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by Peter Wintonick / POV Magazine
Canada and The Nordic countries have something in common and its not the
midnight sun or too much snow. It’s the Doculture. Now maybe there
is something in the melting water. Or in the melting air. Maybe it’s
the lack of light, which forces us both to turn on the electronic fireplace
to watch non-fiction tele but there are more docslots per capita in Nordlandia
than machines in Vegas. Longshot and strongshot documentary culture is
the tie that binds us.
Of course, the lack of light half year-round can make for some kinda documentary
dreariness and weariness, but somehow, and this is nothing to do with
the vodka, I’m sure, the directors and producers and commissioners
who inhabit that part of the world (and I am including Finland, Sweden,
Norway, Iceland, and, in a stretch, Denmark in the group) have got something
going for themselves. We could learn a trick or two from them.
Last September a number of Canadian documentarians were invited to immerse
themselves in the cold, clear cinematic waters at a conference in Norway.
This year at HotDocs!, Karen Tisch will be curating a selection of documentaries
produced throughout the region. So, what’s with this self-inflicted
Scando doco love? If you’re lucky you can get to ask one of the commissioning
editors who regularly make it out to the Amsterdam and Toronto Documentary
Forums. I find them very open and good-natured - almost like Canadians.
And in fact, many Canadian producers and directors have had success with
them in pre-sales and acquisitions. There’s the affable and witty
Iikka Vehkalahi at YLE-TV2, the ubiquitous and charming Mette Hoffman
Meyer at TV2 Denmark, the focused Flemming Grenz at DR TV and SVT Sweden’s
Jan Lundberg, NRK Norway’s Tore Tomer but there are very many others.
At the recent Amsterdam Festival I met Arto Halonen, a 37 year-old filmmaker
from Finland. His film, The Stars’ Caravan, a very subtle, and engaging
medium length documentary, and was playing in the competition. I really
thought his film was ingenious, honest and simply complex for the way
it interwove history, politics, exotic culture, fiction and documentary
into one. It is also a film about film, which blends fact and fiction
into a sub-cerebral and satisfying union, which is the subject closest
to my subjugated heart. I wanted to sit down with Arto to talk about his
film, Finland, and the ties that snow-blind us.
In the late 1980’s Arto trained students in filmmaking and acted
as the Regional Cinema Artist in the province of Northern Karelia. During
that time, he trained teachers, screenwriters, and filmmakers using educational
films and extensive production programs. The art community there handed
him an award for distinguishing himself in film production with international
reach. It’s an award many Nordic filmmakers could very well share.
In 2000, Arto and some of the foremost documentary film-makers in Finland:
Georg Grontenfelt, Visa Koiso-Kanttila, Anu Kuivalainen, John Webster,
Timo Korhonen and Kiti Luostarinen established Elephant Films, Ltd. a
Finnish Directors’ Group. Although it consists of seven separate
prodco’s it is united by a primary aim to strengthen content by creating
a synergetic environment where better docs can be made. The collective
company manages to share costs and experience without jeopardizing the
artistic independence of each filmmaker. As a director-driven company,
it also, in a way, surpasses the need for productorial middlemen, or some
would say meddle-men. This is an idea whose time could come to these shores,
too.
The Star’s Caravan is a film about the dreams and manipulative power
of movies as seen through the eyes of two local film projectionists in
chaotic Kyrgyzstan. Dressed in the unique hats of the culture, Zarlbek
Dyikanbaev, the elder, and his much younger side-kick, Murat Oljobaev,
work to bring films to the people. Some of the films are old Soviet-style
propaganda films; others are low-grade action films forgotten even in
Hollywood. The Soviets developed the Kyrgyz Nomadic Cinema as a propaganda
weapon, taking films around to inaccessible communities by horse caravans
to the nomads in the country’s rugged mountain regions. Zarlbek is
trying to revive the practice in a new way. Through the projectionists,
we see how film has had an impact on a People who have been influenced
by socialism, Islam, capitalism, and their own nomadic culture.
The projectionists’ dreams are paralleled with present day circumstances
of a post-Soviet nation. Kyrgyzstan is a country with a long and rich
history pre-dating Communism. It is a jumble of cultures, spiritualities
and ideologies. It is in the process of a transition to parliamentarism
but it is struggling with national identity and re-definition, since the
country became independent in 1991. With few natural resources, Kyrgyzstan
is one of the poorest of the post-Soviet countries.
