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Slowboat Films é uma companhia de cinema independente sediada em Frankfurt na Alemanha e foi idealizada por Marc Littler, o diretor de filmes que trazem o universo musical na veia de suas realizações, retratado tanto em documentários sobre bandas do circuito underground europeu, como em filmes ficcionais que contam alguns desses músicos como atores, fazendo com que exista uma simbiose absoluta entre a música e o cinema.
Seus filmes mostram na maior parte das vezes o universo musical, tratando a musica de forma realista e mostrando um pouco da rotina dos artistas independentes, sendo músicos, gravadoras, programas de radio, revistas e tudo aquilo que faz parte do universo da musica rock. Tendo em seu catálogo trabalhos lançados que vão desde vídeos para artistas como King Automatic ou Mojomatics, passando por documentários que incluem The gospel of Primitive Rock’n Roll (Voodoo Rhythm), Dead is Not the End (The Dead Brothers), os longas The Road to Nod e o lançamento Folk Singer que traz Possessed by Paul James, Scott H. Biran e Reverend Dead Eye num filme que conta a historia destes três trovadores da música folk e blues.
A Mamma Vendetta prepara para os próximo meses uma mostra desses filmes e workshops com Marc Litter aqui no Brasil, assim como shows que ilustrarão esse universo.
Segue aqui a entrevista que Marco Butcher fez com Marc e que decifra algumas de nossas dúvidas com relação à essa mente criativa, que leva ao extremo a noção da integração entre as artes que tanto queremos.
Com vocês:
Marc Litter:
MB -
Could you tell us how all this Slowboat films concept starts in your mind?ML - When I went to film school it was clear that my concept of filmmaking and the industries’ were at odds.
I was interested in a personal vision, like Cassavettes and they were concernd with TV and Cinema formulas.
It was business and art was arbitrary.
I never connected and it was probably the best thing that could have happened.
There was no support so I was forced to do it myself – and that was the basis of my idea of Maverick Cinema – raw and personal.
MB –
Slowboat films its always connected with music somehow, how it works for you and why you decided to be using musicians as actors?ML - That was never intentional.
I simply worked with my peers and they usually happened to be underground artists, writers and musicians.
MB –
Do you have a way of working or all depends what kind of thing you’re doing, like video or film?ML - At the chore of everything I do stands sincerity.
All of my writing and filmmaking deals with issues that concern me, my world and the world of my peers.
It’s personal and nothing is fabricated or corforms to current trends.
My way of working begins with solid preparation.
I take a lot of time preparing my projects and it is essential to know exactly what I want to accomplish before I begin.
The film has to already be completed in my head before I enter production.
With my songwriting and poetry it’s different, that’s more instinctive, more sensual and I allow myself more contradictions.
Films originate in the head and songs and poems originate in the belly of the beast.
MB –
To work on an independent level requires some attitude since we can´t count on sponsors and ways of making some advanced money for the work, how do you manage this?ML - There is no masterplan to financing.
I’ve made films from 5 thousand to 150.000 dollars.
Some I financed myself through driving an ambulance or a cab or barkeeping.
Others were financed through independent investors who wanted to participate in this admitteldly peculiar lifestyle of rock ‘n’ roll, bars, skid row and partisan filmmaking.
The key is to make sure that whoever invests understands that he or she have no creative input.
The money people are responsible for the money and the artists are responsible for the art.
MB –
What makes music so important in your way of working cinema?ML - Music is my mistress.
Tom Waits, John Coltrane, Blind Gary Davis, Gun Club…that’s where I come from.
They’re like dead relatives I never met.
They were there when I was 14 and they’ll be there when I kick the bucket.
I learned a lot about writing from great songwriters like Waits, Dylan and Cohen.
MB –
The Folk Singer is your most recent Movie, right? Could you tell us a little bit about it?ML - Well, the idea was to make an anti rock ‘n’ roll film:
No poses, no hipness, only real human emotions, real pain, real joy and real struggle.
I think Scott Biram put it best when he said:
“We can rejoice in one another’s sharing of pain”.
The film is really a trinity:
It’s about men, music and America.
It’s about the human condition, politics and music.
MB –
What kind of information does Slowboat have about Brazil and South America?ML - My mother used to work for an airline and I remember listening to exotic stories whenever she came back from S. America.
My old man smuggled Mahagoni from Brazil to Europe in the early 80’s and my god father lived in Sao Paulo from 61 to 74.
In my work the duality of beauty and violence plays a big role and I spent a lot of time in Africa researching those issues and I’d like to do the same in S. America.
MB –
How do you get to the perfect sound track for your movies?ML - In a dream world it would look something like this:
Arvo Pärt meets Howling Wolf.
The Einstürzende Neubauten meet Leadbelly.
And Tom Waits meets Caruso!
In the real world I work closely with my musician friends.
Those who I feel understand my cinematic world and most importantly the atmosphere I try to create.
I’m more concerned with atmosphere than story.
MB –
Could you let us know who´s making good cinema nowadays in your opinion and why?ML - Most of my heroes are dead…guys like Sam Fuller, John Cassavettes, John Houston…
Today I like Werner Herzog, Emir Kusturica and Aki Kaurismäki…I like guys who show up with an eyepatch and a pistol to make a movie.
MB –
It Could be realistic to say that the independent film market made big changes in the last few years in terms of having more options and lots of good artists putting soul on top of it and at the same time the fact that we have to handle digital times where everybody can download everything and all. What kind of politics have slowboat about it?I think cinema changed for the worse!
And I think the term “independent” has been bastardized in cinema and music…they call Pearl Jam independent nowadays.
Independent to me means independently financed and complete creative controll for the filmmaker as well as controll over what happens to a film when it’s finished…and the filmmaker has to own the rights to his films – that’s his pension!
As far as the digital revolution goes:
More people can make films today than in the past but I don’t think that has resulted in more good films.
I think you have to fight and struggle to make good art…it’s your rite of passage.
A lot of people think cinema’s future lies in the internet…I personally prefer old cinemas….I like the curtains to part and the show to begin.
Also, when I started it was easier to make a living because people had to pay to see my films…now it’s all illegaly accessible in the interent…I fear that my kind of culture will die out because it has all become “freeware”.
MB –
Do you have a future project, or are you working in a new film right now?ML - In the past 10 months I have written four new films and one documentary about militias and survivalists in the U.S.
The fictional films are about the end of the world, addiction and corruption.
Most of 2009 was spent writing songs for my music project “The Redemption Family”
It’s all murder chansons, deranged Pirate shanties, Death Tangos, Toxic Rhumbas….it’s dangerous music!
Downloads em
www.slowboatfilms.comMyspace:
www.myspace.com/rawcinema
