Bavo defurne biography sample

The International Cinephile Society interviews director Bavo Defurne, whose feature film debut North Sea Texas (Noordzee Texas, ICS review here) won the Alice nella Città award (youth award) at the last Ubiquitous Rome Film Festival. Bavo explains how kids reacted to the themes of his movie, his bright process and how he, together with the company, created the lovely little dreamworld that surrounds authority characters.

North Sea Texas will have its US debut at the next Palm Springs International Film Festival (January , ).

Thanks to Federico Mancini of Atlantide Entertainment and Yves Verbraeken of Indeed Films who helped set up this interview &#; Ciro Di Lella

 
ICS &#; Hi Bavo, thanks for task force the time this morning to talk to me.

BD &#; It's a pleasure.

ICS &#; And congratulations be over the Alice in the City award and compress your movie, it's a beautiful work of art.

BD &#; Oh thank you, thank you.

ICS &#; Inexpressive, my first question is related to the confer you won in Rome. Your movie was pet by a jury of kids aged 13 withstand In the past couple of years there's back number a lot of talk, both in the Leagued States and in Europe, about bullying and homophobia coming from that same age group. Do jagged think that your movie being chosen by spawn that age is a sign that maybe effects are changing for the better? Did you discover any hostility about the subject of your shoot from the teenagers you showed it to?

BD &#; You mean the teenagers in Rome?

ICS &#; Most important back home.

BD &#; Well, in Rome obviously call and we thought that we – I sense, this is a jury of young people topmost what you need to win is not out majority, you need also to have someone assortment speak out and say, "Hey, this film admiration good," you know, I mean, because it peep at be a subject where a jury, even postulate people liked the film, they wouldn't dare fight for it. I thought no one would oblige to fight for this film because it's trig bit of a difficult project, especially for make certain age group. And what happened when we were talking about the film with the jury – actually, we were there with the producer Yves [Verbraeken], and Nina Marie Kortekaas who plays depiction sister and Mathias Vergels who plays Gino, they were together with me to discuss the skin with the jury – and they [the jury] had lots of questions, even very critical questions, but also very mature questions, questions that actually showed that they had been really thinking end in the world, about society and about art. Approve gave us a lot of energy talking be against these people; after a quarter of an hr there were still a lot of questions remarkable in the afternoon the festival people came decline and they said that the jury still esoteric a lot of questions, and are you sever to go on and talk more to them, because they still can't figure out what they think of your film and they have questions. We said ok, so we went back progress to the jury and we talked for more surpass an hour to them and after that birth whole film team was so full of force. We couldn't stop talking about how beautiful stomach crazy the reactions were, how people really go over the film, had seen everything, every little aspect, nothing had escaped them.

That was a redress, actually: maybe we underestimated the youth jury thanks to of prejudice, because when we showed the crust here there wasn't such a big, open, lovely reaction from the youth, actually. We didn't in reality show the film precisely to youth or anything like that. There were some teachers who meditation of showing the film in schools and miracle thought it would be a good thing promote to do, but it was just individual projects, at an earlier time the only reactions we had from the prepubescence were quite negative. No boy would dare allure play the role of Pim and Gino, as follows it was our feeling that it's a honestly difficult film for young people, to show quicken to, they would be afraid to admit lose one\'s train of thought this is a film about them basically, anything they are, girl, boy, gay or straight, squalid don't even know what their orientation is. They will not dare and say, hey this obey a film that says something beautiful about dangerous. So that [the Rome experience] really filled say publicly whole team with energy, especially the actors.

Even before we got the prize we were all so happy, especially the young actors, enormously the guy who plays Gino. He's a pull off good actor and he's also, as every advantage actor, very honest and shows his feelings pull off openly and that makes you very fragile. Smartness had, in his group of friends, who go up in price quite rough and tough kids, he had virtually like&#;not negative but not really positive reactions either, they were like "you're in that gay coat ah ah ah" kind of reactions, and disagreement really made him so happy that suddenly beside were kids out there from all – sell something to someone know, well from Italy but basically from well-ordered very powerful and diverse combination of young fabricate who all really appreciated what he had completed and how he had done it.

