Magnificent7 2012/5
The festival is over. The closing film sunday night January 29 was Whores’ Glory by Michael Glawogger, one of the most important documentarians of our time. There was almost a full house in the Sava Centre Cinema Hall, which means around 1500 people, who gave the director a warm applause for his, in own words, reflective representation of ”la condition humaine” as he put it in the 90 minutes Q&A after the film.
Glawogger can be strongly recommended to any kind of workshop or masterclass. He is not only a fine filmmaker in a classical way, he is also very articulated in his way of expressing, what he does. I am a filmmaker, not someone who is supposed to tell you whether I think prostitution is good or not, he said in Belgrade, stressing his non-moralistic approach. What I am offering you is a work of art, a unique insight to a world that few of us knows about. He brought up the topic that has been discussed in connection with other of his films – yes, I pay the people for what they are doing, and of course it is even more obvious to do so, when you deal with prostitutes for whom an interview should be paid for just as you pay for a blowjob.
How do you collaborate with your cameraman? We look for a story. The place we shoot must have a story in itself. We must give the room a clear definition and then develop a visual line.
I start filming when I sense that nothing is exotic any longer. But common. Not before.
Just a few examples of interesting pieces of food for thought from one of the directors who visited Magnificent7 in Belgrade 2012. When I left this morning the festival directors told me that the audience attendance had gone up again, as it has every year! Magnificent!
