by Charlotte Anderson Some 10 years before David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation of the popular science fiction novel “Dune” by Frank Herbert, Chilean-French filmmaker (and icon) Alejandro Jodorowsky was already penning his own screenplay. His goal was ambitious: to create a philosophically minded, aesthetically…
We talk to the filmmaker about his foray into Champagne
Spending an afternoon with David Lynch in the penthouse of the Chateau Marmont isn’t necessarily an everyday occurrence—the filmmaker, known for his surrealistic visions, actually admits that he rarely leaves the house if he doesn’t have to. As the son of a forester, Lynch grew up spending time with his father in their woodshop, and now enjoys time at home creating his own art, photography and sound studios.
Lynch did venture out recently to the home of his friend, special effects designer Gary D’Amico, to collaborate on a bottle and package design project for Dom Pérignon. The two experimented with welding torches, shot beams of light into crystals, sprinkled sparkles and powered up smoke machines and other lighting effects to capture images for the resulting wraps. Shrouded in dreamy, glowing light streaks is Lynch’s scrawled label, “Dom Pérignon by David Lynch” sliced horizontally across the dark Champagne bottle.
We asked Lynch for insight into his growing interest in collaboration, and what inspires his work.
You have collaborated with Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse, and have been part of several collaborations from fashion to the recent suite at Hotel Lutetia. Why collaboration? What do you get out of it? How does it influence your filmmaking?
I always say commercial work is money and a chance to do something, a chance to experiment. A lot of times a chance to experiment with the latest technologies. So I always learn something and feel really good about the result and the experimentation and the process of getting that result. It is a collaboration in a way, but I really like the things where I have a freedom to experiment. Obviously the client has to like the result. This idea of experimenting to get something was embraced by Dom Pérignon. Luckily it turned out good.
For you is Champagne an every day or a special occasion beverage?
It’s a special occasion, but like I say, I learned a lot about what goes into Dom Pérignon. So now when I take a drink, it is a very rich experience.
Can you talk a little bit about some of the visual artists whose work really speaks to you?
There are a lot of great DPs out in the world. There are a lot of great painters. A lot of times you will see something and it will be very inspiring. There might be a painter where 90% of the stuff doesn’t talk to you but 10% really talks to you. Inspirations can come from so many places. I always say my greatest inspiration came from the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. So many reasons, the mood of the place, the architecture, what I saw and heard and felt. It was very magical, but laced with a deep tormenting fear and sickness. And I ate many steak sandwiches there.
Lynch’s designs for the Dom Pérignon Vintage 2003 and Dom Pérignon Rosé Vintage 2000 will be available on 1 October 2012.
Seven foreign filmmakers explore Friuli Venezia Giulia
Digital Diaries is a growing project that promotes the culture and tourism of Italy. Following the success of the first installment, Basilicata, Digital Diaries #2 is being released this week as a work dedicated to Friuli Venezia Giulia, a beautiful region located in northeastern Italy on the border of Austria and Slovenia.
The goal of the project—bring together seven filmmakers for seven days on a journey to discover everything that could happen within that region. After the immersion, each artist will make a three-minute video of their experience with complete artistic freedom, the only guideline to describe the emotions they have experienced while in touch with Italian history, food, architecture, people, traditions, and landscapes.
Though Friuli Venezia Giulia is a small region, it extends from the Alps to the sea, and Digital Diaries #2 is divided into two parts—the White Edition and the Blue Edition—to reflect this. Created by Mikaela Bandini from Urban Italy, the behind-the-scenes images shot along the journey preview the latest videos, taken on adventures from dog-sleds to private planes and horses, from kite surfing to snow-covered trams, all while visiting the beautiful cities of Trieste, Pordenone, Cimolais, Casso, Gorizia, Erto, Lignano, Grado, Aquileia and more.
The artists involved in Digital Diary #2 represent a motley crew: Mark Hofmeyr Mark Hofmeyr from Cape Town, young Romanian-Canadian Oana Dragan, Seattle-based Matthew Brown (winner of the Digital Diary #1 contest), Dutch filmmaker Caspar Diederik, visual journalist Jonah M. Kessel , German film student Jan Stollberg, and extreme sports reporter George Karellas. We caught up with Mikaela to get the inside scoop about the experience.
