The 11th edition of the La Cabina festival began with the screening of the film's music at the Palau Ignorance is bliss by Dutch director Muck Van Empel, who yesterday Tuesday presented his work in a new session with the public at La Filmoteca. Ignorance is bliss tells the story of Lola, a young assistant to a knife thrower who lives in a traveling circus. As we discover what life is like in this small community, TV news reports of a terrorist attack that occurred in Germany. Everyone at the circus seems shocked by the news., but Lola is not very interested in it. In fact, on the contrary, It seems that he runs away from any information that refers to that event, isolating herself from the pain of others and the world around her. One day he meets a blind boy who has joined the company and everything will change.. Ignorance is bliss will be screened again next Thursday 22/11 a las 22h.
You opened the festival on Wednesday with your film. How did you feel?
Yeah, It was overwhelming. (laughter). It was very impressive and very cool to be the opening film.
Here in Spain we have a discussion about the value of medium-length and short films as a genre in themselves, especially in front of feature films. What is your opinion?
Bueno, I am very happy that this festival exists for this type of films among 30 y 60 minutes because with them you can tell a story with a different dramatic line. In a feature film you need to have a complete story with other parallel or side stories, and in a short ten minute story you can only address a single aspect, but this duration is very valuable to tell other types of stories. I was lucky because, when I was editing the movie, my producer told me: don't think about festivals, think about what's best for the movie. And in the end the duration was 30 minutes, a very difficult duration for festivals, But I think it works better for this movie..
It is an extraordinary situation that a producer lets you do whatever you want in that sense.
Yeah, I was very lucky (laughter)
Was he a friend of yours?? (laughter)
No, It's my graduation movie. I graduated with this film from the Amsterdam Film Academy, with my classmates. The three producers were very close to us for four years, We knew each other well and were aware that if we made a shorter film we would lose some of its impact..
I guess it's your first movie then..
Yeah.
Tell us one or two fundamental things you learned from this experience..
¡Oh! (laughter) I think the most complicated thing was understanding how to tell a single aspect or theme., because I wanted to tell many things and it was a real battle to fight to get all those things into a single film. That's what I learned, how to concentrate a main question, but used as that broader network that encompasses many other issues.
I'm thinking about the title of your movie: ignorance gives happiness. An ironic title, of course. Your film talks about that temptation to look the other way when you have problems, How does your protagonist do?. Where does that idea come from?? Why did you want to talk about this??
Ignorance gives happiness, Yeah. But we can question this or think about how we can open our eyes to the rest of the world without being afraid of losing our happiness.. In fact, The first inspiration was a few years ago when I was in Paris at the time of the terrorist attacks in [the disco] Bataclan and other attacks. And it was very strange because I didn't see anything.. The only thing I heard were messages from friends or things I saw on television. So I was in the middle of what was happening, just one kilometer, But I wasn't experiencing anything.. But because of the news I started to think, ¡oh, My God!, I'm in hell. Bueno, maybe hell is a bit exaggerated, but the thing is that you looked at the street and you didn't see anything. Months after this there was another attack and I noticed that, not only me, The people around me started to be afraid., even when there was no real threat. The girl in the movie is facing real danger, but decides to deny it. She is not afraid of this, she is afraid of something intangible. I have always been fascinated by media and mobile phones and how they operate in our lives.. She lives in a bubble, I think everyone lives in a bubble that is penetrated by the news.. And because of that penetration we begin to feel insecure.. For example, In Amsterdam I was walking through a large square and suddenly I started to feel scared. and I thought, no, no, no, no. keep your eyes open. We have to know what is happening in the world, but you don't have to be afraid.
So, Don't we have to hear what the media says or do we have to hear and see, but with a certain distance?
No, There are some people who at some point don't want to know anything about this because, otherwise, If I look I will be scared. and I say, no. You have to know about this, keep your eyes open, but don't let it influence you in your daily life.
Your film takes place in the context of a traveling circus. Why did you decide to use this background for your story??
It's something that I was before deciding to tell this story because when I was little my mother was a theater actress and every summer she performed in a traveling theater festival., called The Parade, that is in Holland and that travels through different cities. So, in summer, for two months a year, I traveled with her with the festival, living with the festival, sleeping in a caravan, getting up and having breakfast with everyone, being there when there was an audience, but also when the public disappeared. And in the end you consider him as your family. For me it is a special arena because I grew up in a place similar to the one we see in the movie. For me it was useful as a symbol that we can live in a bubble, and when you live in a bubble everything can seem perfectly fine, but that's not everyone.
To what extent has that experience influenced you when it came to becoming a director??
