- Can you tell a bit about the background for the project?
In fact THE PRESENTATION THEME is based on something very specific.
This is not explicit in the film itself, which is elusive on that score - although I would like the audience to have the feeling that there is something "real" at the core of it. Or, to put it another way, that they would suspect, through the specificity of the references, that the filmmaker didnt just make everything up himself.
I got the idea from certain archaeology books, which describe an ancient Peruvian culture, called the Moche. They existed long before the Inca, around 100 to 800 AD, then disappeared. They left a lot of pottery behind, and some of the pottery is molded into shapes, of supernatural figures, rulers, animals, narrative scenes; and other pottery is plain in shape but is covered in painting - specifically, cartoonish-looking figures, again enacting mythological themes. All of the art is quite mysterious, as there is no one to interpret it for us (and no written language, of course). The molded pottery often has erotic themes and the painted pottery often has themes of warfare and human sacrifice.
"The Presentation Theme" in Moche archaeology refers to the human sacrifice narrative, in which the priests and priestesses are ultimately presented with goblets of victims' blood.
- Why was it important for you to make this film ?
All of my films are inspired by things I am reading about at the time, and lately I have been reading about prehistoric cultures a lot. Because I have a naturally morbid curiosity I am drawn toward ugly themes such as headhunting and human sacrifice. The Moche culture strikes me as having been a particularly diabolical one.
- Is the way you worked on this film similar to your previous works?
Yes, in that those films were also based on something true - a murder case in the case of The Festishist, or a real prehistoric animal in the case of The Moschops. I never make storyboards. With The Festishist, I just started drawing randomly various scenes from the case history, and edited it together later. With The Moschops and The Presentation Theme, I wrote the narration text first, and then animated the films line-by-line.
- In what way do other filmmakers inspire you?
Certainly I am inspired by other filmmakers. As for animators, I like Lewis Klahr, Robert Breer, Harry Smith and the crazy Naoyuki Tsuji and have taken a little bit from all of them. And I have favorite live-action feature directors, though it's less clear what I get from them inspirationally. Bresson is my favorite, for style; also I like Bergman; Eric Rohmer; Ozu; Bunuel. Number one favorite movie is WALKABOUT by Nicholas Roeg, followed by THE WILD CHILD of Truffaut. I am also very fond of your sleazy countryman Paul Verhoeven, especially STARSHIP TROOPERS.
- Can you say something about the techniques you used, such as the choice between
film and video, and the relation between image and sound?
I make films on 16mm because it is what I have always done. I can't warm up to digital techniques, although I recognize their versatility and convenience. It has little to do with the love of the 16mm medium per se, frankly. As for sound, I very much enjoy working on soundtracks. I don't know how to do digital sound work and so I
always work with sound editors (JC Loewe, for The Presentation Theme).
Sound always comes last, and I try to match the tone of the soundtrack to the primitiveness of the imagery, though in fact the soundtracks are highly finessed. Original music is new to me in this film. My adored girlfriend Caroline Nutley is a musician and her dreamy, theatrical compositions seemed just right for The Presentation Theme.
- Is it important for you that you film will be screened in a competition
programme?
I am happy to compete, but honestly it is not important to me.
- What is the audience you have in mind when you made The Presentation Theme?
I am pleased with my own particular niche as a filmmaker. Although I admire the rarified, hard-core avant-garde scene I don't really aspire to it and am content to be on its fringes. I like being a low-ball guy and I enjoy audience reaction. Sometimes I find out that a person has been upset by my films, but I don't relish that. I want people to like them, in fact, and to more-or-less understand them on the same level that I do, although I also like a certain baffling quality and to have the audience a couple of steps behind in comprehension, until the end. Of course, the audience for this kind
of filmmaking is self-selecting and I am happy that my audiences are usually attuned to my sensibility. My biggest complaint is people not laughing out loud at my jokes, perhaps for fear of hurting my feelings.
- Could you tell us something about the next project you will be
working on?
Yes, I am interested in the mythology of a certain New Guinea culture, called the Marind-anim, which I read about in a book called Dema by a Dutch anthropologist named Jan van Baal; and have been animating little sections of their stories. Their culture was rather extreme and I detect a theme of guilt in their mythology - for instance, the Marind-anim were headhunters, but the deity who invented headhunting in the mythic past is portrayed as a psychopath, a person (half wild pig, in fact) with no self control; to me, it suggests a deep uneasiness with themselves. Anyway, it will be long and complicated film. I am trying to tell the stories without voiceover narration, but I am not sure that will work.