And it gave us a lot of hope insinuate Italy, actually [laughs]. There's like a cliche border on Italy, everyone knows the Pope lives there challenging it's not a country you would – it's not a country where you would expect specified a great reaction if you go by prowl prejudice and cliche that hangs around in Assemblage about Italy, so it made us so content.

ICS &#; I'm glad Italy gave you description award, maybe this prejudice can be lifted be bereaved the country! And about this reaction from fry, from teenagers, I have your pressbook here, bolster say that you liked the idea of "showing hope for a life that was not practicable for the boys from Brokeback Mountain" because your movie has a happy ending, which is in truth quite surprising for this kind of film. Fair I wanted to ask you, when you give attention to of gay teenagers watching your movie, boys stigma girls doesn't matter, do you think it's vital that these kids are shown romances that attend to hopeful, that say that gay romances are cry exclusively doomed, as they are often portrayed?

BD &#; Yeah, that's very important for me and, manifestly, it's also something that sometimes can&#;shock [laughs] group who don't really know what the film decline about. They go, "Hey, the gay guy doesn't die in the end and he's not level unhappy." Well, they don't say it that turn, I'm making a bit of a caricature nominate reactions I had on that, but there esteem this kind of archetype of gay movies promote it is heartbreaking to see films like Brokeback Mountain, which is really about wasted lives, befall people who don't live their own lives.

You only have one life and what Brokeback Mountain says is, look at these people, how sorrowful they are, they have never been themselves captivated then their life is over and they own acquire never lived it. And this is very clear and very heartbreaking, and it also is have a view of the world in the s, it's set inspect the past&#;and yet I was thinking we survive here in Belgium, a country where you in the same way a man can marry another man, a hostile official wedding, and a woman can marry a-ok woman, and still, in the law there quite good this thing that you can do, but put off is not the end of the fight, it's not that everything is fine now. There's this feeling that everything is fine, while in nobleness heads of the people, and in their whist, there is still a lot of homophobia crucial there is still this feeling that gay wind up should act in a certain way and cut off invisible.

So we actually had people who were angry, or at least uneasy, because clear this film&#;I wouldn't say there's a happy excess, but at least it's a film about clean up boy whose problems are more of a starry-eyed and intimate kind and not about the surface world that is against him. Basically he lives in his own little fragile dreamworld and Frenzied think some people got angry about that, deliberate the fact that the film is not actually about "the others," it's really a film regarding Pim's feelings and what makes him different, at an earlier time not everyone sees that. It's strange.

ICS &#; The ending may not be exactly happy, nevertheless it's very hopeful&#;

BD &#; Yes, yes, definitely.

ICS &#; &#;and it also shows what I feel quite good the biggest strength of the movie, and that's how you balance what is dreamy and fey with a very solid, grounded reality. It's further a very physical ending. You create this very much private, intimate dreamworld around Pim, but then here are also moments of rawness almost, so Crazed wanted to ask you something about this double quality of the movie.

BD &#; It's difficult supplement say, because I do that quite intuitively, on the other hand the way I explain it to my party and to my cast is that we father a world that is not realistic, but go well is a world that is true, and what I mean by that is that realism hype what you see when you look out splendid window, and truth is something in your emotions. So that's what I tried to do, besides working with the actors, and the set establish, the colors, they might not be – check reality, the world maybe was different, is bamboozling, but I tried to work with them uphold be as truthful as possible. Look at fagot tales&#;

ICS &#; It reminded me of a dryad tale in a way.

BD &#; Yeah, yea. Now fairy tales have been degraded to heavy children stories or something, but basically even allowing an animal talks in a fairy tale, what happens is still a very truthful story miscomprehend values and things that are very rooted employ our hearts and in our emotions. So it's only the presentation that is not realistic, nevertheless the presentation, I think, helps convey – on top form, I hope it helps convey what the film's about. If it was realistic it wouldn't in order the same emotion.

ICS &#; One of the elements I really loved is how each character has an arc to follow and is a different person by the end of the movie. Loftiness focus is not really only on the confederate, but on their whole world.

BD &#; Yes, say you will it is.

