It doesn’t quite add up.

There are the many facets of Ryuichi Sakamoto, but putting them together, you still wouldn’t get a sense of who the man is.

He is both an icon of Japan’s 1980’s Bubble Era, and the one who moved beyond Japan and away from the spotlight, a consistent experimentalist and accidental sex-symbol.

Founding member of the influential band Yellow Magic Orchestra, Japan’s answer to Kraftwerk.

Musical innovator for over 30 years, mixing synthpop, Okinawan traditions, sampling, bossa nova….

Screen-mate of David Bowie in the cult film “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” / “Furyo.”

Film composer for Almodovar, Oshima, Bertolucci, Oliver Stone and Brian de Palma.

Collaborating with David Byrne, Brian Wilson, Youssou N’Dour and the Dalai Lama.
Appearing in Madonna’s “Rain” music video.
Sampled by Afrika Bambaataa…and Mariah Carey.

And last but not least, well before the Fukushima accident, a prominent activist in Japan’s anti-nuclear effort.

It doesn’t quite add up, and that’s really for the best, as we found out after spending an afternoon with him in New York City

Left: inspiration board. Right: Ryuichi Sakamoto. Photography by René Habermacher.

The Stimuleye: When did you first feel personally concerned with the nuclear issue?

Ryuchi Sakamoto: Probably I started feeling anxious about it around the time of Chernobyl. Then I encountered the facts about the nuclear reprocessing plant in the northern part of Japan called Rokkasho. It was 7 years ago, pretty recent.

It’s not a usual nuclear plant, it’s to re-use, re-process used radioactive wastes. Through the processing, you emit hundreds of time more radioactive materials than the usual nuclear plant does. You get 365 nuclear plants in 1 village. Very dangerous.

So I started a web campaign, called Stop Rokkasho, I asked Kraftwerk to give us a sound logo, and they did actually ! The pretty famous graphic designer Jonathan Barnbrook had his assistant design the webpage, which was very neat.

As a web campaign it succeeded, my friends – photographers, musicians, stylists, creative people got to know about this plant. We decided to make a Stop Rokkasho tshirt, we asked more than 50 designers to make a tshirt. They needed phrases, so I gave them “No Nukes. More Trees.”
Everybody loved it, especially the second line.
It’s very easy to understand, and no one can resist.

So, I decided to form a company called “More Trees”, it’s been 6 years, and we’ve been doing mainly conservation of Japanese forests. We have now 11 forests in Japan and 1 in Philippines.

TS: Last time I went to Japan, I was very lucky because after the shoot we went to Nara, to the forest sanctuary. The idea that the temple was not the temple itself but the forest behind the door, because people are worshipping the forest and the trees…

RS: Yes because the worship of mountains was probably the oldest tradition of Japan. So still now there are still gods on mountains, mountains are gods. In Japanese mythology, some gods are really wild. They break things, houses, they even betray their higher gods. Very human, like in the Greek mythology.

TS: Was Rokkasho your first political implication?

RS: The first activity of mine was probably in 2000, when famous musicians like Bono were doing the Jubilee to drop the debt on poorest 40 countries, mainly African countries. So I was asked to do the same thing, in Japan, and I did.

When the Iraq war started, I did chain music on my website – like a chain letter – I posted a very small piece of music, then I invited other musicians to continue the music, the result was an hour and half of music with 50 musicians involved.

Down "memory lane" at Ryuichi's studio in the West Village. Photography by René Habermacher

TS: What do you think is the role of the musician in politics, in general? Where is its place, and where should it not go?

RS: My position is that, activism is social and political, but I don’t want to deal with any existing political parties. I don’t want to support politicians – that’s the limit. There will be some results, what we do is influencing political parties, that’s ok because it’s not direct.

TS: And what has been the reaction in Japan to your campaign?

RS: Obviously, before the Fukushima accident in 2011, the majority of Japanese people were allergic to discussing the nuclear issue. That’s why the Stop Rokkasho campaign was targeted to creative people, not the mainstream people. I recognized there’s a big gap, a divide, between people who access to the internet every minute every day and those who don’t, and there’s a big gap, in terms of sharing of information.

It’s interesting that Japanese teenage girls, they all have a smartphone, “Smaphone” in Japanese, but don’t really access the internet.

Also I saw a few months ago, 70% of Japanese people believe mass media, in contrast of 40% of French people who believe mass media, so it’s a big difference. For the people in power, it’s much easier to control the Japanese people than the French people !

We thought for 2 years after the accident that Japanese society would change, until the big elections of December last year.

Some believed that the pro-nuclears were a “nuclear village,” but it’s not a village, but an empire. All the big businesses, the banks, huge companies, everybody is part of this empire, so it’s very rigid. Of course we knew it’d be hard to break it down…

Still, it became free-er than before to discuss it, and it’s encouraging that former Prime Minister Koizumi is talking about “zero nuclear”. Anyone can change their mind, anytime, it’s not too late !

[NB: This interview took place shortly before Japan’s national security law was introduced and passed]

Ryuichi at work in the studio. Photography René Habermacher

TS: You’ve lived through the “bubble years” and now there is a generation which has lived through “crisis” years, how do you see that?

RS: There is a slow change occurring since the turn of the century. Less and less young people will buy cars, that’s a big change as cars were a symbol of progress, prosperity, and the American empire. Since 1945 every Japanese want to have a car and a big refrigerator.

Before, Japanese people would work for a company that would own them, which is strange, like feudalism. Then in the last 10 years they started to think they worked for their own life, pleasure, joy. It’s new for the Japanese people.

I think there’s a big divide in the young generation.
There’s a very conservative, a bit nationalistic, pro-nuclear part.
There’s another part, less about social climbing, more about co-existing with nature.

TS: Do you think there’s a denial in Japan of what is happening in Fukushima?

RS: Definitely there’s a before and after the accident. The majority of Japanese people don’t want to speak about it.

But I was surprised to find out that a lot of people already left Tokyo or Kanto area ! To the West, to Okinawa, Kyushu… A lot of people started to live in Okinawa and they don’t speak up ! Of course I understand their concerns, younger couples, designers, musicians, not employees of big companies, as salarymen cannot move, and in this economic situation it’s difficult.

TS: It feels like Japanese culture starting in the 70’s had an international impact, through the 90’s, but in the last 10 years not so much. Is it because people are looking at Korea?

RS: I think people are always interest in newcomers, me included. Thailand definitely. Conflict between modernity and tradition creates interesting things. I myself feel the Korean culture and music is so energetic. Korean movies are amazing, I’m a huge fan of Kim Ki Duk.

