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Screenplay & Film Consulting By Susan Kouguell

Tag: Locarno Summer Academy

Susan’s: Highlights from the Locarno Film Summer Academy Master Class with Award-winning Director Agnès Varda

Agnes Varda with Stefano Knuchel at the Locarno Film Summer Academy Master Class

Agnès Varda

Stefano Knuchel, Head of the Locarno Film Summer Academy, invited me to sit in on his master class with the 2014 Locarno International Film Festival’s    Pardo d’onore Swisscom winner French film director Agnès Varda.

Known as the Grandmother of the French New Wave (a term with which she takes issue, as I cite in my Conversation with Varda).Varda’s film credits include     “La Pointe Courte”     (1955),     “Cleo from 5 to 7” (Cléo de 5 à 7, 1962), “The Creatures” (Les Créatures 1966), “Lions Love (…and Lies)” (1969), “Documenteur” (1981),”Vagabond“(Sans toit ni loi, 1985), “The Gleaners and I” (Les glaneurs et la glaneuse, 2000) and ”   The Beaches of Agnès” (Les Plages d’Agnès, 2008).

Speaking to the group of international students, Varda shared her passion for cinema, photography, and installation work, with humor and honesty. Here are    some highlights from Varda’s talk.

I asked Varda about finding inspiration and her writing process

I don’t search for ideas; I find them. They come to me or I have none. I would not sit at a table and think now I have to find ideas. I    wait until something disturbs me enough, like a relationship I heard about, and then it becomes so important I have to write the screenplay.

I never wrote with someone else or directed together. I wouldn’t like that. I never worked with (her late husband, director Jacques) Demy. We would show    screenplays to each other when we were finished.

When you are a filmmaker, you are a filmmaker all the time. Your mind is recording impressions, moods. You are fed with that. Inspiration is getting    connections with the surprises that you see in life. Suddenly it enters in your world and it remains; you have to let it go and work on it. It’s    contradictory.

Question from Student: How did you manage to navigate a male-dominated film world?

First, stop saying it’s a male world. It’s true, but it helps not to repeat it. When I started in film, I did a new language of cinema, not as a woman, but    as a filmmaker. It is still a male world, as long women are not making the same salary as men.

Put yourself in a situation where you want to make films; whether you are woman or not a woman, give yourself the tools: maybe you    intern, maybe you go to school, or read books. Get the tools.

On Filmmaking

We have to capture in film what we don’t know about.

If you don’t have a point-of-view it’s not worth starting to make a film.

Whatever we do in film is searching. If you meet somebody, you establish yourself, who you want to meet, what kind of relationship it is. Our whole life is    made up of back and forth, decisions, options — and then they don’t fit.

When one is filming we should be fragile; listen to that something in ourselves. The act of filming for me is so vivid, it includes what you had in mind,    and includes what is happening around you at that moment — how you felt, if you have headache, and so on. A film builds itself with what you don’t know.

Life interferes. You have friends. Kids. No kids. Then there is a leak on the wall. Everything interferes. It’s how you build the life with others.

Sometimes I go by myself to do location scouting. When I go by myself, something speaks to me in a place I’ve chosen and I know maybe we should take    advantage of that. We have to be working with chance. ‘Chance’ is my assistant director.

TO READ MORE:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/sydneylevine/highlights-from-the-locarno-film-summer-academy-master-class-with-award-winning-director-agnes-varda-20140930

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUSAN’S Interview on Locarno Pilot Project

The Locarno Summer Academy’s New Pilot Project – The Industry Academy

The Locarno Industry Office has joined forces with the Locarno Summer Academy to launch the pilot project Industry Academy (8 – 12 August), an    educational, multi-disciplinary program for young industry professionals.

    I met with Nadia Dresti, (Delegate to the Artistic Direction, Head of International of the Locarno International Film Festival), along with Sophie Bourdon    (originator of this project; international sales consultant and former director of Atelier du Cinema European) and Marion Klotz (longtime festivals manager    and acquisitions executive at Memento Films), to talk about their new program — the Industry Academy — a three-day intensive workshop.

        

When describing how this pilot program came to be, Dresti states, “We were thinking about what changes do we need in the film industry; and how can you    reinvent this industry if you project 10 years ahead from now, because it’s changing so fast.”