How did you fall in love with Italy?
I have been in love with Italy all my life really, then I met this Italian guy at Cape Town airport and fell in love a second time. The rest is history.
What is the key to destination marketing today?
Emotion, experience, energy. It doesn’t matter if you are marketing a B&B, a city or an entire country—you need to grasp the true character of the people living and working there. Your shopping finds that take over your hotel room, the smile on the chef’s face while he prepares your lunch at a restaurant, real people working, living and playing in real life situations. If you are able to get this energy and personality through the screen and really touch users, your message will fly across the world without needing a huge budget.
Is it difficult to coordinate the work of seven different creative minds?
We actually didn’t know most of the guys before they arrived, but up until now the teams have worked really well together. We often split the team up in order cover a larger area so that not everyone has the same footage, assigning different activities and sports that we think each of them will enjoy. It’s our job to put them in the position to tell incredible stories, but they all know that they are free to change plans if and when they want.
Did you just let them free or they had to follow a brief?
The guys get free range to portray what they feel best represents their experience and the region through their personal style.
What is the most important strength when marketing Italy?
Apart from the tangible heritage that Italy has to offer—the architecture, the archeology, the museums—there is an intangible heritage just as important that changes from one region to another. The food, people, dialects and habits that are completely different in each of the 21 regions giving us the opportunity to make totally unique stories while zig-zagging from the tip to the toe of the boot.
Why are there only foreign filmmakers on your teams?
It’s not a fixed rule, but often foreigners have a manner of telling local stories without filters. Their enthusiasm of making new discoveries and meeting the local people through traveling gives their stories an edge.
Any problems along the way?
Most problems turn into really funny situations and we all get a laugh out of them. For example when Mark Hofmeyr turned up with a 2.4-meter rig for his time lapses that didn’t fit into any vehicle available in Udine, or when Till, our German skater, had all his skate boards confiscated at Vienna airport (they were considered lethal weapons).
Support a Kickstarter project bringing remote 360° panning and tilting to iOS devices
From Josh Guyot—Motrr co-founder and designer of Snow Peak’s SnowMiner headlamp—comes Galileo, a 360° degree panning and tilting mechanism for iOS devices. With multiple potential applications, Galileo-mounted devices can be controlled remotely by swiping the screen of a secondary device to pan and tilt. The spherical platform allows for infinite movement and any number of viewing angles. Guyot and partner JoeBen Bevirt also created Joby and the Gorillapod line of malleable tripods, proving their talent for ingenious tech accessories.
While the most obvious application is for video conferencing, Bevirt and Guyot see Galileo as a useful tool for baby monitoring, time lapse photography, iPhone movie making and virtual home tours. Conscious that the device may find other applications later on, Galileo comes with an SDK kit for app developers as well as a mounting screw for tripods and other camera equipment. Also acting as a charging station, Galileo comes with a rechargeable battery of its own for use in any situation.
Visit Galileo’s Kickstarter page to pledge your support and make the project happen, and watch this video to find out more.
Documenting filmmaker Jørgen Leth in a cycling film by Brendt Barbur
Turning the camera on famed sports documentarian Jørgen Leth, Bicycle Film Festival founder Brendt Barbur embarked on the film project “The Commentator” to trace the backstory to his groundbreaking 1976 film “A Sunday in Hell“. Barbur follows Leth through the grueling course at the Paris-Roubaix cycling race, along with several crews led by revered director Albert Maysles—whom Barbur calls the greatest living cinematographer—surf-world documentarian Patrick Trefz, photographer and artist Brian Vernor and photographer Stefan Ruiz. The Commentator lives as a Kickstarter campaign, so you can help make it happen by donating—$3,000 will get you a private dinner for six with the Barbur, Maysles, the film crew and Blonde Redhead (who created the film’s score), among others.
We caught up with Barbur to discuss the project—which will shoot on race day, 8 April 2012—his relationship with cycling greats and subtlety in filmmaking.
How did this all get started?
The first year of the Bicycle Film Festival, we played “A Sunday in Hell”, which was a very old print and all ripped up. We had a sold-out show, people couldn’t get in and I was really excited. Jorgen called me and thanked me for screening his film. He’s a man who shares three passions with me: movies, art and bicycles.