Ryuichi Sakamoto by René Habermacher.

TS: Your former screen-mate David Bowie just did a campaign for Louis Vuitton, is this something you would do?

RS: t depends on how or what I think I would be cool. So yeah, it’s possible.

Actually one of More Trees’ forests is incorporated Louis Vuitton. We had a party in the forest, we brought all the press people nowhere in the forest, with Louis Vuitton, so they served the champagne…

TS: You were involved in the development of techno music, which was important to nightlife. Do you think the nightclub still has an important place in society?

RS: I don’t know, you may know about the situation in clubs in Japan ? No Dance Society. Police comes to arrest you if you dance. Dance is not allowed. I’m a big Pina Bausch fan, and I’ve used Pina’s voice, saying “Dance ! Dance !” in my opera from 1999, so I really support dance culture, dance as art.

Ryuichi Sakamoto by René Habermacher.

TS: What’s the next project you are working on?

RS: I am not sure… I have many ! Since the end of last year, I’ve been doing a lot in art. I kind of curated a big exhibition, at MOT (Modern Art Museum of Tokyo) which opened in December last year. Then we went to Georgia, to show our installation and to perform with Carsten Nicolai.

And this year is the 10th anniversary of the media center in Yamaguchi, YCAM. This media center is very unique, there’s nothing like it in Japan, just a few in the world. It’s a museum with a lab, a staff of 20, they make hardware and software booths according to artists’ needs – it’s amazing. I am showing 3 different installations in YCAM.

I’ve also been appointed director for Sapporo International Arts Festival, next year from July to September. Please come to Sapporo, it’s a beautiful city, the food is excellent, and nice beer.

Obviously, I was a big fan of modern art in the 60’s, Nam June Paik was my hero. I always loved art but didn’t work in the art world for decades. Now i’m working with artists and curators which is totally new for me. I went to visit the Venice Art Biennale this year, it was very interesting.

TS: What is the last thing which stimulated you?

RS: Those curators and artists, much younger than I am, is very stimulating. But looking at my own work, it’s already been 4 years since my last album, so i’ve decided to make new album next year.

Do you know Paul Claudel ? A French poet and playwright. He was a politician too, the French ambassador to Japan before the war. He saw Nô theatre, he understood it very deeply and wrote essays, and it helped me to understand Nô !

It’s a totally new to me. I studied Japanese music as an ethnic music, next to Asian and African music. I was more interested in African or Balinese music than Japanese music, but now it interests me.

Ryuichi Sakamoto Official

Stop Rokkasho

Ryuichi with his Andy Wahrol doll. Photography René Habermacher.

The headmistress unleashes the beast: Ariane Labed, French but Athens-born actress known from "Attenberg" 
and her favourite: Bekos, the beehive-tressed star-goat. Photo by René Habermacher

A sphinx above Hydra: Ariane Labed in midday heat on the terrasse of Tombazis manor. Photo by René Habermacher.

Between fortified walls of the mansion, shadows of the past and present terror of besetting obsessions:
young actresses Isolda Dychauk, Aurora Marion and crawling: Evangelia Randou. Photos by René Habermacher

Clémence Poésy in expectation of the headmistress. Photos by René Habermacher.

Routine at the boarding house: The line-up of disciples, top right Evangelia Randou, lower right: Sofia Dona.

Clémence Poésy confesses: "J’ai eu envie de mettre des bris de verre dans les chaussures d’Isolda." 
while her dominatrix is about to get more creative with punishments. Photo by René Habermacher.

Ariane at the onset of darkness, wearing a micro-robotic geared gown by Canadian designer Ying Gao,
for which Bekos the goat developed an immense appetite. Photo by René Habermacher.

One of Bekos's caprices: an endless hunger for attention, and bits and bites of the costumes. Photo by René Habermacher.

Posters for The Capsule: Design by Ania Goszczyńska with artwork of Aleksandra Waliszewska

the gaze of my cat upon me this morning”

Charlotte Rampling by Antoine Asseraf for Vogue.fr,

See the full interview on Charlotte Rampling’s exhibition at Maison Européenne de la Photographie on Vogue.fr.

That’s not really the first thing that comes to mind when you think about Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto.
Film costume designer, Hyères jury president, Y-3 sportswear line creator, musician and soon film director, not to mention one of the people who revolutionized fashion aesthetics, Yamamoto has done his share.

I had the pleasure of spending an evening backstage at his fashion show to get an exclusive peek for the new Joyce.com website.

 Antoine Asseraf for Joyce.com, interview by Lucienne Leung.

Thanks: Coralie Gaultier, Filep Motwary.

Starring Constantino Kouyialis & Loan Chabanol, styled by Michaela Dosamantes, and directed by Antoine Asseraf & René Habermacher.

Vogue Italia

Erotokritos

Norwegian Wood actress, Towai Tei-singer, and model Kiko Mizuhara lets us into her garden,
for Vivienne Tam.

MY GARDEN
a film by Antoine Asseraf & René Habermacher
for VIVIENNE TAM
starring KIKO MIZUHARA

concept
The Stimuleye

creative director
Hatsumi Yamada

production
Hiromi Otsuka
Flying Colors

postproduction
The Stimuleye

styling
Naoko Kikuchi

hair & make-up
Katsuya Kamo

Guy Maddin’s new project at Centre Pompidou, featuring Ariane Labed and other stars such as Mathieu Amalric, Amira Casar, Udo Kier and Charlotte Rampling, has all the right ingredients, and best of all, is open for all to see.

Collage by Galen Johnson for SPIRITISMES.

Cult Canadian film-maker Guy Maddin invites anyone in Paris or with an internet connection to follow him and his actors live as they meditate and then shoot lost, unreleased or unfinished films by the likes of Hitchcock and Eric von Stroheim…

More info on the Pompidou Center website.

Follow the shoot live with 3 cameras on the Nouveau Festival / Spiritismes website.

Introducing Ariane Labed in
ARIANE
an exclusive film by Justin Anderson,
in collaboration with THE STIMULEYE and Giorgio Armani,
and original pictures by René Habermacher.

 ARIANE, directed by Justin Anderson. Clothes - Giorgio Armani. Furniture - Armani Casa. Commissioned by THE STIMULEYE. 

Antoine Asseraf : Bonjour!

Ariane Labed:  Bonjour!

Are you currently in London ?

Yes, finally! I was supposed to move to London last September, but I’ve been moving around nonstop!

Do you often go back to Greece ?