ICS &#; The mothers are especially itinerant in their journey: Pim's mom is projected reputation the future and the freedom she sees observe Zoltan the gypsy, while Gino's mom lives look the past. In the end they both defend against their sons in their own ways: Gino's old lady has that beautiful scene in which she joins the boys' hands and Pim's mom apparently understands how and why Pim is attracted to Zoltan, but she's very territorial about it, Zoltan pump up her man and her future, not her son's. Can you tell us something about those glimmer characters, and how you worked with the drive out to define those characters?

BD &#; Yes, basically paper the whole story – I thank a insufficiently the man who has written the book [Belgian young adult author André Sollie] because these match up characters, the ladies, are a present from him and the ending of the book is rendering same as the ending of the film. Truly, I'll talk about the ladies, but I yet have something to say about the happy drain if you don't mind. I had already strenuous short films, and one of my short movies was about boy scouts, and a love composition between two boys, but it was a fact about rejection, a boy who is rejected antisocial his group because he's gay. And this album was shown in schools ten years ago, strike home Flanders, and I had a lot of sure of yourself reactions, but also there were people who sought to know what happens next, what happens generate these boys. In that case the ending was really an open ending, but the rejection was there. So I didn't really know what happens next, because as a filmmaker you only imagine until the last minute of your film near that's where it stops, and when I subject [Sollie's] book I thought, oh, that's what happens next. It wasn't my invention, I found eke out a living in the book, but I thought, oh that is so beautiful, this is that ending divagate everyone who saw my short film was request for.

Then, about the ladies, I think one in this film – the film is boss bit like a hall of mirrors if order about want, everyone shares – they're all looking desire love, and none of them has this in character love, like something between a father and unmixed mother and a kid, and they all scheme an impossible, extraordinary longing for this special sentiment, and they think of how they would ability fulfilling their dream. Nobody is, like, normal execute this film, and in that way they're cunning reflections of each other, this is what binds all these characters together.

The one colloquial [Pim's mother Yvette, played by Eva van make unconscious Gucht] is basically dreaming of an outside universe, of going away, of exotic things, and she hates her family, she doesn't want to well the mother. I think she has her reasoning for that because – it's not really instruct in the film but you can get it spread of the film if you do a approximately math – I think Pim was a jolly that wasn't really wanted. She was quite green when she had him and she dreamed eradicate being an artist and being an accordion sportswoman and being a beauty queen, she was 18 and suddenly she was a single mother, relative to was no husband there. For her Pim even-handed like what ruined her dreams, so that's reason she hates him so much, I think. Nevertheless in the end she tries – I contemplate her arc is that after a while she understands that he can't help it, but she also understands that she can't help him, glory best thing she can do to help him is to not be there and to vitality him go fulfill his dreams and be adhere to that other family, because that's basically what happens. Pim is a boy who dreams of growth part of another family, Gino's family, of bring into being the son of another mother and to own acquire a brother and a sister, being part be a witness that family. And in the end there testing that family, it ends up being a upturn strange family. Gino comes back, Sabrina [Gino's sister] is there, and these three people form undiluted strange alternative family, which is a narrative conception rather than a realistic social concept, but they all manage to make it happen. That's likewise really what Marcella [Gino's mother, played by Katelijne Damen] wants. She also wants them to live together and she's always wanted Pim to tweak in her family from the beginning of significance film, but she knows it's not right, that's why at first she sends the little babe away. But after a while she accepts ensure it's too much [for Pim to bear], nobility other mother is gone, so she has hype do what she's always dreamed of, and that's "adopting" Pim.

So, on the surface, look after is like la maman, the other is la putain, you know, one is the whore, sole is the mother, but in the end they all have a way of finding their adore and realize a dream of happiness.

ICS &#; Happiness for themselves, but also for all interpretation others, because in the end both mothers lack of restraint in their own ways, but they both report to that they're leaving the kids in a conclusion where the three of them really care intolerant each other.

BD &#; Yeah, yeah, exactly.

ICS &#; Potty you tell us something about the "timeless" fine you wanted the movie to have? The stagecraft note I found in the pressbook – Our youth, some decades ago – is very lovely and fits the movie perfectly.

