Page 119 - ARTE!Brasileiros #57
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responsible for the international symposium   is formed, based on this material, and through   accessible than ever today, thanks to YouTube,
          Women in Film, under the tutelage of unEsco,   the association of ideas.  Vimeo, Ubu Web, among others. As for the
          which brought together names such as Susan                             new ones, they are new directions, new
          Sontag; Agnes Varda; Chantal Akerman - with   How did your transition from a Psychology   themes, such as ecology, identity, gender.
          whom she was a great friend and to whom she   degree at the Sorbonne University to   So I think it’s really good because you have
          dedicates But elsewhere is always better -; and   filmmaking come about? Was it something   access to both. If you’re still hungry, you can
          Mai Zetterling, a Swedish filmmaker for whom   natural?                “open the fridge and get what you want”, more
          she is organizing a retrospective these days.  I finished my degree in psychology,   than in the past.
           Using found footage and her own home movies,   graduated and knew I didn’t want to work
          Ostrovsky ended up creating her own language,   as a psychologist. In the 1970s there were   The festival took place between October
          which filmmaker and critic Yann Beauvais dubbed   many good films to see, it was a very rich   and November. We are still experiencing the
          “journal-mosaic”. A combination of two genres of   time, with authors such as Alain Resnais,   pandemic, but little by little, movie theaters
          experimental cinema, film collage and film journal.   Ozu, Wim Wenders, Glauber and cinema   seem to be moving towards a return to their
          In the words of writer Juliet Jacques, Ostrovsky’s   novo, Czech new wave and Swiss cinema,   performance pace. Did the 2021 Scratch
          work presents dialectics as a recurrent element,   Bergman; each week there were at least four   Collection schedule suffer from pandemic
          whether between image and sound, cultures and   movies that I wanted to see. Furthermore, in   limitations?
          ideologies, or past and present.     the French cinematheque - which I used to live   There was no limitation, I was even surprised.
           Recently, she was responsible for programming   near - I could see great movies of all kinds,   I can’t say “after the pandemic” because we
          the second edition of the Scratch Collection   classics or other things I didn’t know. The   still have 50,000 cases of Covid-19 in France
          Festival, organized by the experimental film   cinematheque was, for me, a great school.   a day. I mean, we are not out of the pandemic,
          distributor Light Cone, for which she selected   That was my education, I learned by doing.  but out of the lockdown, the closed things.
          films from 33 female directors, coming from                            Because of this, people were hungry to go
          14 countries and different generations, from   Having lived in Brazil, Paris and residing in the   out on the street and go to restaurants, cafes,
          the 1940s to the present day. arte!brasileiros   us, do you believe that language interferes   brasseries. Despite this, the theaters were
          spoke with the filmmaker about the event, the   with our creative thinking? Do you notice a   a bit empty and the theater owners were
          experimental cinema scenario and her friendship   gear shifting as you reason between different   worried. So, when the Scratch Collection
          with Ione Saldanha, an artist from Rio Grande   languages and territories?  started, I was expecting very few people,
          do Sul known for paintings on stools, slats and   I prefer it to be creative thinking that interferes   especially because, in general, experimental
          bamboo and whose work deals with issues such   with language and not the other way around.   cinema has a much smaller audience than
          as breaking the frame and conquering the space   For me, it is not so much the reasoning that   for “normal cinema”, which is better known.
          by color, according to Adriano Pedrosa, curator   changes between languages and territories,   But the sessions varied between 90 and 115
          responsible for the tribute to Saldanha that is   but what changes is, for example, what is said   people. As it happened, there were more and
          now taking place at Masp.            and how it is said.               more people, a lot of young people, a lot of
                                                                                 people from art schools, film schools, that
          arte!brasileiros - Being a filmmaker, but also a   In your work, your recordings are interposed   made me very happy.
          film distributor and festival programmer, how   with archival footage. When we look in an
          does this crossover between crafts occur?   archive - personal or public - we are in a sense   In Brazil, how do you observe the experimental
          At what times do you notice an exchange   exploring the right to be remembered. Today,   cinema scene?