I was in Greece in November to play with my troup VASISTAS, but now I’m more between Paris and London.

When did you first come to Greece, and what was your impression of the country at the time ?

I arrived in Greece 3 years ago, for a 9-month project of my troup with the National Theater of Athens, to put on a Faust.
I was born in Greece, lived there until I was 6, and I think I left part of my childhood there.

I dreamt of returning. When I met Argyro Chioti in college, a Greek theater director with whom we created the troup VASISTAS, I jumped onto the opportunity of going.

So instead of 9 months, I stayed for 3 years, meeting Athina [Rachel Tsangari] and Yorgos [Lanthimos] had something to do with hit.  Beyond a purely sentimental attachment to this country, I was impressed by all the artists I met and their urgent need to create. Without expectations of getting anything in return, beyond any judgement to which they could be subjected, beyond thinking about breaking even.

If I have just left, it’s only because I need to live in a country where I feel foreign, where I lose myself in the streets. That’s what I’m doing in London. The day where I won’t lose myself anymore, I will leave again.

But I will always return to Greece.

 Ariane Labed by René Habermacher.

The films of Yorgos Lanthimos and Athina Rachel Tsangari in which you starred have universal resonance, but we can nevertheless imagine that they come in a context, in reaction to precise things happening in Greek society: the influence of the Orthodox church (the impossibility of cremation), the need to break the myth of Greece as a postcard-perfect location (the desolate landscapes of Attenberg)…

As you said yourself the Greek audience doesn’t really support these films, and when reading the article in THE GUARDIAN regarding New Greek Cinema I found the comments left by the Greeks to be very virulent – do you think the films play a role in questioning Greek society ?

If Greeks have a difficulties situating themselves in films such as Dogtooth or Attenberg, it may be because they carry a truth about their country which hurts.

This young generation carries with them the failure of the previous generation, a generation who thought they offering through a notion of “progress”, and after the military dictatorship, a better life, without taking into account the contradictions of orthodox culture and the desire for revenge after several centuries of hardship when the Greek people were a strange gate to the East.

Being French, I love all these contradictions about Greece, but that is also where the complexity lies, and these are facets which the new generation denies or which the previous cannot accept.

What I also love in Greece is that it’s non-colonial, as luckily they could never afford to be colonial, but it is painful to see and hear the Greek racism against the recent wave of immigration. I think the Greeks are overwhelmed by a lot of things today, and it’s evidently linked to the government which “enjoyed” European aid for decades, including the Olympics of 2004.

Though all this is probably only the beginning of what is slowly happening all over Europe.

ATTENBERG by Rachel Athina Tsangari - Trailer. Best Actress award at 2010 Venice International festival.

The beautiful thing about this chaos is that, these artists, without means, who expect nothing from the government, find the strength to meet and trust each other enought to creat together.  That’s the case for HAOS, the production company created by Athina, which led to collaborations with Yorgos Lanthimos on DOGTOOTH and ALPS, and EMBROS, a new squat which just opened and brings together theater, danse, performance, critiques, writers, etc… Greek artists have never collaborated as much as they do today.

Of course the films of Athina [Rachel Tsangrai] and Yorgos [Lanthimos] carry and will continue to be denounced by a society which closes its eyes, much like other Western socities. That may be why they are recognized abroad but considered “weird” and barely tolerated in their home country.  The taboos touched upon in Attenberg – death, cremation, incestuous desire, lesbian sexuality, are topics on which one can hardly have a dialog in Greece.

But it is difficult for me to criticize Greece… Beyond the corruption of the government and the misery into which it has dragged the people, which I can intellectually denounce, there remains for me an unspeakable element, a vibration I feel only there. A chaos which I find appeasing.

 Ariane Labed by René Habermacher.

How did you live this experience of the “fashion film”, between actress and model, with Justin Anderson ?

I was quite reticent at first… but once I met Justin [Anderson] and he told me the concept, with the slow motion, I became quite excited. In the end it was a beautiful experience.

What are your current projects ? Can you tell me about your play with VASISTAS ?

The big news is that I’m about to shoot a film in France. The first film in my native tongue !

It took quite a while for people to figure out I’m French. My first 2 films, ATTENBERG and ALPS, are both in Greek, so everyone thought I was Greek. It doesn’t bother me at all, but really it’s quite a different exercise to play in a foreign tongue.

Congratulations. Are the plays with VASISTAS also in Greek ?

I’ve worked with my troup for 5 years now. We are 3 women: 1 Greek, 1 Mexican and myself. We met in college at Aix-en-Provence and created a troup. We work in different languages, centering on the body, on the impossibility of communicating with words. We don’t work from existing plays but rather from an editing of texts ranging from Deleuze to advertising… I play in French most of the time, but the text is there to relate to meaninglessness… My work is rather physical.

So it’s your own creations ?

Yes. The last show was called  “spectacle” [“show”]. www.vas.eu.com

This impossibility to communicate is also an important theme in Attenberg, your character is very physical but has difficulties communicating with others —did your theater experience push the role in this direction or was it already thought out this way ?

The writing of Attenberg didn’t change much…but it wasn’t written for a foreigner, so maybe inadvertently we pushed this Marina towards another manner of communicating. Certainly, with Athina we didn’t want to approach the character psychologically. There’s always a great deal of physicality in my approach.

 Ariane Labed by René Habermacher.

Where does this physicality come from, is it because you’ve practiced ballet, or did you practice ballet because it was in you ?

I did 10 years of classical ballet. I stopped when I was 16 because I could no longer stand the way the body was dealt with. It’s a strange contradiction, I was and remain persuaded that ballet is a sublime and fair form of expression, but I can’t deal with the instrumentalised body.  In ALPS, I play the role of a competitive gymnast, it was a superb challenge to have to return to this physical condition, and yet a real nightmare !

So you keep this tension within you, between the habits of ballet, the need to express yourself physically, and the rejection of the classical dance system….

Yes, something like that.

When we spoke for the first time by email over a year ago, I wasn’t aware that you were at the time going through a “reaction”.

Reaction?

Reaction, or crisis, ou questioning ?

Was it the reaction to cinema ? to the success of Attenberg ? or to the rigors of a gymnast’s discipline ?

Yes, it was shortly after my award in Venice… I was lost.  I did not know how to deal with anything — I didn’t expect and wasn’t prepared for such a level of display. I locked myself into work (the preparation of the role in ALPS) and fled the journalists. It took me a long time to realise that it could be a gift in my life.

