Many festivals in the West have excellent PR and media representation, and organization of these festivals is excellent, but the essence of the art, which should be sought in films of that kind, is lost there, says Arthur Balder, the recipient of a Grand Prix at the 13th International Film Festival “First Frame” for his film “American Mirror: Intimations of Immortality.”
Arthur Balder, the recipient of a Grand Prix at the 13th International Film Festival “First Frame” for his film “American Mirror: Intimations of Immortality” says that when it comes to the film art, the West should pay more attention to what the countries of the East are talking about.
“As an example, I would say that many festivals in the West have excellent PR and media representation, but the essence of the art, which should be sought in such films, is lost there,” Balder told SRNA.
According to him, the most responsible people in film festivals in the West are professed managers, who are even members of juries.
These people, he points out, knows very little about art, so that it is even not worthy to take part in certain festivals.
Regarding the situation in documentary films of the present time, Balder says that the development of the technology enables the filming in almost every place and in almost every time, but, unfortunately, one forgets the fact that the creation of a film is an art.
“There are many festivals based on the fact that a documentary film is based exclusively on reality. In my opinion, by that, they are getting closer to the truth, but this is not a complete truth.
Every documentary brings in itself the author’s views. There is also a fact that a documentary film has increasingly become a means of pointing to problems, and by that, it can become politicized, so that in some cases, documentary films are becoming an extended hand of politics,” Balder explained.
He has stressed that the main message of his documentary, which won the first prize in East Sarajevo, of which, he says, he is particularly proud, is the present state of social media.
“I am fascinated by social media which have many positive aspects, but also many negative ones. The documentary is focused on photographs on social media, namely, on the fact that people have increasingly become slaves to such photographs.
People are trying to portray their families on social media in the best possible light, seeking approval from others, instead of searching for their values,” Balder explained.
Also, there is an aspect of internal beauty, and it is sad, he says, that people have increasingly identified with a virtual instead of a true reality, which is very dangerous.
“The First Frame Festival in East Sarajevo is worth of participation. I consider it to be one of the best quality festivals in the region. I am very glad that I won the Grand Prix, even though it was a great surprise for me. The festival’s jury was very professional given that jury members have never seen me in their life let alone spoken a word with me,” Balder said.
According to him, it is not only the award that is crucial but also the jury’s explanation, which in the best way demonstrated that they completely understood his film.
“This is why, as far as an artistic vision is concerned, I prefer taking part in festivals in the countries of the East. I hope I will again come to East Sarajevo,” Balder said.
The Grand Prix “Duke Pavle’s Steccak” for the best film at the 13th International Film Festival “First Frame” was awarded to the documentary “American Mirror: Intimations of Immortality” by Arthur Balder.
The jury assessed that the documentary exceeds boundaries and widens forms of a modern documentary, stressing that this is a dynamic, visually rich and cleverly directed film that leaves the public breathless and trilled long after the viewing.
This is the film that exceeds the genres and establishes its rules of film narration – concluded the jury.
Source: srna