          between the activity directing your own films   with social media and the internet’s archive,   It’s something that fills me with joy because
          and being responsible for selecting those of   which does not spare or free anyone who has   there’s a lot more interest now than when
          other authors?                    set foot there, would we be struggling at the   I started and there’s been a lot more talk
            Vivian Ostrovsky - There are three activities   same time for the right to memory and the   about the experimental scene in Brazil. I can
            at different times. I started as a distributor,   right to be forgotten?  highlight the Dobra International Festival,
            having distributed women’s films between   To me social media is a double-edged sword,   organized together with mam Rio; the Cine
            1974 and 1980. From 80’s onwards, I started   because while you can see very ingenious and   Brasil Experimental Exhibition, in São Paulo;
            making my own films, which led me to stop   creative things of 30 seconds or a minute,   Videobrasil; some sporadic shows carried
            distributing. The curatorship work was   we are drowning in an ocean of images that   out by ims; Yann Beauvais himself, who has
            something I started around the 90’s and still   no longer fit.       a teaching center in Recife, presents films.
            do today, sporadically. As a curator I never   To talk about the right to be forgotten, it   This is very exciting because from the 1980s
            program my own films because I find it totally   is true that, nowadays, you can find almost   to the 2000s there was almost nothing, when
            unethical. For my films I want other people   everything on the internet, just as it is true   I was running experimental women’s film
            to do the programming.             that certain things you would like to forget   festivals nobody knew about it.
                My main pole is as a filmmaker. I’ve mostly   you cannot. But, at the same time, there is a
            done short ones. In experimental cinema, films   way to dig up things that have been forgotten.   In the visual arts, is there a certain prejudice
            are much shorter, funding being one of the   For example, the work of Swedish filmmaker   against film and photography? To the point
            reasons for this: in general there is no funding   Mai Zetterling, who, when I started in the   that, often, the moving image only enters the
            for this type of cinema, it is the filmmakers   1970s, was a major figure in the history of   radar of art publications when it is exhibited
            who finance themselves. In times past there   Swedish cinema. Zetterling was an actress   in a gallery. What do you think about it?
            was financial help in the places where I lived   for Bergman and later began directing her   I was part of the committee that selected
            (France and usa), but, in fact, I never tried to   own films. Today, no one knows her anymore,   films for the Pompidou Center. This was a
            get any sponsorship or grant for the simple   however, she was one of the only women,   while ago, when there was a lot of difference
            reason that I don’t work with a scénario. There   back then, who could manage to make a   between film and video, two different fields
            are certain things that I know beforehand, for   feature film for a movie theater, she was very   - nowadays that frontier has disappeared -
            example, I made a film with a choreographer   feminist. Now they’re restoring her movies   and, at that time, what I noticed is that when it
            about dance, about preparation, backstage   in Sweden.               came to buying a film, it was worth a lot less.
            at a show. I knew I wanted to make an   About your selection for the second edition of   In these cases, the museum bought directly
            experimental documentary on this subject,   the Scratch Collection, you looked at works   from the filmmaker, but when it came to video
            but in general I took the camera and it was   you hadn’t seen for a long time, on the one   art there was already a gallery behind it, and
            like my notebook, I was shooting left and   hand, and the new Millennial generation   with that the price was ten times higher.
            right things that caught my eye, not all that I   looking for something new, on the other. As   However, when you compared prices for
            used later: I have a file of super 8s that total   a result, you selected films dating from 33   video - even video art - with prices for
            40 kilometers or more of reel film and I use   filmmakers of 14 nationalities in total and   painting, there was no comparison possible
            one or the other from time to time. Precisely   dating from the 1940s to 2021. What do you   because it was hardly even considered part
            for this reason, I also couldn’t say that I have   miss about the classics? And what, in the   of the market. Another thing that is very
            a pre-defined project, and that I’m going to   new ones, you welcome?  important is in terms of reviews and articles
            do “this” or “that”. In general, I work on the   I love them both, I love the classics and   in art magazines about video or film, there
            images themselves and that’s how the movie   there’s nothing I miss because they’re more   is very little…
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