That’s when I decided to get an agent in Paris to continue film-making.  When I made Attenberg, I didn’t think I had a place on a screen. I’d loved the shooting, but I couldn’t picture myself fitting in.  This award led me to hope I could continue, and now I only dream of shooting again.

Before Attenberg, was there something you found repulsive in cinema, or was it an attachment to the physicality of theater ?

I didn’t think you could find the intensity you have in front of the public. That moment when you lose the notion of time.

And paradoxically what troubled you after Attenberg was the intensity of the public scrutiny !

Being exposed in a work of art has nothing to do with being exposed as yourself holding a world cup trophy.

I can be naked, raw, give myself completely for a scene or a film, but to expose myself as Ariane Labed in the press is something I find completely uninteresting.

ALPS by Yorgos Lanthimos - trailer. Best Screenplay at 2011 Venice International festival.

So it’s rather the status of the “star” that troubles you rather than shooting itself ?

Shooting is sublime. But I’m not sure of what the actress’ status is. I don’t think there’s a rule. It’s a crazy job, and I hope you can go about it your own way. At least that’s what I’m trying to do.

You returned to Venice for ALPS, which won the prize for Best Scenario, how was it this time ?

It was a holiday ! I took a lot of pleasure, and I was very happy for Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filipou [the writers].

Let’s quickly talk about ALPS – when does the film come out ?

In France I’m not sure, but in the UK in the Spring.

How was this second film for you ?

I was afraid. After the success of Attenberg, I put a lot of pressure on myself… I was telling myself again that maybe Tarantino was wrong, maybe I shouldn’t be on screens anymore….but it helped me to work even more.  It was a small role in ALPS, but which required 3 months of intense preparation, so I tried to make the most of shooting days and give my best. It was a very different experience.  Yorgos doesn’t work like Athina at all, he leaves the actors with a lot of doubt, and captures everything that slips through.

Poster for WASTED YOUTH

It’s the late days of summer 2011. A handful of Athenians, foreigners and expats mingle on Antiparos, a small island in the wide open of the blue Aegean. Athens is far and its troublesome agenda on a halt.
As the night falls scenting the breeze with jasmine, the open air cinema Oliaros, a local institution, announces tonight’s screening with notices on poles and walls: WASTED YOUTH, the film that earlier this year had opened Rotterdams Film Festival. The film’s director, Argyris Papadimitropoulos, hands stickers to the arriving guests: WASTED, MALAKA (wanker), YOUTH, LOVE….

The film is set during a hot summer day in Athens. Much like the city itself, exhausted, confused, unable to make any progress, brimming with desperation and aggression, there is Vasilis, a middle-aged man struggling with the mounting stress to cater his family. On the other side Harry, a sixteen-year-old skater. He and his friends are amusing themselves and wasting time away. Their lives intersect in a contemporary portrait of the city of Athens and a society in crisis.

Left: director Argyris Papadimitropoulos at Antiparos and right: Poster of cinema Oliaros with MALAKA sticker

RENÉ HABERMACHER: How did that screening at the open air cinema come together?

ARGYRIS PAPADIMITROPOULOS: I am a regular there so I know the guys of Oliaros cinema since… forever. They asked me to do a screening and although I was not allowed to do so by my distributors – In Greece films are supposed to have two runs since we have this open air cinema tradition still alive and very popular – I couldn’t say no. I just love this tiny cinema, and the fact that it is free for everybody to watch the films. There are Greek islands much bigger in population who do not have a cinema and that’s sad.

There’s such a huge part of me and my adolescence in WASTED YOUTH that in every screening I still feel kind of weird… weird in a good way. Since I re-lived my teenage years by shooting this film I feel so exposed. It’s strange telling unknown people so many things about myself. But that’s the magic of it, isn’t it?

WASTED YOUTH had its world premiere in Rotterdam Film Festival in January 2011 and was also honoured to be the opening film. Since then it was screened in more than 30 festivals around the world. In some of the best actually. It was a great year, I spent much of it traveling and presenting the film.
We signed with Elephant Eye Films in New York to represent WASTED YOUTH for world sales. For such a tiny budget film I can loudly say: we did great.

Trailer of WASTED YOUTH

R: How was the film generally received by the international audience?

A: I’m more than happy with the comments audience and critics wrote about it.
Screen International described it as “lush, evocative and impressively shot” (laughs).

By its career you can tell that the film was received excellent. The audience loved it and the few that hated it, were the ones that gave me the chance to talk, start a discussion, which back in the beginning was the main intention for the film.
I was with my friend and co-author Jan Vogel and we were saying that we need to make a film about these crazy days we are going through and that we need to do it NOW. Some films are made with a sense of urgency. We actually didn’t spent any time writing scripts or searching for funding, but found our amateur teen guys and a couple of good actors and started improvising on a few pages, something like a synopsis. WASTED YOUTH was privately funded by friends and is what you would call 100% indie.

R: So it was pretty much a “hit and run”?

A: It was a hit and run urban guerilla thing but shot on film (!), not digital.

Over the edge: Still from the movie WASTED YOUTH: Harry (Harris Markou) skates in the empty pool of his parents friend.

R: I really liked the scene in the very beginning when the boy wakes up in the morning, somewhere in this modernist building…. that whole sequence to the skating in the empty pool felt really strong… like frozen time.

A: That was our intention. We wanted to go through all the different people, classes etc in the modern greek society.
So the kid wakes up in a house of a lady with what we call “old money” and starts his day under the surface of the earth.
We wanted to have our little symbolisms without making a mind-fuck film.
There a second levels, second readings etc but only for those who want to read them.
I hate the films that are so personal that you will not get them unless you are the person itself (laughs).
I love stories.
I hate smart ass films.

R: In my eyes your film looked very authentic- which is quite difficult to achieve.

A: Glad to hear! That was what we wanted to do: a spontaneous film!

R: In a way it also gives a beautiful portrait of the city. How do you like Athens?

A: I love Athens. It’s the place that i was born and I know it as the back of my hand. Athens is a character itself in the film. Its chaotic , crazy and sadly neglected.
It’s the old whore that people love to hate but they love paying a visit. Athens needs a bit of love from the people that fuck her everyday.

Argyris getting down with more from the spit

SPOILER ALERT(for the affectionate reader who has not seen the film yet, please skip this part)

R: I was quite surprised at the end when the final “shot” was triggered by the other police man

A: by that I wanted to say that anybody would have done it.
I wouldn’t like the audience to leave the screening and feel sorry about a killer,
since the cops carry guns one day they will trigger them.

R: Thats why you left him blank? as a character

A: True, if by blank you mean what I mean.