In the centre of the film, we witness the town of Naryn as it prepares
for the 1000th anniversary celebrations of its mythic national hero, Manas
– an important liberator figure. The Manas story is part of the world’s
largest national epic, an ancient oral traditional. The song has over
a millions verses, and in written form, thousands of pages. Fictionally
recreated scenes as if taken from an old movie, are intercut with the
musings and work of the itinerant projectionists. In addition, at the
time of the shooting of Stars’ Caravan, television news reports begin
to spread fear among the population by featuring attacks by Islamic rebels.
In counterbalance, The Manas legend is the source of spiritual pride and
power for the Kyrgyz people, but at the same time, one of its many messages
is unification and peaceful co-existence of different tribes and peoples.
The Stars’ Caravan film forms the final part of an Arto Halonen trilogy,
which focuses, outside of the Finnish borders, on specific cultures in
the world and how those cultures interface or are eroded or clash with
foreign western values. Arto’s Karmapa films look at a competitive
story of two young boys, in separate places, both of whom are considered
to have god-like status. Their existence has caused great conflict in
the Buddhist world and has caused increased tension between China and
Tibet. Arto’s film, A Dreamer and the Dreamtribe, describes the extraordinary
dream culture of a native tribe living in the Malaysian rain forest. Halonen’s
films have been widely screening on television and at festivals, within
the other Nordic countries and internationally. All of his films have
had great success inside Finland, where there is no need for such obvious
retrograde policies as the (hopefully laid to rest) ‘Visibly Canadian
Bonus Points’ brought to you by the Canadian Television Fund which
made Canada into the laughing stock of the international co-production
circles
2000 The Stars' Caravan (60 min. doc.)
Production: Millennium Film with Inti Films, Christiane Philippe / Carré
Noir RTBF Liège avec l'aide du Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel
de la Communauté française Belgique, Czech TV, DR TV, YLE
TV 2 Finland, The Promotion Centre, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland
Distribution: Fox Lorber Associates, Winstar TV & Video, NY, with
the distribution support of the MEDIA programme of the European Union
Based on an original idea by Richard Mann and Carlo Cresto-Dina
Photographer Pini Hellstedt Camera Assistant Kalle Penttilä
Editor Olli Soinio
Sound. Jyrki Rahkonend, Jussi Olkinuora
Music Edward Vesala, Iro Haarla
Producer Kristiina Pervila
Written and directed by Arto Halonen
Arto Halonen's Filmography
2000 The Stars' Caravan (55 min. doc.)
1998 Karmapa-Two Ways of Divinity (61min. doc.)
1998 Karmapa - A Voyage on the Roof of The World (61 min. doc.)
1998 A Dreamer and the Dreamtribe (52) Fiction Documentary
1995 Home (65 mins. TV Drama)
1994 Something in The Blood (28 min. documentary)
1993 The Happy Wedding Day (90 min. TV Feature Comedy)
1993 Ringside (57 min. Fiction Doc.)
1991 Light-A type of Anatomy of Video Film (60 min. fictitious educational
film)
1986-90 Various short animations, fictions, documentaries and children
series
Elephant Films Ltd., Katariinankatu 3, FIN-00170 Helsiniki Tel +358 (0)
9 68139210
fax: +358 (0) 9 735 413 email arto@artfilms.inet.fi
Interview with Arto Halonen by Peter Wintonick, POV editor
in Amsterdam
AH We're sitting in the Festival office in Amsterdam drinking gin
and tonic with Peter Win 'n' tonick. And I offer at toast to him with
this one because he said so many nice words about my film in the newspaper
today, The Festival News.
PW As a documentary filmmaker and editor you must assume that everything
you read in the newspapers is a lie.
AH Ah, that's true. But, sometimes you need to pay for the lies.
Santé!
PW Let's talk about your film here. Explain it for us.
AH It's a very difficult film to explain because there are many
stories and levels.
PW Did you know where Kyrgyzstan was before you made it?
