Ira Sachs (Memphis, 1965) does not agree that his film Passages be a romantic drama. This filmmaker, invited to Atlantida Mallorca Film Festdisagrees with the critics who have described his film as a romantic drama and defines it as an “action” story, in which there are explicit sex scenes and in which “there are bodies that combust when they come into contact with other bodies”. If there is romance, “it’s because of the cinema,” remarks this director who has won awards for other of his works at festivals such as Sundance and the Berlinale.
In Passages, Tomas is a film director, married to Martin, who begins a passionate relationship with Agathe. For this film, Sachs has relied on Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw and Adele Exarchopouloswho years ago starred in The life of Adele.
“Tomas is like a creature, an animal, and a man with a lot of power, but also vulnerable,” explains the director of the main character, who oscillates from one couple to another. The filmmaker affirms that he could be himself: «In the sense that I have a social position in which my actions can change situations, but they can also have a negative impact on people. I think that many of my films are about men who behave badly. It is something that interests me because it seems very close to my experience. I know that sometimes I follow my desires more than my beliefs.
Still, for Sachs, the character played by Franz Rogowski, an actor with whom he wanted to work, “is the hero of the story, the fire, the heart, and I hope a pleasure.”
Ira Sachs declares himself in love with cinema and transmits it in his film, «through light, colour, bodies, skin and music. These are the ingredients of the pleasure of the cinema».
Passages has been a European co-production, for which the director has surrounded himself with collaborators with whom he knew he would understand each other when working. It was also in Europe where he obtained financing for this project, which in his country has been censored for children under 17 years of age. “Making this kind of personal, individual cinema is increasingly impossible in the United States,” he declares.
As for the public, Sachs considers that he has a specific audience, who already knows his films, which includes the gay community and queer. “I would say that I have made a social comedy, because watching the film with an audience has made people laugh, but I think it is because it breaks taboos, breaks rules and that gives a certain freedom”, comments the filmmaker.
Next projects
After living in Quito for the last year, Iria Sachs, her husband, their two children and their mothers move to New York. Two projects await her there, two films about New York artists, for which she needs to settle in that city. One of her films will start in November, in which she will reprise with Ben Whishaw – “we have a lot of things left to do” -. In this film, she will narrate a day in the life of photographer Peter Hujar, in December 1974, “a very specific moment” in the history of what is considered a counterculture portrait painter, advances Sachs. The other project is about the musician Arthur Russell in the 90s and will be shot after.
2023-07-29 06:55:51
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