How did you get into filmmaking?

As a teenager I started out in theatre. But the stage seemed rather stuffy to me and I was always drawn to the movies. So I decided to attend New York University's film school. I still believe that making films is a very satisfying process. But unfortunately as a filmmaker you spend far more time looking for money to make your film and promoting it once it's made, than in the actual filmmaking process. Sometimes I think: Wouldn't I be happier if I had stayed in theatre where the percentage of time you spend creating is actually much bigger?

What's it like being an independent filmmaker?

The expression "independent film" fortunately is in its death throes. For way too long anything that wasn't a big Hollywood studio production called itself independent. From the five minute VHS home video about somebody's mother's dog, to a $30 million opus that's not directly financed out of Hollywood. The term has become totally empty.

And it was problematic to start with. Janis Joplin sang "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose". Well, "independent" is just another word for nothing left to lose. To make any film, you enter into dependencies. They might have very different faces, it might be your crew that you're dependent on because they don't want to go on after 16 hours and bad sandwiches, or it might be this young banker that's investing in your film to get her talentless sweetheart into a major role. The only distinction one can make is whether a film is dependent on the Hollywood studio system or on other factors.

What is the main message of your film?

The Wedding Cow is a film about the yesterday in the today. While most heroes of today's films are very high-tech savvy, they use their minimalized mobile phones without a problem, web this and surf that, the characters in my film are a little bit different. I believe many of us struggle with something that I would call the "jet lag of time." That we have a side in us that resists catching up with the maddening forward rush of modern technology. One of the motives for making The Wedding Cow was to speak to this side. I wanted to make a movie that's neither slick nor hip nor cool. But warmly nourishes this other side, the side that's closer to the heart.

Where did you shoot your movie?

Originally The Wedding Cow was written for the endless flatlands of Texas. When the U. S. portion of the financing didn't come together, we rewrote the screenplay to shoot it in Germany. I was looking for two things: wide open plains and the yesterday in the today. The plains could easily be found in the North Germany that Caspar David Friedrich painted so eloquently two hundred years ago. To find beautifully dilapidated buildings proved to be a little harder in proper Germany. For this, we had to go into the sister territories the West Germans have swallowed up not so long ago. In former socialist East Germany we could still find the places that were able to illustrate this feeling of the yesterday in the today.

Was it hard to find the actors?

It's easy to get good actors, but it's almost impossible to get stars. There are many, many, more good actors than there are opportunities to play in good films. So, most actors are desperately looking to get a role in a film, even a small one. But once we're talking about the name actors that actually help finance and promote a film, the situation is completely different. They have a wall of agents, managers, and lawyers shielding them. Unless you are connected to these circles, your screenplay will not even reach them.

How did you work with the actors to achieve such humorous and unique characters?

Obviously, in a comedy, people should be allowed to laugh once in a while. But, as with violence, cheaply produced laughter can be hurtful. So I'm very careful that jokes aren't at anyone's expense, particularly not the characters in my film. The audience should laugh with the character, and not at them.
When working with the actors, I focus on the trueness of the situation. Not pushing for cheap jokes might produce fewer laughs from the audience but an emotionally more satisfying experience.

What was the most difficult thing about shooting The Wedding Cow?

Shooting The Wedding Cow was a strenuous, challenging, but also very rewarding experience. Far more difficult was getting the financing together!

Has your film gotten into any festivals?

Actually to date my film has been embraced by 50 festivals and has won 20 prizes, as well as receiving a great review in Variety.

Is the film festival circuit crucial to the success of a film?

In today's arena it's hard to make a film, but it's much harder to get it seen. Unless your production is hooked into the system it's almost impossible to get distribution. The only way to get exposure and maybe, if you are very lucky, distribution, is to get your film into festivals, win prizes, and get good reviews.

What do you wish to achieve with your films?

I want to entertain people. To entertain people, your films need to have tension and conflict. The easiest way to produce tension and conflict is to show violence. So, many filmmakers go this easy route not realizing what damage the outpouring of gratuitous violence is having on our society.
My goal is to succeed in entertaining my audience without falling back on cheap tricks. I hope people will come out of my films encouraged to live their vulnerable and loving sides.