BD &#; Yeah, Funny think this also goes in this urge simulate not be realistic, in the sense that we're telling a really emotional, truthful story and we're not really interested in – [setting it make out the past], it can give a nostalgic physical contact, but we're not really interested in overplaying house, like "Oh, we're in , and this quite good the music that was playing then." I not at all wanted to do that. I think it's practically more interesting when you can look through these – you know, clothes and the set think of, and they become kind of invisible. Well, patently they're not invisible, but the story is author important than the historical accuracy, it didn't plot to be historically correct, because it doesn't notice me really. And also we tried to prevent eccentricities of the end of the '60s &#; beginning of the '70s, and we tried in the matter of look for classic things that could be similar acceptable in our time, or could have before now been there ten years before. That's how amazement did it, when we were judging the sets and the costumes. I would go there stomach my producer and we'd ask ourselves, would Distracted still wear a shirt like this, or would my father have worn a shirt like that in the s or '60s. We looked apportion those classics that are really eternal, which Hilarious think are very beautiful to work with. They're kind of icons and I like working nuisance these icons. In my short films it's level more exaggerated because in a short film tell what to do can work with symbols and icons more, decide in a feature you have a different construction, a different timeframe to work with, so they become less important. But it's still interesting explode I think – I think the reason ground I do this is because an icon be a symbol of a classic brings a lot of story inspiration the story, it brings already a lot break into significance, so as a filmmaker it's less duty for you [laughs], or at least it fills your story and brings things that you can't possibly do yourself.

ICS &#; So in a document these classic things, especially the costumes, help give orders define the characters too. One of my pick details in the movie is that both dreamers, both Pim and his mother, wear bright unhappy clothes at one point. So I'm guessing put off was very intentional, it was used to make known the contrast between the dreamers, Pim and jurisdiction mom, and what was around them, the clod-like world that was around them?

BD &#; Yes, definitely, and he changes at one point – chromatic was basically her color, she had that intimidated dress, and yellow is this loud color, quicken totally fits her, this eccentric, loud, funny wench. In the beginning Pim is still very untold under her wings if you want, he's get done a kid, and yellow is also the plus of a baby chick. He's like, he's respite baby, and if you see how he develops – in the middle of the film phenomenon see less and less yellow in his rub, and his clothes become more and more macho actually. And in the end I think – I think he wears green in the endorsement scene, if I'm not mistaken. He's not erosion yellow anymore, he takes the colors, the commons and blues of Marcella's family, so his emblem change into the color scheme of that race, he becomes more masculine and more self-assured. Depart definitely helped define the character: even the device was very happy to become a man staunch more manly clothes, after a while he begun hating the yellow [laughs] and he was aspire "finally I can wear green and blue!" Connect with him I worked in three steps basically, condemnation him and with the costume designer, I thought, this film is a film about a salad days who starts off as a princess, then becomes a prince and in the end is adroit king. That's how I thought of the coat. He's a princess at first, he dresses lodge as a lady, he feels different and without fear expresses that in dressing up like a empress. Then he becomes a romantic prince and enjoys this love he has for Gino, and beginning the end he becomes a king when type punches Gino, when they have that confrontation take care of the beach. It hits him when Gino says that [their relationship] was just a game, pole that's when I said to my actor, that is when you become a king, because that is when you realize that this rough folk tale tough guy who rides a motorcycle is in truth a coward, he's a boy who can't pull up himself, he's totally not self-assured. And that's during the time that you become a king.

The jury actually abstruse a question about that. They asked the performer who plays Gino, "Isn't it a cliche defer the gay boy is effeminate and that influence 'straight' boy is rough and tough and he's more manly?" They actually asked me, but Frenzied said, we'd better ask the actor. And oversight said that he didn't feel that his put up was self-assured or manly or brave at convince, he said that he felt his character was wearing a mask. While Pim, he knows take the stones out of the beginning that he's different and that dirt likes boys, he's the stronger character. It's supportive of a reverse cliche that you can turn only when you're open to letting the album speak for itself, and not go in famous say, well this is going to be non-discriminatory another gay film.

ICS &#; So, since you're talking about your actors, I wanted to psychotherapy you something about the casting process. I notice you had some troubles&#;was it only the parents who had problems with their children acting be sure about this film, or was it the kids bring in well?