AH Not really very much other than it used to belong to The Soviet
Union. I didn't know where it was on the map. But I liked the idea about
how film manipulates people and impresses upon your life. In the film,
there are two itinerant film projectionists, Zarylbek and Murat. We watch
the kinds of films they are screening. One goes around from village to
village screening old 35 mm Soviet propaganda films. The other screens
action films and horrible Western-made 'C' movies that no one has ever
heard of, on a broken down video player. They both represent different
generations and different choices, and they are also victims of their
own times. Through them, we see how the Kyrgyzstan nation is looking for
a new identity. In addition, the question of how you promote and provide
that identity.
PW And there's a third level which intrudes, the television screen
which discretely comes into play, with ongoing news of an attempted incursion
on the border by militant forces. For me, your film is an important investigation
of national identity in transition - and then how it connects with history.
AH Yes, it's true. It contains this whole historical subject, because
Kyrgyzstan is also an Islamic country that used to have a Soviet system.
Somehow they fused these systems together - they are an Islamic and communist
people who also have a very strong connection with their epic hero, a
myth hero who was called Manas.
PW He's like a pre-Samurai warrior or a tenth century Cossack character.
AH They believe he existed 1000 years ago. The Manas story is one
of the world's largest epic stories. They are translating it now into
more and more languages. It was a story-song in poetic verses and they
had, and have special singers who sing these songs.
PW How long was the song?
AH In the end, there are thousands and thousands of pages. Generally,
The Manas story, which I visualize in my film, represents freedom and
also how a national liberator saved the country and gave the people power.
I found a strong spirituality in the story even though it's a 'hero' story,
but still, Manas gave people power to use in the fight against evil. I
loved that part of the Manas epic so we created fiction scenes around
the story to interweave with the more classic documentary parts. I wrote
the story, we shot in Super 16 and then we blew it up to 35.
PW Did you use the villagers as actors?
AH Yes, and we also had seven or eight real actors, the horse actors,
and stunt men.
PW In your film you sense this interesting mix of ideologies, one
generated historically from within, and then, during the Soviet time where
the ideology was imposed upon Kyrgyzstan from without, sometime through
cinema. You seem to use the projectionist in your film as a metaphor to
talk about the role of cinema.
AH In Soviet countries they used to screen films in those regions
where they thought that people could handle the propaganda well. In Kyrgyzstan
80% of the films came from the Soviet Union and 20% from the other Eastern
European countries. Generally, the whole propaganda system was very well
built and very well controlled. The old Soviet films were done in a very
skillful way as manipulated films because they were using emotions to
tell the story.
PW It was in their cinematic language too. And in their Voice.
It was a polemic yet poetic ways to tell stories.
AH Yes, in the style of documentaries. Very epic, very sensitive.
Of course, they look very funny to us nowadays.
PW Don't forget that we are much more sophisticated now. What was
the delivery system for those propaganda films? Was it nomadic itinerant
projection? In community centres and schools? Or, did they use some of
the earlier Soviet experiments which took cinema on trains to some areas
of Kyrgyzstan's nomadic areas?
AH They were using different kinds of possibilities to bring these
films to the people, to transform people. In Kyrgyzstan they established
the horse caravan system. They weren't able to bring these films by car
because people were living too high up in the mountains, so they used
horses and brought up these heavy 35mm films, and the projectors, generators
and the screens, all by horse. So all the nomadic people would see this
Soviet propaganda and 'believe' that they were in 'safe' Soviet hands.
Or so the propagandists believed.
So, we re-shot this material in a way that re-created how they used to
exhibit films. Now, in post-Soviet times, they miss this old system of
bringing film to the people by the horse caravan. Nevertheless, there
are two problems now. The government doesn't support them anymore because
finances are too scarce for cultural activities. In addition, they do
not have money to show films on the screen anymore. So, increasingly,
they use videotape and VCR's.
PW There's a very telling scene with big piles of rotting film cans.
And there is a very funny shot of men each carrying a big reel or projector
wherever they go. Then they go visit the office of a former cultural czar
looking for money from the authorities. Of course, there is none. In many
ways your film is a very understated way of talking about the collapse
of communism. At the same time as talking about the collapse of cinema.
AH True. Although it was the propaganda cinema of the past, it
still changed the system in a very dramatic way. Now, there's a different
type of propaganda - they screen these third rate action hollywooden movies
there.
PW Are they made for sort of third world consumption. Are they
shown in celluloid or are they on video?