What do see as Jørgen Leth’s contribution to sports documentaries and film in general?
I interviewed Jørgen in 2003 at Sundance, and he said that cycling “deserved better than lousy sports journalism…It deserved to be sung about.” I think that “A Sunday in Hell” sings about it. They had about 30 cameras—this is 1976, mind you—and they didn’t talk just about who’s going to win. They went and showed you the subtleties of things.
There’s a really great scene in “A Sunday in Hell” where Eddie Merckx—he’s probably the greatest cyclist ever—gets off his bike and asks one of the rival team car mechanics if he could have a tool to fix his saddle. He sits there right next to the car, adjusting his saddle really slowly as he’s casually chatting with them. All those subtle things Jørgen has a knack for finding. He has a kind of “listening” camera.
Albert Maysles is a major name in film. Tell us a bit about his involvement.
Albert Maysles is the spiritual leader of this project, and maybe documentary film and film in general. The other night we had a dinner here, and Albert held court for a little bit and said the reason he makes films is to make friends. This is the director of Gimme Shelter, Grey Gardens—some of the most iconic documentary films ever made. When we shoot The Commentator he’s going to be following Jørgen along with our producer and a camera assist.
What will you be looking for at Paris-Roubaix?
I don’t even want to just get the race. If we don’t get the race at all, I’m okay. I want to get the bar—there are bars full of people watching it, and they’re drinking Belgian beer, and they have their flags. There’s a whole scene for miles and miles of people. There’s a big forest, there’s this cafe. The motorcycle riders are taking these back roads, and they’re going 100mph on the side roads to get ahead of the race and capture it with still photography.
What’s it like to work with these big names?
It’s an honor of mine to direct this film—in fact it’s a little bit nerve-wracking. But it’s not because everyone’s so into this project. We’re all doing this out of passion for the project itself. An Oscar-nominated filmmaker emailed me and asked if they could meet up with us and shoot with us. It’s kind of like the spirit of the Bicycle Film Festival. People just want to make it happen.
Watch the video to find out more about the project.
A darkly comic take on rural cults wins top honors at the LES Film Festival
If you think “new noir” sounds like the latest buzzword designed to put Lana del Rey on the map, check out “The Kook.” The short, made by two NYC directors known as Peking (full disclosure: also frequent Cool Hunting collaborators), won the Audience Award after a sold-out screening held by the LES Film Festival last night. The moment helps shed some light on why the shadowy genre continues to feel so relevant.
In just its second year, the festival celebrates projects made for $200,000 or less. In many cases, much less. Co-founder Shannon Walker explains this “special time” for filmmaking as one when “you can tell a great story for not a lot of money”, citing a film shot entirely on a Nokia phone.
But, Walker emphasizes, the focus is on great storytelling. The selection process comes down to whether committee members “audibly have a reaction to it,” as Tony Castle (part of the fest’s creative team) puts it. The Kook, the story of a cult of people who wear yellow sweatsuits and rock bowl cuts, inspired plenty of noisy reactions among the audience.
The film follows Fa, the naive protagonist and enthusiastic cult member played by T Sahara Meer, on her journey for the truth after finding evidence that the operation is a ruse. She stumbles upon the leader, Malcolm (played by Dan Burkarth), a lowlife who is suffering some unknown pressure that leads him to manipulate his followers. In the process of Fa’s discovery, we see her pull back the curtain, revealing an unsettling truth and in turn finding unknown strength within.
Art direction, consisting of thrifted costumes and borrowed locations, makes one of the strongest cases for low-budget filmmaking by creating a complete off-kilter world. Even something as incongruous as an ’80s-era control panel embedded in a tree is believable.
The finely-crafted piece springs to life through gorgeous noir lighting and subtle cinematography, made all the more compelling with precise editing and rich sound design. Under the helm of the skilled directors, the excellent performances help cement a cohesive tone.
The team, comprised of Nat Livingston-Johnson and Greg Mitnick, have a background in music videos, documentary (see Cool Hunting Video) and commercial work, but it’s The Kook that truly showcases their talent for dark comedy. They’ve already earned rave reviews and awards at independent film festivals coast to coast, and we’re looking forward to more success for the film and the filmmakers.
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