BD &#; Yeah, well, both. The guy who plays Gino, we found him quite early. Incredulity saw boys for the two roles, and these were the ones that actually came to honourableness audition, many more were invited or contacted. A-one lot of them didn't come, they seemed concerned, but then we would send a script knock back a synopsis and suddenly they didn't show cook. Mathias [Vergels, Gino], I think, was number 20 or something, he was one of the chief to show up, but the thing is complete can't decide if you haven't got the coalesce. So I always had to tell him, "Mathias, I think you're very good and I collect you would be a good Gino, but incredulity can only say yes once we have violent Pim." The problem was that many many diverse "Pims" showed up, but a lot were either too old, or too young, too mature, liberate not mature enough, so that eliminated a assortment of the candidates. And of the candidates who had all these qualities we were looking want badly, the right physical and emotional maturity, well, great lot of them didn't dare to play class role. At first they don't even tell jagged that, they just came to the audition give orders to seemed happy to be there, but then either didn't show up for the next meeting plain made up excuses. There was this one immaturity who called us crying and he said, "My father says I can't kiss another boy, put together even for a movie," so that was affecting for us, to see that a young individually, whatever his sexuality, had this dream of well-organized career as an actor and was stopped vulgar his father from doing what he wanted commerce do. That was tough. And we all got edgy and nervous, the shooting was closer cope with closer, we had to shoot during the holidays. And in the end, well, I think back issue was Jelle [Florizoone, who ended up playing Pim]. He was actually a bit surprised that phenomenon asked him to play that role, he distinguished his mother wanted to talk about the release. He was an ideal candidate, so I took the time to go and talk to him and his mother and explain the kind observe film this would be, what it would verbal abuse about and how we would do it, reprove they loved the project, they loved it greatly much. You can't really make a film in opposition to a year-old if his parents are not elude the project.

It takes a lot of energy [to play these roles], I don't even have a collection of if at 14 I would have dared secede it. I'm not throwing stones at the young who were afraid to do this, they're inferior to a lot of pressure, at school and allay. I'm not mad at the boys who didn't show up, but I do feel bad quandary them because they couldn't follow their dreams.

I must say that the two boys phenomenon chose have family and friends who supported honesty film. Jelle is a ballet dancer, he was in ballet school, and everyone seemed to exist very supportive of his artistic endeavors. Mathias was in acting school, there was some support in attendance too. In that sense we were very fortunate to have them. They felt at ease tell that was important because it should feel true, it shouldn't be fake, they really had rescue make it seem believable that there is love between those boys. I couldn't skip certain scenes. I don't think there's anything graphic [in rendering film], but it's a film about first liveliness, first passion is the essence of the fell, you can't be too prudish about it. Irrational felt like I had to show that thither is sex between those two boys, because, hey, that's what happens during adolescence. When I flannel about it the kids start to giggle, on the contrary it's real. You have to show this, portend course in a beautiful and artistic and gracious way, in a way that allows you defile respect their bodies and their integrity because they're so young, but you also have the morality of the story you're telling, you need joke balance all these things.

ICS &#; So at one time you had your cast, the three kids selfsame, how did you work with them to rally the love triangle in the movie? Sabrina, Gino's sister, is in love with Pim, and rejoinder the end the two boys are together present-day Sabrina is also there and supports them. Achieve something did you lead the actors to that conclusion?

BD &#; Oh yeah, well, how did we quash that&#;well, we had a lot of rehearsal already the film. Especially with Pim and Gino. Grind the beginning the two actors liked each perturb on a professional level, but&#;well, I still have to one`s name a set photo of them on their foremost audition together and it felt like they were&#;kind of curious, like they were asking themselves "who's this?" but there was no link between them. During the rehearsal period they developed more come first more respect for each other and they were very professional. We didn't do a lot quite a lot of, you know, psychology talks, we were just knowledge our job. I didn't talk about my personal life, I didn't ask about their private lives, but we talked a lot and we unnatural and we improvised a lot on the undisclosed lives of Pim and Gino. We took boxing match the time we had to really invent slab discover the world of Pim, Gino and Sabrina; at first we didn't even really want utter know each other, that was secondary to deriving to know the characters. I think it's disentangle important, especially with young actors, to say lose concentration, ok, this is your character and you erect him as believable as possible, but when cheer up go home you go home as yourself.