END SPOILER ALERT

Still from WASTED YOUTH: Athens

R: The Guardian wrote an article on what they call the “weird wave of Greek cinema”…

A: the fact that the Guardian ran a huge piece on Greek films is already impressive.
A few years back they wouldn’t spend ink on this. That means that there’s something great being born here. I wouldn’t call it a wave and wouldn’t rush to give it names but you can smell something good is going on. There’s no surprise anymore when you see a Greek film in the list of a great festival.
Berlin, Rotterdam, Cannes, Locarno, Venice, Sundance, you name it.
Critisism is there and will always be, there are some people that are sceptical about whatever new is going on and others that want to kill it before it even gets born.
People are not ready for changes, you know.

It seems like when societies are on the edge, edgy things come out of their arts. Remember Argentina, Romania and so on.

What was happening in Greece the last 25 years, let’s say from the early 80’s till the olympics was a fake paradise:
a fake prosperity with fake money, fake happyness, fake tits, fake, fake, fake …

A fake new identity that never made it to the core of neither our souls nor our society – it collapsed in a few days.
One day they told people we are in crisis and people believed it the same day, so there were no solid foundations in this “new order” that was fakely established.

Still from WASTED YOUTH

R: To come back to one of the most interesting things about the article of the Guardian, it were the comments by fellow Greeks being often malevolent, accusing the directors of plagiarism in the case of Dogtooth, or calling the films “a product of mental health problems”.

A: hahaha! that’s great fun.
People cannot accept themselves. When somebody puts a mirror in front of them they can’t cope.
A product of “mental health problems” is the society we use to live in, so are the films as they are suppose to reflect the society.
As for the plagiarism: I would just say that there were very few people saying so, but they created a huge buzz. These people are the ones that do not like the success of someone else because they are stuck in their thing.

The greatest festivals in the world are not stupid to have a work of plagiarism in their catalogue.
Also, plagiarism in art is a huge topic that it is almost impossible to discuss: almost every great artist was accused of that!

Argyris at his favorite souvlaki place in Antiparos.

R: I thought this was a very typical reaction. In a recent article for Vanity Fair Michael Lewis puts it like that:
Individual Greeks are delightful: funny, warm, smart, and good company. I left two dozen interviews saying to myself, “What great people!” They do not share the sentiment about one another: the hardest thing to do in Greece is to get one Greek to compliment another behind his back. No success of any kind is regarded without suspicion.

A: I wouldn’t agree. If you look at the end credit of all this films that made it to the great festivals the last few years, you will realise that everybody helped on each others work. Greeks are easy target to be accused for almost anything since we have this fucked up temper. But on the other hand you can tell that there is still solidarity and support between most of my fellow greek film makers for example.

R: What are you working on next?

A: I write a couple of scripts with friends. Things are hard these days but we’ll keep trying.
I would like every film I make to be so much different from the other. I would also love to make a film abroad, although I love Athens.
Paris, London, Berlin, New York, Rio, Buenos Aires – there are stories everywhere that i would love to tell…

Still from the movie WASTED YOUTH: Harry (Harris Markou)

Directed by Antoine Asseraf & René Habermacher
Starring Amy Bailey

Marios Schwab
Style.com show pictures and review
Vogue.it – A Short Film With

As she appears in his upcoming film, THE BELOVED as well as Lee Tamahori’s DEVIL’S DOUBLE, we were commissioned to do an interview and video portrait we did for Vogue Italia, out on August 1st 2011. Here is an exclusive teaser out-take, where Ludivine plays for us the imagined role of TERMINATRICE, in a Versace dress.

TERMINATRICE. Music OUTLANDS by Daft Punk.

Set to Daft Punk’s TRON soundtrack, TERMINATRICE is one of the 5 teasers René and I directed for the video portrait of Ludivine. Set in the new and newly-starred Jean-François Piège gastronomic restaurant (designed by India Mahdavi and M/M) and adjoining Thoumieux hotel, Ludivine offered to us one very full day of her very full schedule between 2 trips to Cannes…

The last thing that stimulated her ? Meeting Robert de Niro.
More on August 1st.

DREAM. Music ANTIPHONIE by Discodeine. Dress, Valentino. Launched on Un Nouveau Ideal. 

ALIEN. Music GLASS JAR by Gang Gang Dance. Trench, Burberry. Launched on Fashion Copious. 

CRISE. Music SECRETLY by Skung Anansie. Dress, Fendi. Launched on Jules Fashion. 

IT GIRL. Music YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN by Cults. Top, Giambatista Valli. Launched on Hiromi's Journal inTime. 

DIRECTED by Antoine Asseraf & René Habermacher

STYLED by Lydia Lobe Elessa
Assisted by Edwina Ramade

HAIR by Karin Bigler @ D and V
MAKE-UP by Yacine Diallo @ Artlist

PRODUCTION The Stimuleye
Production Assistant – Lynsey Peisinger

FILMED AT Hotel Thoumieux, Paris

THANK YOU
Jean-François Piège
Lisa Kajita
First Floor

Who is hiding behind those Prada shades ? What is she doing ? Will she get caught ?

THE STIMULEYE
presents

A Short Film With
JAMIN PUECH

for
VOGUE ITALIA

LA MAIN DANS LE SAC
“Caught red-handed”

Directed by
Antoine Asseraf & René Habermacher

Styling by
Michaela Dosamantes
Assisted by
Alexia Hollinger

Starring
Quinta Witzel @ IMG Paris

Make-Up
Tracy Alfajora

Hair
Romina Manenti @ Airport
Assisted by
Masako Hayashi

Filmed at
Prunier, Paris

Music by
Shane Aspegren & Lori Schonberg
of
The Berg Sans Nipple

Thank You:
Lisa Kajita
Nicolas Barruyer
Erotokritos Antoniadis
Yoann Lemoine

And yet they are releasing their third fashion film superproduction, IS THIS REAL LIFE for designers Mastori and Motwary, on Vogue Italia; and doing the cover story for UNDER THE INFLUENCE, out on Friday.

They are… Suzie Q and Leo Siboni.

THE HEALING POWER OF ELECTRICITY, in UNDER THE INFLUENCE magazine, by Suzie Q & Leo Siboni.

Antoine Asseraf: how did the two of you meet ?
Suzie Q & Leo Siboni: We met while studying at Ecole des Gobelins, Paris, in 2005. At first we helped each other out for our personal projects, and then in 2007 we started working together.

And what was your first project as a duo ?
It was a photo series for the fashion magazine DOUBLE, named SCREENPLAY. We used different films by John Ford, projected as a background.

