Under The Burning Sun an homage to Bela Tarr

My feature long experimental contemplative film "Under The Burning Sun" was shot on July 21st 2020, on Bela Tarr's 65th birthday. Nothing was prepared advance as usual, neither what's going to happen in my film after I press the "rec" button, nor had any idea the Maestro had his jubilee on this day. It's not a question this is Synchronicity and not a coincidence. I'm experiencing synchronicity almost on daily basis for years. I don't want to get into details, maybe another time. As usually in my films, neither the shooting day nor the filming location was chosen advance. Everything was spontaneous. 

Most of my films contains only static shot and one long take. The lengths of takes are vary. This film is slightly different. I shot two takes instead of the usual one, because I felt the magic is happening. It was sometime after 11am. The sunrays were almost vertical. There was not even one tree at all, to give shade and of course I left my umbrella and the sunblock in the car. I guess you all can imagine the consequences. 

Post-production was a real challenge to figure it out, where should I cut the story without causing aesthetic damage. The story was built by the life itself. My main "directorial responsibility" at the location (besides the chosen visual background of the scene) is usually to make decision, when to start and stop rolling. There is usually an opening scene and a closing scene where's nothing particular  happening but basically there are things require the viewer's eye and ear to do more work. 

The observation is an important part of the process. There's neither mise-en-scène nor directorial instructions. Only a very pure form of the sense and sensibility, harmony between the elements, a kind of Zen. 

In my films I don't use subtitle because the visual has the priority over the dialogue. It doesn't mean for example in this case the fishers dialogues are not important but not from my point of view. 

Ok, that's all in a nutshell. So the next day of the shoot, on July 22nd, I read about Bela Tarr 's birthday on social media and decided to dedicate this film to him as an homage. I'm not sure he'll ever watch this film, that was not the reason I made it. 

Boldog születésnapot!

"If you look for a meaning, you'll miss everything that happens." 

Andrei Tarkovsky

The story:

West Baray (The Great Reservoir) (dating back to the XI. Century) in Siem Reap, Cambodia is beneficial for people make a living from fishing, though this year the Almighty God is not so gracious to them. Fishermen and their households are among the poorest, marginalized and vulnerable people in the Khmer society.

...for a limited time the film is available on my vimeo channel here.

...information for distribution or screening please send me a PM! 

Myopia

Experimental contemporary contemplative slow cinema.

Short-sightedness, or myopia, is a very common eye condition that causes distant objects to appear blurred, while close objects can be seen clearly.

The combination of "natural" elements "even urban noises" such as off screen diegetic sounds are as important as visuals in my films.

I suggest my viewers to engage with the off screen sounds and imagine the invisible surroundings like the short sighted people.

Imagine! ..... you are sitting in a room and looking through the window but can not see beyond the mosquito screen clearly. Everything is blurry. The trees, the planes, the whole world. To get the clear vision, you must open up your mind and listen carefully.

Watch Myopia here

Through the rain / revealed

Through the rain my short avantgard film has been filmed last month from inside my hotel room in Phnom Penh. It was just a great occasion shooting the monsoon rain via the window. In the past decade Phnom Penh's scenery has changed a lot. Skyscrapers are growing like mushrooms. The city is a bit smog-filled, but the air still much better than in Saigon or Bangkok. The traffic has increased, not to mention the construction noise.

"Through the rain" like almost at all my other films I used no camera movement and extreme long take to highlight the time and timelessness. My films are not only what about you see. You need to be in a certain mood, let's say relaxed, to recognize the beauty of the hidden beast what I call Zen. I just can repeat myself again and again, please don't watch my films as usually you used to watch movies. Watch with your heart and soul and see what untrained eyes and ears can not catch. Learn the film and develop your senses. Learn watching films from the director and the cinematographer point of view. The movies will be more interesting and will open up an extraordinary endless journey.

I know my films are not for everyone. Maybe too philosophical or just too simple or boring to catch the attention of  wider audience. Curators, critics, festivals, museums are not really interested. Maybe they're not even watching because of the specific genre or just simple not get it what the hell is that for?

So here is a non scientific extreme short  explanation via "Through the rain".

For example: if you're recognized the two birds when they flew across in front of  the window, you are on the right path. It looks you have great sense for seeing details without someone call up your attention. ... but did you realized the traffic or when the tuktuk and the cars appeared and disappeared  at the left corner of the screen? .... or the window is divided for three different sections and that you are able to watch three different movies in the same time? You also can follow what's going on off screen, if you're carefully listening the "city-noise". ... and at the end there are rolling rain drops on the window glass (before they landed on the window they traveled approx. two to seven minutes) and new born clouds.

So everything is there, just have to wait and watch. If you have enough time and patience the magic will happen. .... and what about all of this boredom?

It's only about TIME and TIMELESSNESS, LIFE and BEYOND. It's about NOTHING....

It's about ZEN.

I am just framing my friend.

Please click here to watch "Through the rain" one of my experimental contemporary contemplative  slow cinema 

In the Shadow of Wind

In the Shadow of Wind my latest experimental contemporary contemplative slow cinema is available on Vimeo from today. Click here to watch