Do you prefer making comedies?

I found it very interesting to direct The Wedding Cow. But I would hate to become typecast as a comedy director. Therefore I chose quite a different animal of a film to be my next project: a romantic thriller entitled "ª&X" ("LOVE & ECSTASY").

What is Love & Ecstasy about?

"ª&X" is happening in New York's club, drug, drag queen & house-music scene. A straight undercover cop's enchantment by the world he set out to bust… The drug movie with a happy ending…

The screenplay, part of the financing and some of the talent, are all in place:

X-Filme, Creative Pool GmbH, Berlin ("Run, Lola Run" & "Good Bye Lenin") confirmed that they want to co-produce "ª & X" and that they would like to obtain the rights for the German speaking countries. One of the top Swiss production companies, Carac Film AG, is also on board as co-producer.

Kevin Aviance ("Punks"), the RuPaul of the 21st century, has confirmed her interest to play the role of Lady X.

Grammy Award 2003 Winner Super DJ Roger Sanchez has confirmed his interest to collaborate on the soundtrack. And so has Dancing Mice Productions to do the music consulting.

Palisades Pictures Entertainment Group has committed to provide the P&A financing for the release of "ª & X".

The screenplay was a Second Round Finalist in the Open Door Contest by Scr(i)pt Magazine and a Semi-finalist in The Chesterfield Writer's Film Project.

But, at least as of today, all this isn't sufficient to make the project happen in New York's changed climate. (I'm still pursuing the rest of the funding. Interested?)

How has the climate in NY changed?

In two ways:

On one side there's no longer a thriving "independent" scene like there was in the mid 90s, unless you make it up into the above $ 10 million league. But most often this has severe consequences about the content that's requested for mass-appeal during these more and more conservative times. Or you stay in the below $ 100'000 league and make some grungy movie with the money from the loan on your aunt's home. The creative mid-ground where professionals can live from their work and make interesting films is almost gone.

The other change comes out of a political climate started by Giuliani and accelerated by Bush, where police, military, fear and, in consequence, patriotism clutters people's minds and hearts. "ª & X" is a thriller without a shot ever being shot, a film about choosing love over duty, and above all a look at the ridiculous war against drugs. A film like that has a hard time finding its place in the American landscape these days.

And so "ª & X" WAS my next film. These days most of my energy actually goes into the development of my Argentinean project.

Argentina?! How did that come about?

Well, as a cow lover… no, seriously, when the USA invaded Iraq it was definitely time for me to look for a new playground… I visited Argentina and felt immediately the lively, creative potential of this country and the warmth of the people I met. Not to mention the immense opportunity of a place where everything, including film producing, is a third of the price of New York or Switzerland. So why wouldn't I shoot my next film here? I think financiers in the US and especially in Europe will see this as an interesting opportunity to invest in a creative and professionally produced film for a much smaller price.

What did you know about Argentina?

At one of the many festivals I toured with The Wedding Cow I met a pleasant Argentinean director. We stayed in contact, especially during the last days of 2001 when things in Argentina blew up.

When I was looking for a new place to go, I asked him and my only other Argentinean contact (a fan that had pursued me ever since he saw my film at Mar del Plata, Argentina's most prestigious film festival) what they thought about my idea to try out Argentina. Their encouraging descriptions of the situation were very inviting and so I gave it a shot.

How was your Spanish?

Rather lousy. I had worked in other Latin countries like Columbia, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic but always with a foreign crew. So I knew how to order a coffee or find a hotel. Knowing French and some Italian helped and fortunately I'm getting better at it, day after day.

And I'm lucky because my partner in crime, a producer and screenwriter, speaks much better Spanish than I do. Together we've been able to navigate the Buenos Aires waters quite well.

I think it's crucial to talk some Spanish or at least try. People here are fascinated with the States, the economic and technical superiority of this powerful country. Therefore many of the people here speak some English. But speaking in English you're on the "other side", on the side they hate as much as they love for dictating to the whole world at gunpoint what's good and what's bad.

How did you start your research?

