Marcelo Paganini

First of all we would like you to introduce yourself so that we can introduce you to our audience. Who are you? How long have you been making films?

I am Marcelo Paganini, a French-Brazilian award winner film maker and musician. I was born in Brazil in 1964, and I have been living in France since 1984. I also lived for a few years in the USA in the early 90’s. I have been making films since 2003. I have  participated in  film festivals in several countries (Brazil, Netherlands, Iceland, France, UK, Portugal, Slovakia). and made, among others: "Interactivity", an experimental short film in 35 mm in 2003. I have signed a distribution deal in Hollywood with Big Films Short/Tigris Films in 2007 for the short "The 8th Bullet" that was selected at Short Film Corner, Cannes Film Festival in 2008 with the follow up short "The 8th Bullet Samba". My film "2010 Os Mutantes - Back to Paris" was short listed for "Best Musical Film" at Portobello Film Festival in London – UK  in 2011.  And I won the "69 Hours Film Challenge" during the same Festival. On February 2023 the short «Learn to love to wait» won «Best Experimental Film» at the Portugal Indie Film Festival. The same short was selected at the Europe Music Film Awards in Slovakia and was screened at Portobello Film Festival in September 2023. All my films so far has been no budget/no script...

 

And now we talk about your project. What the audience will find?

 «Learn to love to wait» is a silent short film (no dialogues) based on the song by the same name that was released on my critically aclaimed album «Identity crisis». The short film was shot at La Cellera de Ter, Covas Del Pasteral and other locations in La Selva, during the lock-down. Shake together a prog song, Buster Keaton, Charles Chaplin, Bruñel and Jodorowisky and enjoy the ride... I play the sinner. My lovely neighbor Toni plays God.The one eyed cat next door is the Heaven’s Gate guardian and the frog from the garden also joined in. No animal was harmed, touched, or even told what to do to make this 7:30 minutes long short film, that took almost two years to complete. And one more year to edit. On the soundtrack  recording we have a lot of superstars: Billy Sherwood (YES-Asia) sings and plays bass. Lenny White (Miles Davis Band/Return to Forever) plays drums. Adam Holzman (Miles Davis Band/Steve Wilson Band) plays keys. Rachel Flowers sings and plays the first guitar solo. And I play the electric guitar.

 

Were you inspired by any other movie to make the film?

I was inspired by the way Buster Keaton made his early films. They came from theater, they decided the begin and the end of the history and improvised the middle. I am influenced by famous Brazilian film maker Glauber Rocha quote «One idea in the head and a camera at hand». I am also influenced by Wittgenstein critic of language. Usually peole imagine the film, lets call it A. Then they write the script, lets call it B. Then they shot it and the result is, you guessed it, C. Then once the editing work is done you get D. The audience will understand E. Without an script I shot the scenes and edit it, getting a lot closer to the original intent... At least I hope so...

 

And now we would like to know about your cinematographic preferences:

 

I dislike most of the films coming out today, but not all. Financial concerns have reduced creative freedom to a minimum, the result is more of the same stuff that have worked before.  I prefer early silent films, like I already said, Brazilian movies of the 60’s and 70’s, French cinema Nouvelle Vague, surrealist movies, science fiction. «Blade runner» made a big impact on me, not only the film but also the soundtrack by Vangelis. I play the «Love theme» in some of my live shows...

 

What does cinema mean to you?

Cinema for me must be bigger than life, a thought provoking,  mind blowing experience. Something must happen on the screen that will make the audience travel to some unexpected places in their brains... When you see «Le fantome de la liberte» by Luis Bunuel for the first time, you are changed forever, for example... It is something else than just entertainement, a pass time, one excuse to eat a lot of pop corn and make rich producers even richer...

 

What was the first movie you remember seeing?

That is very hard and interesting question, I tried hard to remember, but my memory closed the doors in a deep fog. I would say some Disney animated film like «Pinochio». My mother used to bring a lof of children together to see movies. I was really impressed by «Fantasia» too...

 

Which movie is the best for you?

Different movies are on the top of my personal Everest, for different reasons. On top of the films I already mentioned, «Spinal tap» has a lasting impact on me because I am a professional musician  that have traveled a lot. In that same vein «Woodstock» and «The last waltz» were life changing experiences for me. There is a series of German films by Edgar Reitz called «Heimat»  that made a big impression on me because the whole production was on the top of their game: the script, the director, the cinematographer, all the actors that really performed their musical parts, all the cultural references and the first time I could get immersed in  the German culture and history over a long period of time... Of course I feel in love with «Clarissa» (German actress Salome Kammer) like a lot of people, but it was the film director Edgar Reitz who married her...

 

What do you think a movie must have as an essential ingredient?

Authenticity , it should feel real. That is were my concept of films, the whole no budget/no script thing differs from what most people do. Cinema was invented in France, and very early on, when films were still silent, it was decided there that cinema should adapt literature.  With of course a deep influence of painting and photography. Once sound films came along, this became the role model, dialogues took over the attention from the silent film actors, that did not need sound to get the history told and the feelings expressed. In my opinion something essential was lost forever. Other people think that cinema is a theatrical play using real places and some production tricks... The whole concept of creating a complete artifical reality and capture it with perfect images and sound is just one possible way of making movies. What I do is to create some alternate atmosphere in real life and film that. It is almost a documentary of a different reality happening in front of the camera... All forms are valid but the need to turn films in a business brings a lot of limitations...

 

Your favorite actor or actress?

Buster Keaton hands down... I also love Charles Chaplin...

 

What qualities do you see in that actor/actress to have such consideration. What do you like most about them?

A great actor must show you things that were impossible for normal people to do... They change your perspective...

 

A good movie has to...

makes you forget you are watching a movie. You should be transported in that imaginary time and place that has its own logic...

 

What genre of cinema do you prefer?

The «cinema d'auteur», films that must be done or else life is no longer possible for the one who makes it...

 

How do you define yourself professionally?

A workaholic perfectionist with a deep passion for art, people and life...

 

What movie have you seen most often

«Learn to love to wait», since I have been working on it for almost 3 years... But seriously, you mean films made by other people and it should be «Woodstock» but I was more interested by the music than the film itself then... Since videotapes, dvds and now the Internet came along films lost some of the mistery, because they are available anytime and you can watch them over and over again... When you had to actually go to a movie theater to watch a film, you had to give it you all your attention. And if you missed a scene or a line, you had to ask (and trust) somebody else for the answer, or watch the whole film once again...

 

What topics are the most inspiring for you?

«The meaning of life» like in the Monty Phyton film. We have no idea about how much time left we have in our lives. If we could only watch films we love that would be easier.. When you watch a film you don’t like, nobody is going to give your time back...