- Sieben Fragen an Margaux Dauby - 30. November 2023
- „Extended Presences“ (2023) - 30. November 2023
- Kinostarts 30.11.2023 - 29. November 2023
The original english language interview is also available.
Erzähl mir zu den Ursprüngen deines Kurzfilms „Playhouse“.
Dein Film ist kein reiner Dokumentarfilm – wieso hast Du für eine Art Zwitterwesen entschieden?
Großen Spaß machen die nachgestellten Filmszenen – warum hast Du Dich gerade für diese beiden Filme entschieden?
Was war Dir visuell wichtig? Wo habt ihr gedreht?
Kannst Du mir zum Schluss noch ein bisschen mehr von Dir erzählen? Sind schon neue Projekte geplant?
Nach meinem Abschluss an der National Film & Television School im Jahr 2019 zog ich nach Kopenhagen, wo ich derzeit einen Spielfilm-Dokumentarfilm über eine alte schwule A-Capella-Aktivistengruppe entwickle und hoffe, im Frühjahr mit der Produktion beginnen zu können. Darüber hinaus recherchiere ich für einen Film in Bosnien und Herzegowina, der noch in einem sehr frühen Stadium ist, aber sehr spannend, da ich dort schon immer einen Film machen wollte.
Die Fragen stellte Doreen Matthei
Übersetzung von Michael Kaltenecker
Lies auch die Rezension des Kurzfilms „Playhouse“
Interview: In a conversation with the Danish filmmaker Adda Elling we were able to learn more about her documentary film “Playhouse”, which celebrated its German premiere at the 62nd DOK Leipzig. We talked about its origins, visual choices and the magic of filmmaking.
Tell me about the origins of your short film “Playhouse“.
When developing the film, I was interested in patriarchal structures and power dynamics on macro and micro levels. It was in the aftermath of the emergence of the Me Too movement and I had started questioning the roles we (or maybe I) assume in romantic relationships. A queer couple (Line and Rosie) that I knew from Amsterdam was struggling a bit with their power dynamics, so I thought it would be interesting to have them as main characters in my film. I started filming them in their home in Amsterdam, they were great on camera and up for making the film with me, and it felt very natural working with them. Through our conversations about love, gender and power I started developing the scenes in collaboration with them.
Your film is not a pure documentary film – why did you pick this hybrid approach?
I don’t consider “Playhouse” a hybrid film but I understand why some people do – and I’m fine with that. Personally I don’t categorise documentary as being either ’hybrid’ or ’pure documentary’. I think documentary is a tricky genre to define and as a documentary filmmaker, you are dealing with the very delicate notion of reality. After making a few films I realised that filmmaking is all about creating an illusion with the means you have – you somehow become a magician. So, in my opinion, it’s uninspiring and frankly impossible to capture reality objectively on film. Also who wants to preach reality when you can be a magician? I would argue that “Playhouse” is ‘pure documentary’: the characters in the film are not actors, they don’t have a script and most of the scenes that ended up in the film happened spontaneously. I do stage a scene before I start shooting, but I actually think it’s less controlled or staged than a classic talking head interview.
The re-enacted film scenes are great fun – why did you choose these two films?
The re-enactment of the scenes from “Martha” and “Céline et Julie vont en bateau” was an idea that occurred on set. The cinematographer and I noticed how much Line and Rosie talked about films while we were shooting, so we encouraged them to find a film scene that they would like to re-enact, and it happened to be scenes from these two films. This turned out to be a perfect power play and a great way for them to feel more relaxed in front of the camera.
What was visually important to you? Where did you film?
Visually I was interested in staying in one space that had a bit of a romantic, mysterious and private feel to it in order to create a small and colourful world for the two characters. The location of the house was not important but we needed good natural light and a sense of being somewhere secluded in order to create a world where only Line and Rosie exists. Luckily we could stay in a friend’s house in France for 5 days and it fit perfectly. In order to create two levels of reality, the film was shot on a Sony FS7 with cine lenses and on an old handy cam operated by Line and Rosie. I handed the old handy cam to Line and Rosie because I wanted to activate their gaze upon each other through the course of the shoot. Also, in the edit, I wanted to contrast the stylised and controlled footage with more intimate footage.
Can you tell me a bit more about yourself at the end? Are there already new projects planned?
After graduating from National Film & Television School in 2019 I moved to Copenhagen where I am currently developing a feature documentary about an old activist gay a capella group and I’m hoping to start production this spring. Furthermore, I’m researching on a film in Bosnia & Hercegovina, it’s still very early days but very exciting since I have always wanted to make a film there.
Questions asked by Doreen Matthei
Read on the german review of the shortfilm Playhouse“