I was lucky, just as I arrived the Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente started. Argentineans are very inviting people and so one contact led to another like a bushfire and within weeks I was deeper into the Buenos Aires film scene than I ever was into New York's.

What was the process of finding the right script?

We approached everybody from high to low. The problem was that here most people are screenwriter-directors and I didn't feel like begging the scripts out of the hands of these auteurs. Nevertheless, we ended up with quite a few treatments. Out of these we selected 70 screenplays that we read. And luckily amongst them there was some material I really liked and could see myself directing.

Where are you in the pre-production process? What are your next steps?

I'm excited about the things to come. 2003 we spent familiarizing ourselves with the Argentinean film world, finding the right screenplay, optioning and rewriting it. Now we're ready to move into the next phase and present it to European and US producers. We are in the process of putting together the package: translating the screenplay into English, producing a budget and most importantly selecting the right Argentinean partner to co-produce and execute the project.

Are there any lessons you have learned up to this point that you could pass on to other filmmakers?

Things take time here, even more so than in the States… And things are different here after all. At first everything seems very familiar, particularly if you come from the more Southern parts of Europe. But once you start concretely dealing with people you start feeling the differences.

Piracy for example is huge here. Some TV stations show movies without ever paying for any rights. But then the organization that defends the rights of the Argentinean authors has a standard agreement that is quite unrealistic. It states things such as the director or producer isn't allowed to make any changes in the screenplay, not one word, that the "artwork" of the screenwriter has to be treated like you would a play by Shakespeare in the theater. Explaining that we can't work with some of these conditions took quite some doing…

Are there any particular challenges you foresee filming in Argentina?

Plenty… I like it here a lot and think we have a good chance to succeed with our plans. But then again, I have this friend who had a bar. Only a month ago he gave an interview in a magazine about how happy he is here. In the meantime they robbed his place twice and there was also a brutal fight. Now he's returning to the US...

I won't really know how it is to shoot here before my film is in the can but I believe their Latin creativity and intellectual liveliness joined with mine will create a good mix and give birth to an interesting movie.

What are the specifics of your Argentinean film?

"ª & ?" ("EL DESALOJO DEL SEÑOR") is a religiously romantic comedy about a little Argentinean town in the middle of nowhere. The square, the church, the main road with its brothel, everything has its place here. And so does everybody in it: Doña Chiara, the wife of the plantation owner enjoys the privilege of being serviced by whichever priest is running the church that is still owned by her family. And it's understood that her husband Don Guiusepe gets to visit his young mistress whenever he pleases.

It has been like that here for quite some time, and it would probably stay that way forever… till the Bishop sends the town priest, Padre Dionisio, a new housekeeper: Angela arrives in town and with her unbridled passion for life starts taking things into her own hands. She wins the hearts of the unwed mothers by showing them how to make their own empanadas and a desperately needed buck.

But there's one more heart she conquers. Pretty soon she ends up in Padre Dionisio's bed, which doesn't make things easier for the humble man.

Doña Chiara immediately suspects, and the equilibrium in town starts to waver till the sides clash during the yearly procession of the Virgin of the Sugar. While the poor folks enjoy Angela stealing the show from Doña Chiara, the rich can't have it. Early the next morning Don Guiusepe's men arrive to clear out the church and close it down. The people are outraged and the quiet town is about to explode.

But Angela steps in, or rather sneaks into Doña Chiara's car and makes a secret deal with her that will finally hand the church over to the people of this town, while returning Padre Dionisio into Chiara's hands.

Oblivious to Angela's sacrifice and the two women's treaty, Padre Dionisio is overjoyed with the newfound peace but then shattered by the departure of his beloved Angela.

Will the pull of Angela's love be strong enough to make Padre Dionisio follow his heart?

"ª & ?" ("EL DESALOJO DEL SEÑOR") A religiously romantic comedy with mass appeal but enough spice to keep it interesting. On one level the film is pure fun, on another it deals with the double morality of this small sugar cane town... as well as the double morality of anywhere else in this world.

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STREIFFSCHUSS FILMS AG

Tomi Streiff
Tomi@Streiffschuss.com

124 E. Broadway, New York, NY 10002, USA
Tel. & Fax +1-212-349-8747

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