AH It's on video, unfortunately.
PW There's a telling scene there where they can't get their video
player to work because the magnetic heads are so, so dirty and it's ruining
the picture quality...
AH ....so they use dollar bills as cloth to clean the heads of the
system.
PW On that third level, you take the issue of collapse of communism,
mythology, and technology up a notch in subtle ways'. you introduce newsreports
of a fundamentalist rebel invasion on the frontiers of Kyrgyzstan, and
the government's reaction to it. It seems that television now has taken
over some of the epic lie. Where's that coming from? The West?
AH No. It was the local TV news. It was going on over each channel
there. We had good luck as filmmakers - just when we entered into the
shooting phase, the conflict started up at the same time. In fact, it
was the commissioning editor in Finland, Iikka Vehkalahi, who suggested
that we get it into the film. I was also starting to realize how well
it would mix with the mythical Manas story.
PW The thing I like about the film is that it is very subtle and it's
always really about the projectionist -- it's not a perfect film though.
Some of the camera work is a bit shaky. There's a scene when they're setting
up the film projection at a village celebration one nightÉ
AH Yes, it happened that we had a lighting problems it was a real
documentary scene. It was the part of the Manas celebration, an independence
celebration. They had set up all the paraphernalia for this film screening
but no one came to the see their film projection because everyone in town
was out celebrating wildly across the square. All the young people were
attracted by a live band, rather than an old film.
PW It's a very symbolic scene about the transformation of the time
and relationship with history and the next generation, for this new generation,
culture will probably become a totally wired and international, fundamental
phenomenon.
AH Yes, it's going to be very interesting, because one very special
thing that Kyrgyzstan still has is its nomadic culture, a culture which
is living somewhere inside, but outside, all of these completely different
cultural and ideological forces. The nomadic life still exists in a very,
very old fashioned way - even though these different modern ideologies
have just passed through them.
PW It's like the nomads are staying grounded and the real nomads
are the ideologies that are passing through
AH Yes and that's what I like. That things that are permanent are
linked with a nation and people.
PW Superimposing yourself in a community in a faraway culture,
and objectifying culture and talking about very important issues to that
culture can be a tricky film for Western film-makers, but all your films
indicate that you do this in a very respectful way. You were working with
them in a way. How did that process work?
AH I think it was only a good thing. I explained, of course, what
it was all about, but I didn't want to explain too much about the theory
and background, about this manipulation and things like that. I could
not control their world, or their words.
PW You let reality happen?
AH That's it. I mean there is always danger, about how you use your
subject, but you always have to act very responsibly. In addition, a sense
of trust builds up. I trusted myself with this film. The characters trusted
me. I had intuition that I could do something which might very be sensitive,
where one could easily make mistakes. I hope I haven't made too many mistakes,
but I know that I can face responsibility.
I'm proud of the very different models of production we use.
PW Do you think, as a filmmaker doing international films that
Finnish culture is international?
AH Ah, let's see. Maybe, maybe not. There are many Finnish directors;
some of them are doing international films as well. In Finland, we have
a high level of very good documentary film compared to feature films.
We have very good directors and very good films.
PW Finnish Television seems more open to documentary, compared to
Canada, Australia, Britain, on a per capita basis. Why is Finnish television
so progressive and proactive? Why is there is a documentary culture in
Finland?
AH This change has happened in the 10 years because new slots on the
public channels have created many possibilities for stations to do something
new. And that really increased the value of Finnish documentaries, which
is a country like, Kyrgyzstan, of some 5 million people.
PW Quite a big country for such a small population.
AH I think so. In addition, audiences have been receiving documentaries
very well. A base audience has developed which really wants to watch then,
and it has become permanent, so they keep watching them. Our films are
sometimes in theatres. Stars' Caravan was there for several weeks. At
the moment, another Finnish documentary is running in the cinemas. There
are three or five films some years. We also have two public funding systems,
which are not exclusively television-dependent; both of them give money
for high level creative documentaries. In addition, there are also incentives,
we call it a quality award, each year for the best films. It's like a
bonus prize for the producer.
PW Is there lots of bureaucracy?
AH There is, but you know, there are film agency consultants who are
in charge of decisions. But you know, many of them have also made films
themselves, so it's a faster way. You get an opinion back very quickly.