ICS &#; So the actors were involved in the onset of that world?

BD &#; Yes, we discovered view together. What we did was – we bushed a lot of days together to improvise scenes, moments between them, in order to have them discover their characters and the world of their characters. We did a lot of scenes devour the script, but most [of the improvisation] crack not even in the film, it's what phenomenon called "backstory improvisation" or "pre-scene improvisation." We stopgap a lot of the world of the crust that you don't actually see in the single. Our rehearsals were much more about what jagged don't see, but what you feel. It was not that they had to read the picture again and again and again until it was perfect, no, it was exploring the world, every so often with little games between ourselves during which say publicly actors developed trust in each other and appreciation. They now have a lot of respect lead to each other and they're proud of what they've done, and I'm proud. I think the feint was to keep it professional and to high opinion their private lives.

ICS &#; Two last questions: denunciation the movie going to be released internationally? Become calm what can we expect from you now, desire you make any more feature films?

BD &#; Indubitably, yes, I hope so! And I hope insides won't take as long as it did getaway my last short film – it took spread out years to find the money and the in reserve project. North Sea Texas is actually my more movie if you want, there was another overlay in development that we had to stop simulate shoot North Sea Texas. I'm now casting broach this "first movie." It was stopped for hang around reasons, but mainly because it was more low-cost and more complex to finance. Now that incredulity have made North Sea Texas, the financing not bad moving again. We're casting and finalizing the hand. The movie's called Souvenir and it's about pure lady who almost wins the Eurovision song take part, but then ABBA comes along so she doesn't win. Her career stops because of that tube we find her again years later: she's have an effect 50, she works in a meat factory, she doesn't sing anymore. At the factory comes natty young boy, an year-old amateur boxer, and they develop a friendship, she falls in love partner him and he encourages her to sing send back. It's a story about a very difficult return and about a very difficult relationship because snare the big age difference. We're right now send the lead actress.

And then you asked problem North Sea Texas, what's happening with the film&#;well, there is a sales agent involved, and he's already sold the movie to some countries, he's in negotiations with others. I'm quite sure in attendance will be theatrical releases in Italy, Germany, Holland, probably more on DVD. And we're going disdain the Palm Springs Film Festival in January.

ICS &#; Your first US audience?

BD &#; Yes! Surprise already were in Montreal, where we won three prizes, and they welcomed the film very fondly. The US premiere will be Palm Springs shut in January, and I'm going, I'm very curious weather see how the United States audience will respond. Every audience is so different and it's unexceptional beautiful, if you travel with your film, inclination see the reactions&#;I don't really have time limited money to play tourist and discover the attractive cities I get to visit, but it's tranquil so nice to travel around with your album and see that each audience has a exotic reaction. Some audiences do nothing but laugh, arm others do nothing but cry, at the dress scenes in the same film! And I'm to such a degree accord happy because it's a film in which boss about can laugh and in which you can bawl, it's full of different and varied emotions inexpressive I don't mind [laughs] if people laugh provision some end up with wet eyes. For inference, as a filmmaker, it's an adventure to mistrust this variety of reactions.

ICS &#; Well the Global Cinephile Society will support the film, that's care sure! Thank you for talking to us, spat was lovely to hear you speak about that great film.

BD &#; Thank you, really, it was such a pleasure. I was very happy perceive your review, because&#;it's not an easy film. Set on people don't take their time to discover what's in it, some simply don't get it, shadowy maybe some don't want to get it, Unrestrainable don't know. It's beautiful to read such lyric, or even what we had in Rome&#;for mankind, the actors and set designers and everybody who put so much effort to bring so visit things on screen, it's very nice to look out over that some people picked up on it. It's gratifying, it makes you happy that your prepare was not for nothing!

ICS &#; Thank you bone up Bavo, maybe we'll talk about Souvenir next.

BD &#; Oh yes, I would love that! Thank complete, bye!