire Ray Bradbury. His use of a future hyper-technological to critizise a society sick with
banality and conformism, comfortably living but not happy, was all an
inspiration to me. Forever
Man attempts to show a certain direction which many things are heading
to. And, as happens with humour or horror, science fiction helps to
communicate an idea with certain impact.
A few words
about your overall directorial approach to your story at hand?
Forever
Man is a distopic picture of the actual world where, in my vision, people
have less room to develop as human beings. Too much technology, too much
loneliness despite the strong communication routes, less farms, less
neighbourhood shops, less contact between people. Virtuality against
reality.
What
can you tell us about Forever
Man's cast, and why exactly these people? Heather
Carson is a great actress who can perform any kind of roles, and I worked
with her in a multi-awarded short movie of mine called Smartest
Creature. Impossible to pass up this opportunity to enjoy her acting as
the President, where she was really awesome, giving the character the
exact attitude that it was required. Chandra Mouli Nandy is an Indian system
engineer who came to work in my country, Uruguay, and we met when he
asked me for consulting about real state and became friends. He is an
amateur actor, and after watching his performances in commercials, I asked
him to perform this multicultural segment. Melisa Reyes is an Uruguayan
commercials actress. We've been friends for a long time, and I thought
she was perfect to perform the unscrupulous recruiter-surgeon who earns
money extracting organs for the black market and sending lonely males to
the new government program.
Do talk about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
Very funny atmosphere. A lot of fellowship and very clear the concept that in a
low budget movie, all of us are one. One
fails, all fail, mainly me. We shot in a farm, in a house, on the beach
and indoors. We had to move from one stage to another and we've enjoyed
all. The weather was with us and we could accomplish the deadline we had
set.
As
mentioned, Forever Man
is part of the anthology Doomsday
Stories - so how did you get involved with that project in the
first place? I
was invited by filmmaker and producer Phil Herman [Phil
Herman interview - click here] once again to make a
segment for Doomsday
Stories. Do talk about Doomsday
Stories' creator/showrunner Phil Herman, and what was your collaboration
like?
Phil is a talented filmmaker and producer with great experience managing
teams. He gave us artistic freedom to decide what way that our
stories could follow. I think that is the virtue
of Doomsday Stories, diversity and strong stories, supported by a man who
knows cinema. With that premise of artistic freedom my collaboration was a
pleasure for me.
Doomsday
Stories isn't the first time you've worked with Phil Herman - so
do talk about your previous collaborations, and how have you two first met
to begin with?
We met the same way we did with Heather Carson. A mutual friend a talented
filmmaker called Todd E. Braley [Todd
Braley interview - click here] opened the American gates to me, inviting
me to a Colorado Showcase where I had the unique opportunity of showing
what I was doing in my country. Phil
watched those works and invited me for the first time to contribute a segment in the
sequel of his famous
Horrortales.666. I submitted The Last Farewell of Mr. Perez, a fantasy about reunion after death,
and he liked it. Then, the 2nd invitation came and Phil liked Victoria,
a horror comedy that is a tribute to Nosferatu 100 years
after its first screening. Forever
Man is my third collaboration with Phil
Herman in one of his movies.
Any future projects you'd like to share? Yes,
thank you for the question. This year an anthology
movie called Witches, They Will Cross the Threshold will be launched.
It's a choral movie proposed by Argentinian filmmaker Ruth Gomez with directors of
Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Mexico. I was invited to make the Uruguayan
segment which was written by me and co-directed with a fellow Uruguayan
filmmaker. What
got you into filmmaking in the first place, and did you receive any formal
education on the subject?
I was just another horror movie fan from my childhood years. One day I had
the opportunity to help in a production inside Universal Studios in
Hollywood. In that moment something exploded in my head and I took the
decision of leaving my seat and take a camera to make my own movies. So,
I went to the Cinema School of Uruguay and took the only career that I
could take with a full day job: Scripting. I was graduate after 2 year
long courses. Before starting to film movies, I've made a self teaching by
sharing experience to other filmmakers and using all the available material on
internet. I have the fortune of having talented filmmakers' advices that
support my work like the Argentinian filmmaker Sol Martinez. He has been a
great advicer and my latest improvements are due to him
What can you tell us about
your filmwork prior to Forever
Man? It has been a 20 years path, plenty of satisfaction and friendship. I've
touched many topics of human feelings using horror genre as an
evirontment. I've talked about old age loneliness and alienation, gender
violence, child abandonment, family reunion, treason, black comedy,
actual society chances, love after death, ambition and spite.
How would you describe yourself as a
director?
I
tell stories that showsmy interests on how we are living now in a our
society, searching for an agile rythm of narration and images that aren't easy to forget. I don't fall in love with my shots and I don't hesitate to cut anything
that works against the narration.
Filmmakers who inspire you?
I
admire the beauty of Andrei Tarkowsky's images. I
was very inspired by the best example of the superb management of suspense
of Alfred Hitchcock. I love the use of symbolism and the way of
storytelling of Stanley Kubrick. And far from today, I always admired John
Ford by his unique way to balance violence with love and moments of peace
with a fluent storytelling. John
Carpenter is a strong example of what I want to be.
Your
favourite movies?
Solaris, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Psicosis, The
Shinning, They Live.
... and of course, films you really deplore? The
ones I deplore the most are the ones that bore me. Although
since I make movies, I don't classify them as bad because that judgment is
very subjective and there is a lot of work behind any movie. Your/your movie's website, social media,
whatever else?
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Feeling lucky ? Want to search any of my partnershops yourself for more, better results ?
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The links below will take you just there!!!
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I'm Marcelo Fabani on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. Very welcome to
share experiences or comments. Many of my past shorts are on YouTube. Anything else you're dying to mention and
I have merely forgotten to ask?
Yes, and thanks again for your questions. My highest goal is to serve as an
inspiration to other people who want to find what they are passionate
about in life and think that it's something that's only achieved when
young. I
am 58 years old and I just started as an adult to develop this passion. It's
never too late, that was what I wanted to say.
Thanks for the
interview! Thank
you very much Michael
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