The idea was to establish a relationship between John Wayne and the model.

SCREENPLAY, by Suzie Q & Leo Siboni.

At Gobelins, did you both study photography ? And why did you start with fashion photography ?
Yes, we both studied photography. For us fashion is a way to experiment, fashion imagery is about mise-en-scène, putting the clothes forward.

Paradoxically, what we like the most are the constraints.

It helps you create, pressures you to act quickly. It’s rather intense.

Funny that your photo series should be about cinema…
Cinema inspires us a lot. We work more and more with the idea of an image within the image, of a certain depth, a frame within the frame. In the end I think we’re attached to the idea of the screen.

If I’ve understood correctly, since you graduated from Gobelins, one of you started working while the other kept studying by doing a program at the Paris Beaux-Arts ?

Leo: Yes, Suzie works on sculptures and installations, while I’m working on some cinema projects.

PURSUIT, by Suzie Q & Leo Siboni.

Let’s get back to your first big project, PURSUIT. How did this come about ?
Well we had just won the Picto prize for Screenplay. We won the opportunity to do an exhibit at Passage du Désir / BETC, so we decided to make a film for this exhibit. We’d been thinking about making a video fashion editorial for a while.

PURSUIT is inspired by a sequence in DIE HARD with Bruce Willis. It’s a bit of a remake, but with models instead of actors, and a banquet room instead of the Nakatomi building set.  We thought the original scene was very fashion – the character is walking on the table as on catwalk.

And then we played with cuts, changing the clothes in the midst of the scene. You can see the girls are changing outfits all the time.

We wanted to have the ability to extract images directly from the film, so we worked on a RED system, which allows the film stills to be very high res.

And how do young graduates like you get hold of RED system, how did you even know about it then ?
Leo: At the time I was a digital assistant, I was interested in technical equipment, the newest types of cameras. One day, talking to this guy, I said “Imagine one day, it’ll be awesome, we’ll be able to get hi-res stills from films.” And he told me it already existed, it was called RED.

So given that we had an exhibit bringing an audience of 600 people on the ground floor of a major advertising agency, we set up a partnership.

PURSUIT, by Suzie Q & Leo Siboni.

Clever. Was it natural for you, going from photo to video ?
Leo: Yes we already had experience, from school and from some experimental films I made on my own.

Suzie and I watch a lot of films which helps, but the big difference with photo, is that you are really working with a big team, so everything must be thought out ahead of time, or else it doesn’t work.

When I came to you to make a film for Light Series in Milano, I would have never imagined something as strong as BLACK LIGHT… what happened between the 2 films ?
Well PURSUIT allowed to be discovered by a production company, Moonwalk films, which was a real help. They helped us making BLACK LIGHT – casting, post production, etc. They also helped us get a crane for 2 days of shooting. It’s important to have a producer that believes in what you do and is willing to help.

BLACK LIGHT, by Suzie Q & Leo Siboni.

What was the inspiration for BLACK LIGHT ? It reminded me of DOGVILLE, but then there’s this light installation at the end…
DOGVILLE inspired us for the set.
The rails are inspired by Carlos Reygadas’ fim JAPAN.

The light installation however… We were both assitants to different photographers for several years, so I think it’s an accumulation of different things. Black lighting was mostly a way of showing the clothes in a different way. Then we had to find how to go from black light to normal light, so we were tempted to make the link with lightning, as if there was a storm.

I remember the 1 minute format frustrated you at first, and yet this duration, which is a bit like advertising, made many of the Light Series films stronger. Do you feel at ease in the advertising format, or you feel drawn to the feature film.
In the end it’s interesting to concentrate and boil it down to the essentials.

Still from IS THIS REAL LIFE by Suzie Q & Leo Siboni, for Mastori & Motwary's NUPTIALIS project.

So now let’s talk about this new project, IS THIS REAL LIFE. I know that Filep contacted you to make a film around his NUPTIALIS dress — what in his universe interested you ?
We accepted the project because we thought it was a challenge, the dress already tells so much by itself, it’s very detailed, impressive. We created a simple universe to let the dress stand out, it’s almost a character in itself.

There’s something very Lynch-esque in the film, some LOST HIGHWAY references, what were your other references ?
The little girl made me think of Mr OIzo/Quentin Dupieux’s RUBBER.
Well,  KISS ME DEADLY and TERMINATOR 2. I haven’t seen RUBBER.

Well in RUBBER there is this notion of screen within the screen, you have the film characters, but also a group of spectators who are abused but nonetheless try to follow the plot, and it’s not always clear who can and cannot “see” the spectators.
That’s interesting, I’m going to have a look at it…

We’ve been wanting to put the spectator inside the film for a while now, to create a distance and a touch of humor.

Still from IS THIS REAL LIFE by Suzie Q & Leo Siboni, for Maria Mastori & Filep Motwary's NUPTIALIS.

Let’s talk about humor and dialogs actually, they are both rare elements in fashion – there’s usually no talking and not much fun.
It’s your first time using dialogs, correct ?
Yes it’s the first time with dialogs and intentional humor… though some people were laughing in front of PURSUIT, maybe because it was a remake… We wanted to start introducing that dimension even if there aren’t a lot, they’re not meant to be taken too seriously, they act more as a reminder that fashion is a fictional universe, sometimes surreal.

BENJAMIN ESSER by Suzie Q & Leo Siboni, for Levis'.

Do you continue working on print as well ?
In pring advertising we’ve worked with Levis’, Rolex and Mango. For editorial we work with Double and now we just did a series for UNDER THE INFLUENCE.

UNDER THE INFLUENCE magazine, cover by Suzie Q & Leo Siboni.

Like BLACK LIGHT, this series integrates Suzie’s installation work…
Suzie: It’s the result of different ideas we had shared, I’m quite sensitive to the universe of theater in my art, but it was Leo who thought of having tinted mirrors.

I think it’s interesting because it works in a purely photo context, without the cinema aspect of your previous work.
Do you think you could make a fim without a story ?
Well there is still the idea of the screen within the screen.

But making a film without a story means relying entirely on aesthetics, while Cinema is an aesthetic at the service of a narrative.

The last thing which stimulated you ?
SERPICO by Sydney Lumet. Great film.

IS THIS REAL LIFE on Vogue Italia

UNDER THE INFLUENCE,
La Folie issue,
out July 1st, 2011

He has a bum fetish, just like everyone else.

BIKE by Justin Anderson, for Armani Jeans. Still by René Habermacher.