PW Maybe filmmakers and broadcasters have a few things to learn from
Finland.
Making documentary around the world is generally a not for-profit enterprise,
especially for those making POV films. I think collective strategies need
to be developed in production and distribution, if only as a way of alleviating
our frustrations. Tell me about one of the things you and a group of six
other Finnish directors are doing, Elephant Films.
AH Yes. It's an interesting story. In the beginning, two members of
our group started with the idea that a director's company could create
a very creative atmosphere for the films we are doing. We could analyze
them together and support each other and, at the same time, we would not
be so heavily engaged with the producer's power. Because, in Finland,
if you make the kind of Finnish documentary which would not be sold abroad
and which doesn't need any money from abroad, then the producer's work
is very easy work when you're just getting money together from Finland.
It's almost as simple as this: you just need to make one telephone call
to a Finnish film foundation, another one to television network and then
send in a paper. Do you like it? Then the producer shows the name of the
director and then the funders make the decision - that's about the extent
of the producer's work to get the money together.
PW And they what, take a significant percentage?
AH Yes, so some of our director-members of Elephant Film were a
little bit tired of the situation. Because, over the years, they had developed
their own good names and they had been very well awarded abroad in different
countries and at different festivals. And then they felt that you have
producers using their name and profiting.
PW All the directors in Elephant have individual companies?
AH Yes. When we created Elephant Films, we decided that all of
us needed to have an individual company, which is the responsible production
company. But the umbrella company, Elephant Films, gives production assistance
to the director/producer for the film and, in return, gets a small percentage
from the producer. The Elephant Films share is like 5%.
PW Do each of the companies have their own infrastructure. Their
own rent, company offices?
AH That's an interesting thing, because we really have a very great
place to be together. Originally, we had different places, or some people
didn't have a place, but needed to make a film and worked, very often,
out of their homes. I used to have a company and I used to produce films
as well as direct my own films, and my main reason to join Elephant Films
was to work in that great atmosphere, to work with other people, not to
work alone at home. And I like the idea that we have a very good place
now - it is a big office really in the middle of Helsinki. There is common
space and each director can has a separate station but it's a very good
location and a good place to work. We all share the management and rent.
You know, we have one rule. Although we are working through our own companies
with a specific project, we are not able to produce the film ourselves.
We always need an extra person who takes care of the production. And Elephant
Films is going to be able have a person like that.
PW Do you discuss work collectively?
AH That's the great thing. Yes, we have meetings at least once a month.
Then we discuss the projects. And we have another rule that during the
editing process, everybody needs to give feedback for the director. Therefore,
everybody needs to give a lot of attention to each project. Then we have
a discussion once a month, give advice, and share our opinions, but we
don't charge for that... One thing we are planning to do is some mutual
work as well. For instance, several different stories about the same place,
or theme. And then put them together.
PW Around the same idea?
AH Something like that. Let's see what happens. There are so many
possibilities. A lot of us like the idea. We'll try to create one of them,
probably next year.
PW ....So....how long has this been going?
AH We established the company in 1999. Last spring we got the space
together and now we have done our first film under the Elephant Films
brand and the second is coming very soon.
PW Are you thinking about starting a distribution wing, or trunk?
AH Yes we are. One reason to be here, in Amsterdam, is to try to find
someone who might represent us abroad.
PW Packaging an Elephant...? You know it seems like it's the original
Charlie Chaplin United Artist model.
AH Yes, that's true. So, let's see what happens. Of course, it's always
difficult when you have seven creative people together but it also gives
you a chance to give more space to each other and learn to be more human.
Also it seems better not to fight only for yourself but to do something
for other people. In that way, maybe I can also help my own creativity
develop and that of others. I hope
PW Elephants are such big and optimistic philosophers. And this Amsterdam
festival is the greatest documentary circus in the world. Thanks for the
interview. Let's order another drink.
The article and the interview is published at
the Canadian Point Of View Magazine.
Peter Wintonick is the editor of the POV as well
very established film director and producer. His
latest film "Cinéma Verité" has been in 40
differend film festivals around the world.
POV Magazine
517 College Street, Suite 337
Toronto, Ontario M6G 4A2, Canada
Tel: (416) 599 3844, Fax: (416) 599-0187
E-mail: info@cifc.ca
Website: www.cifc.ca
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