Don't know. Of course I grew up with many actors and shows around me, but I love photography, I love the visual arts, the images, and I needed another way different from theater to express myself. The cameras you use, the perspective they give you, the lenses you use, They connect with the way my heart works. So I thought the way I wanted to tell stories was movies..
Another element of the film is blindness, that plays as a very symbolic element. What does it mean to you or what did you want to convey to the viewer??
Bueno, Blindness is a kind of symbol because she begins to feel afraid because she sees all those images., and suddenly you find this boy completely calm. and he is blind! So she thinks: this is the solution, close my eyes. So it's a bit symbolic that, in the end, be a blind man who opens his eyes. That was the idea behind. Some people perceive it, others don't, I don't know. It's something complicated. But for me it was a challenge to have a blind man in a movie because a movie is a combination of sound and image., and there was the problem, on how to view this. That made me worry about the other elements., not just your vision, but from the smell, the sounds. Your role is to carry her, as we say in Holland, to the here and now. Don't set your mind on anything else, focus on here. And you can focus on here listening to what's happening around you, the smells that are around you, the touch of what is around you. That's the way she comes back to that here.
In that context, The story begins with a very special phrase, the idea of building better images than reality offers. How do you connect that idea with what you mentioned at the beginning about not seeing the world around us to avoid the influence of the media??
Yeah, make a better world than it is. What we do with art is create a world better than it is. But, at the same time, she has to come to terms with herself. She wants to live in a bright world, colorful, of happiness in the circus, but that's not everyone. There is a world outside. There are always struggles in life and that is something we must face, it's part of life. She wants to twist that phrase for her own benefit.. But he'll have to deal with this blind boy to understand what it's like to be truly blind.. In terms of history, There is that struggle between how she wants to see the world and the obligation to look at the other side..
The film talks about the construction of European consciousness. Of that idea of community that arises when there is a problem.
Uhmmm, I'm not sure the film has that political meaning because I wanted to talk about the whole world., not of Europe separated from other parts. I know that appears in some dialogue, but what I want to say in those moments is that, although there is talk of the attacks in Europe, At the same time there are attacks in other parts of the world. And we don't have to separate ourselves from others, we are no more victims than others. so no, I didn't want to say anything political in this sense.. It is important to be open to diversity, absolutely. We are one community and that is why it is difficult for me to talk only about Europe because then you put a border around it and leave out the other countries., I find it very important.
Another issue that I think is relevant is that your film also tells us about the family.. The way we build a family, outside of traditional models, How do we build what we could call a family where we are?.
Yeah, because we don't see the protagonist's parents or her relatives. She is looking for a safe place and she finds it in this circus. But she has to grow up and stop being a girl and become a woman., because at the moment the movie begins she is a woman who behaves like a child.
Talking about the lead actress, What is most striking is how you manage to convey what is happening without having to explain it.. How did you work with her??
The most difficult thing for me and for the actress was that the character's struggle is something that is not very clear and tangible.. It is something very internal and that is something very difficult.. There is a lot of frustration within the girl's character., but he doesn't know what to do with it because he doesn't know how to deal with the outside world that is intruding into his life.. That's something we talk about a lot because the character is sometimes very angry.. It's something that happened to me when I was little., I was angry most of the time. I like to work a lot physically. For example, In the scene where she enters the caravan crying, we prepare her by running to create that feeling of anger and frustration.. We're not rolling what's been done before, but that little moment, and I like to create that emotion physically in the body. And in situations where we are sad and angry your heart is beating very loudly.. We talk about how to get there by running, yelling, hitting and then transmitting those vibrations in the emotion of the moment of filming.
Apart from the main character, there are many other characters in your film. I think it's interesting how you manage to build an entire world with a slight touch of each one., achieving, however, a good balance. Is it something that was in the script or is it something that you built during filming??
Yeah, have, For example, to the man in the shooting house. We wrote the script thinking about that actor, who is a well-known comedy actor in Holland. So the way we wrote his dialogues was with him in mind.. I read the script with the actors first, one time, all together. Then, They explain what they think about their characters and I still don't tell them anything about how I see it., but I make an image in my mind. Those are very valuable things and, when I work with them individually, I use them in a way that the character feels very close to them. We knew that each character had a function for her. For example, the character from the circus administration office offers Lola that feeling of being safe.
The last question is, How did you shoot the knife throwing scene??
¡Ah! (laughter) what do you think?
Bueno, I don't know. I assume you used a specialist. I must admit that when I saw it I was scared for the protagonist.
(laughter) No, I'm not going to say anything about that. I think I should keep it a secret. I think it's more exciting for the audience..
(laughter) Ok.