Antoine Asseraf: What is the last thing that stimulated you ?
Justin Anderson: On Friday night – I watched a film by Jean Pierre Melville – ARMY OF SHADOWS.

It had a big effect on me.  It is brutal but very paired down without any melodrama. None of the actors either particularly young or good looking, the direction is tight and  the subject really tough. It is about the French resistance to German occupation – it is about death, betrayal and torture.

The film was gripping was absolutely masterful. What I love is that I discovered this film because I loved the way Alain Delon looked in LE FLIC in his raincoat – which then led me to such a film. I feel very lucky to live in a time in which it is so easy to discover these kinds of gems and I love the fluid way you can to move from one to the other.

So, which would you say are you main influences in film-making – classic films such as the ones you just mentioned, or more experimental fare ?
All kinds of image making influence me particularly fine art – which is how I trained. I would say the paintings of Fontana, Morandi, Barnett Newman, Stella, Ryman, the sculptures of Brancusi, Donald Judd artist like Walter de Maria. Dan Graham, Bruce Nauman were particular influence to me. These have all impacted on my filmmaking as much or more so than other film makers because that is what I studied for years. I suppose my taste currently in film making are as you say classics. I was hugely influenced by Buñuel when I was introduced to it as a 14 year old boy by a very good art teacher at school – he knew exactly how to stimulate a 14 year old boy.

Currently I working my way through the classic European film makers of the last century, Bergman, Antonioni, Chabrol, Renoir and recently Melville. Having not studied film I feel like I have a lot to catch up on.

UNTITLED VIDEO STILL by Justin Anderson. Courtesy of Gerwerbe Karl Marx Gallery, Berlin.

So how did you transition from fine art – painting if I’m correct – to video ?
I started working in video quite along time ago whilst still studying at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. The work was structuralist and minimal – I chewed gum live on television for 5 minutes, made a video in NYC where I drew the lines of a huge tennis court across midtown Manhattan and the dove them with a camera attached to the roof of a car. The video camera was moved through space like making a drawing – instead of leaving a marking on the space you were recording what is there.

I made a video of a guy dressed in protective sports gear standing against a wall and shouting “Just do it” in German whilst I served tennis balls at him as hard as I could. It was quite violent (our friendship ended soon after!).

At the time I was making very large paintings of  the lines on parts of sports courts- it all seemed to flow from one to another- the video camera was just another from of mark making. The videos had virtually no editing and certainly no close ups or variants in the shots.

Was it a long time between the time you started working with video and your first commercial video job?
Also it’s interesting that you had no editing at first because it seems that now it’s one of your strengths…
No I was very lucky – I came back to London from Amsterdam and a friend hooked me up with a guy who worked in an ad agency (called BBH, I had never heard of it) to help cut my videos into some kind of showreel. He was very kind and we spent the night sitting in a little room that smelt of boys and pizza. The next day he called me up and asked me if I would like to make something for Levi’s. I started editing straight away on this job – I have always felt that editing is quite like painting – it is question of throwing on image on top of another, sometimes very gently other times not gently at all.

And after that did you continue making videos in a fine-art context ?
I did but less so – the focus was less and less on the art context. The gallery thing became less important – I drifted away from the art world.  I made some shorts showed in experimental film nights, Raindance festival, that kind of thing. When I look at some of my peers from art school like Martin Creed or Michael Raedecker, I feel very pleased that some people carried on in that context and made a real success of it but I drifted away from the career artist and what that means in terms of the art world.

I think my approach to editing is somewhat unschooled and a bit brutal – I don’t really think of it as knowledge, sometimes I feel like I am hitting the timeline with a big stick. But I think it probably affects my relationship with a DOP because as editor and director I sit either side of the DOP in the process and it is like being two people.

MORANTE DE LA PUEBLA by Justin Anderson. Courtesy of Photographers' Gallery, London.

Do you ever do the filming yourself, without a DoP ?
I certainly have done – my framing is quite specific, I shoot stills and know a little about lighting. However I would always prefer to use a DOP – filmmaking is so much about team work and I would rather have a good team.

Art direction is a job I found most difficult to delegate- my idea is very specific and haven’t yet figure out how to explain it instead of just doing it myself. I hope in time that will come and I will be able to work with people who bring unexpected and interesting things that I could never think of.

After that Levi’s experience, did you do anything fashion related before House of Flora, which (correct me if I’m wrong) was your first fashion film ?
I did quite a lot of work for Levi’s in the end and also some work for Ferragamo – at one point I almost convinced them to let me shoot their catwalk show in 16mm film – they were convinced by the idea – my pitch was that all catwalk shows were shot in exactly the same way and we could make something really fantastic that would stand out. The reason they didn’t end up doing it was because they didn’t know what they would do the following season. At the time they had Ray Charles playing live at the show so I don’t think budget was the problem, it might have just been too early for the fashion film.

Why fashion ?
On a personal level I have always loved fashion – as a very small child I spayed my building blocks silver and cellotaped to the bottoms of my shoes to make them into platforms. As a filmaker I love the opportunity fashion allows – its extremity, its humour, its craft and formalism, its sensuality and irreverence and its absolute and unashamed pursuit of beauty.

I think we are in a very lucky time, to be filmakers at the birth of such a thing.
My ambition is to push it as far as I can whilst (just) staying on the right side of pretentious!

LEVIS' RED TAB / LOS ANGELES by Justin Anderson for Levis'. Agency BBH.

So actually you had done quite a few fashion – related things before House of Flora – why do you think the pace has picked up since that film which was what, 2008 ?
Many things. Clearly a large part of it technology driven – the ability to stream quality moving image and therefore websites becoming like moving magazines. Cheaper cameras and editing equipment has meant the entry level is much lower rather film making being the preserve of the super big budgets. The price of catwalk shows though I am not sure it will ever replace these and because it’s fashion… It is a thing, it is fashionable and a fantastic way to show clothes, accessories shoes etc etc.

It is really the perfect medium- the real surprise is why it has taken so long. They are a  few beautiful older ones the YSL films in Marrakech and obviously an innovator like Hussien Chalayan has been at it for quite some time but for the most it is as you know just a few years old.  What will be interesting is how all these megabites of fashion content flying around will effect the industry – it is becoming the new MTV…. maybe the next generation will be talking about Chalayan instead of Jay-Z?

I think Lady Gaga is on to something – her fashion is a lot more interesting than the music. The same argument could be said of Madonna but I think the music and the fashion went closer hand in hand.

(smily face)

I agree that right now, music videos are probably the best things to compare to fashion film to better understand them.