Dresti, Bourdon and Klotz explained that their impetus for the Industry Academy was born from the fact that very few European film schools offer courses    about the industry. Their goal is to fill this existing gap in film schools by offering a very practical shortcut to the international industry world.

Bourdon: “The idea is to share what is going on — to compare situations and experiences from Latin America, Europe, and so on, such as new ways of showing    films.”

To read more:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/sydneylevine/the-locarno-summer-academys-new-pilot-project-the-industry-academy-20140810

Susan Interviews Stefano Knuchel Head of Locarno Summer Academy

 

I met with Stefano Knuchel, Head of the Summer Academy, the afternoon before the Academy and Film Festival began. Now in his second    year in this position, Mr. Knuchel is enthusiastic about the students’ talents and the exciting opportunities that await them at the Academy.

Knuchel: “Every continent except for Australia has been represented so far at the Academy. The shape and tradition of the Academy is mixing life with    cinema.” Knuchel continues, “The program gives students a sense to be a well-rounded director. It’s difficult to be yourself and in moviemaking …what does    it mean to be yourself?” Knuchel smiles, “You film who you are.”

An important goal of the Academy is the exchange of ideas and experiences not only with the filmmakers offering master classes, including Agnes Varda,    Roman Polanski and Victor Erice, but also between the students themselves.

Knuchel: “The students’ gain not only knowledge but an exchange with other filmmakers at their level; some of the students from last year are now making    movies together.”

To read more:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/sydneylevine/susan-kouguell-interviews-stefano-knuchel-head-of-locarno-summer-academy-20140807

SUSAN’S INTERVIEW WITH LOCARNO FILM FEST ARTISTIC DIRECTOR CARLO CHATRIAN

Just steps from the outdoor screen and the 8,000 seats that have been set up on the Piazza Grande where the 67th Locarno International Film    Festival will open on 6 August, I sat down with Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian to talk about films of the past and present, the American independent film    line-up, Roman Polanski and Agnès Varda.

The Festival

        

Kouguell: This is your second year as Artistic Director. What changes will we see at the Festival this year?

Chatrian:     “Last year, I didn’t want to change the Festival that much because I felt, and still feel, that the structure is good and fits the goals — to continue on    the same path with (both) the history of cinema and new films. This year’s selection of new films will have more surprises than last year. The main    competition last year was composed of mainly quite well-known directors; this year there is a good balance of first-time, lesser known and established    directors.”

Kouguell: Are there any current trends in filmmaking that you have found in this year’s films?

Chatrian:     “Cinema as an art form has more than one direction. Luckily there are filmmakers willing to take different directions and we see this here at this year’s    Festival. I’m always a little bit concerned when some critics say, ‘the new cinema will be this or that’ — what I can say is that cinema — especially    through young filmmakers — seems quite vibrant and not a dead art form.”

To read more about Agnes Varda, Roman Polanski and more…:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/sydneylevine/susan-kouguell-interview-with-carlo-chatrian-artistic-director-of-the-locarno-international-film-festival-20140806

SUSAN’S INTERVIEW WITH NADIA DRESTI FOR INDIEWIRE/SYDNEYSBUZZ

 

Nadia Dresti, Delegate of the Artistic Direction, Head of International at the Locarno International Film Festival, is passionately dedicated to    spotlighting independent filmmakers from countries that face challenges getting their work noticed and distributed. Ms. Dresti and I met at her office a    few days before the start of the Festival to discuss the various initiatives that will take place during Industry Days, which runs from August 9-11.

From the Festival Web site:

Industry Days are aiming to play an active role in the support of auteur films: whether launching a new project or extending and optimizing existing    services and initiatives, the goal of Locarno’s Industry Office is always to support sales agents, distributors, producers and exhibitors in their    respective tasks, ranging from the conception to the release of independent art-house cinema.

The Industry Office of the Locarno Film Festival facilitates networking among world film industry professionals attending the event, supporting producers and agents presenting films at the Festival by connecting them with international sales and distribution professionals and exhibitors.

To read more:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/sydneylevine/susan-kouguell-interviews-nadia-dresti-head-of-international-at-locarno-international-film-festival-20140806