Director Matiss Kaža’s film performance “Cinema and We”, starring actors Egons Dombrovskis, Andris Keišs and Jānis Skutelis, reviews the films “Lake Sonata”, “Surveyors’ Times” and “Double Trap” made by the Riga Film Studio during the Soviet era. These are three works in very different genres and styles. Initially, the project is intended and shown as an online show in the summer – at the festival “RojaL” in Roja. After further evaluation of the material, maintaining the principle of one frame, which is a technical challenge for both the director, the cameraman and the actors, a version has been created that can be shown as a stand-alone film.
Changes in filmmaking and screening
As director Matīss Kaža admitted in the Latvian Radio program “Kultūras Rondo”, the current situation is bringing about changes in both the planning and implementation of film projects, and encourages a quick response to the changes. The importance of streaming platforms has also increased during this time. Kaža said: “These big projects are postponed until better times, in terms of demonstration, not in terms of production. On the other hand, with The Wanderers, for example, we released their documentary in cinemas on March 5, but ten days later we had to make a radical turn and release the film on all streaming platforms during the day, because the cinemas were closed due to an emergency.
This time we do it so that we put in cinemas and online in order to make the film as widely available as possible to all. “
“Cinema and we” curtain photo
Photo: Publicity image
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The situation caused by Covid-19 also affected the completion of Matīsa Kaža’s western “Where the Road Leads”. Kaža said that the editing of the film has been completed and the sound is in the post-production process: “The film is closed in terms of editing, the sound is currently being post-processed and music will be recorded. The problem there is that we have a large orchestra there, which is difficult to record at the moment. And the final mix of the sound is planned in the Czech Republic and it is also problematic to go there, so Covid-19 has directly affected the production of this film. ”
The director revealed that if everything goes according to plan, the film will be ready for screening in the spring, but it is not known whether it will be possible to show it in cinemas. He also explained that the specifics of the adventure film are more suitable for showing on the big screen: “A film like” Where will the road lead “- this western, which has the potential to reach a wide audience, which will be enjoyed by a wide range of viewers, we will, of course, wait until a larger audience can watch it in cinemas. ”
Watching movies on the big screen – a communal experience
The director also said that in the current situation there is a lack of face-to-face cinema: “Now it was a pleasure that at the Riga International Film Festival it was finally possible to enjoy watching cinema in at least a partially filled hall, because it feels completely different than watching cinema at home. . There is also a lack of industry-related measures. The communication that is “Zoom” and the festivals that are online are not a festival anymore, it could just as well be called a simple streaming event, but I think it has little to do with the film festival. “
Movie “Wanderers”
Photo: Fenixfilm
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Thinking about the future of cinema, Matīss Kaža revealed that the worst case scenario for the future would be the disappearance of cinema attendance. He also stressed the importance of looking for ways to encourage people to go to the cinema after the coronavirus crisis.
“The worst case scenario would be that the big screen of cinema remains as a platform for events or festivals.
That everyday people no longer go to the cinema as a place. That would be the worst possible option, and I don’t really want to think about that future. It is to be hoped, on the contrary, that we will find the mechanisms to encourage people to go to the cinema after this coronavirus time, when it will end and if it will end. It is much more difficult for us than with theater, because the presence of this living person is a very important and integral part of theater. However, we have projections, we work through the apparatus. Therefore, it is much more complicated for us at a time when it is so easy to watch everything from home, ”said the director.
Matīss Kaža also pointed out that the experience of watching cinema is a unique and collective process: “Anyone who goes to the cinema when there is a full auditorium will understand that it is a completely different viewing experience both in technical quality and it becomes a communal experience. .
You experience it in cinema with others. You react to how others react and it’s a kind of interaction. ”
Self-reflection and limits of creative freedom
Both in the film show “Cinema and We” and in the Riga International Film Festival in the short film “When You Look at Me” there is a reflection on making and watching a film, but Kaža explained that it is just a coincidence: “For me, four films are about art creation or viewing in one way or another. Also short films “Meierhold’s flight” and “One ticket, please!”. I am interested in the relationship between man and art.
This year, it just so happened that its reflection on cinema and on what I do and what we do coincided.
But the next two projects will be on other topics again. ”
Movie “One ticket, please!”
Foto: Deep Sea Studios LV
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Currently, Matīss Kaža is working on the full-length feature film “Neon Spring” which will be an insight into the culture of Riga’s youth rave. “It’s a full-length feature film with a very close eye, or close lens, if we’re talking about the camera, to reality. For modern Riga youth reiveru life. For a young girl’s relationship with her family and peers, for two very bright months in her life, very saturated with emotions. It will be more of a character and emotion-driven film than “Where the Road Leads”, where there will be such an exciting storyline and many colorful types, “said Kaža.
The director explained that even in the conditions of democracy, the freedom of a creative person has its own framework, which, especially in the field of cinema and performing arts, which require a lot of funding, depends on the influence of various institutions.
Kaža pointed out: “Freedom depends on the influence of various institutions on the creative activity of the artist. We can already see this, for example, this summer there was one exhibition for the young photographer Annemaria Gulbe, who faced censorship in a very peculiar way.
It is not that we live in conditions of complete creative freedom.
There is already the question: will you be funded by the state or the relevant institution, or not? Why grant? Why choose to fund such projects but not others? These are all factors that determine whether we can create this work of our art. We can already think of anything within our experience, intellect, but about realization, especially in cinema and performative arts, which are very expensive to implement well and qualitatively, there are limiting factors in all political regimes. ”
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