For example music videos started as just recordings of live performances, just as fashion film started as recordings of fashion shows, and in both cases we don’t expect the live event to go anywhere soon…

Fashion film is in its infancy right now so i think it’s exciting because it could still go in a lot of different directions, there are very few imposed rules. But do you have any rules you impose on yourself when you make a (fashion) film ?
I agree there are very few rules and that is fantastic but the lack of structure can cause it’s own set of possible problems. My personal fear is that my work would be pretentious or boring, so that is probably my self-imposed rule. The lack of structure makes it much too easy to fall into this trap and the line between interesting/strange and dull/ pretentious can be very thin. Sometimes I use humour to try and keep things moving in the right direction – this I think comes right out of the Bunuelian tradition.

Dadaists and Surrealists used humour to subvert the establishment after the horrors of the first World War – that’s me being pretentious!

LEVIS' RED TAB / LOS ANGELES by Justin Anderson for Levis'. Agency BBH.

Certainly there seems to be a lot of less than exciting fashion films out there – why do think that is ?
Do you think with fashion film we’ll see a return of humour in fashion ?
I think there are just a lot of fashion films out there and whether they are exciting or not I am not sure – what I do know is that I would gladly never sit though another dream sequence.

As for humour I think there is a lot of it and has always been there.  Giles deacon a designer I would love to work with has a lot of humour – Marc Jacobs LV show was hilarious in a really fantastic way.

Hookers, chambermaids, wives and mistresses in luxury clothes in a hotel.

BIKE by Justin Anderson, for Armani Jeans. The Stimuleye project.

Regarding humour I’ve noticed indeed that you are often quite cheeky – both figuratively and literally… let’s be frank now, do you have a bum fetish ?
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t want to have a quick look if they see a great arse walking down the street. I count everyone man/ woman/ gay/ straight/ bi. I think I am just exploring that with the camera frame in which there is nowhere to hide from that fact that you are staring at somebody’s butt! However I don’t want to be stuck with one part of the body though… There is lots more to explore.

(smily face)

So do you think fashion films are going to need to be more careful about plot devices or narrative — are we going to see fashion film scriptwriters ?
Because it doesn’t seem music videos ever developed that – and yet saying that I can’t remember a video since Thriller that has used the dream sequence…
We should be careful about taking the music video analogy too literally as most songs already have a story attached – I think as fashion films grow there will inevitable be developments but not necessarily plot as such but an idea always goes along way. Weirdly at the moment some of the most interesting work I think is still coming from a fairly traditional ad campaign idea WE ARE ANIMALS, by Wrangler – the idea is strong so you can throw somebody out of  a window- set fire to them- stick them in a swamp, it all seems to work pretty well.

But I feel like something like this is very “advertising”, concept-driven. For print at least, fashion (and high fashion especially) has tried to stay away from such concepts (with the notable exception of Diesel of course), as if ideas were the enemy of beauty, trying to stay in purely visual moods… you don’t think they can sustain that with film ?

In print the editorial story has provided a great frame work for ideas.  I am thinking about the “nunhead” story for POP a few years ago and Klein’s Vogue Italia rehab shoot that certainly stick out. A film can certainly be sustained on purely strong visual moods but I count those as ideas too. What I am not sure is enough is a beautiful girl or guy – beautiful clothes and beautiful lighting.

DRESS NUMBER ONE by Justin Anderson, for House Of Flora. Part of SHOWstudio Futuretense series.

Let’s move on to the first film of yours which I saw, The House of Flora film which was part of SHOWstudio’s Future Tense series.
The first House of Flora project came about through chance, friendship and sublet. I was subletting part of a studio for painting which was where House of Flora was. They were drilling plastic, designing dresses whilst I was making abstract paintings- I didn’t want to share a studio with another painter I thought it would be more interesting to converse across another discipline.

Alex Fury at Showstudio had asked HOF to submit a film so the project evolved from a conversation that went something like. “Do you want to make a film?” ” Yes.”

This film was called Dress No 1 and was something of a success.  It was shot with natural light- the sun shone all day and the shoot was one of those one where everything goes  just right. Luck I think.

The next season we decided to make Dress number 2 and I started to try different things with lighting and using two locations. We shot half in an office of an Architect Will Alsop- in fact the stationary cupboard and half in the printing workshop at Middlesex University. I also started to work very closely with music and sound design. I work with the same guy and have done so since dress No 1- Pete Diggens- the process is often hard and sometimes even torturous- (for him not me), because describing sound can be very difficult but I think some of the best results have come form some very hard tough work. The collaboration element here is very important for me – going forward my wish is build relationships with DOP’s, Art directors etc in the same way.

DRESS NUMBER TWO - LETTERHEAD by Justin Anderson, for House Of Flora.

I remember being impressed by Dress Number 2 – Dress 1 was striking in its framing, editing and sound, but Dress Number 2 had an intensity to it, maybe due to the image quality ?? Anyway, then you had a big success with Chore, which was launched on Vogue UK…
Chore was a very important step for me – we shot it with what I would call a full size crew –  about 25 people and this makes everything entirety different. Much slower but also more precise and considered – the slowness means that you cannot shoot as much but it also allows you time to work with the shapes- which is something I really like. We shot on 16mm in two days and I made sure I had a large female element to the crew. I didn’t want the film to feel like a whole load of boys perving at a girl’s butt, It was very important to be girl sexy not just some cheap male fantasy.

Also the subject Lingerie is full of cliché- so I was very determined to try and approach this subject in an original way. I all wanted to be sexy but not seedy so I have to tread a very careful line between perversion and perversion. Humour was an important element to keeping this film light on it’s feet whilst indulging the long very obvious butt shots!

When Chore launched it moved very fast- almost crashing the vogue site, got to 48,000 hits on you tube very quickly before someone in the US decided it was too hot.. And has now had over 1 million hits – which I great for a film that was never seeded. I am however not naive enough to think  that this is just because of my filmmaking genius!

CHORE by Justin Anderson, for Damaris.

I thought you did a brilliant job of taking the lingerie genre, turning it on its head, while still giving the audience what they came for… I thought also the humour was well managed, because it sex and humour can be a very strange mix — how do you feel about Benny Hill by the way ?
When I first left Art School I worked for an artist who had a studio in Teddington – just outside London. Benny Hill lived just around the corner and we always used to joke that we might see him walking down the street with a string of Sausages on the way back from the butcher followed by a pack of Dachshunds. Of course we never saw him but the image was always there.

I do love humour and maybe there is something of the Bunuelian in Benny Hill too.

A POEM FOR A, by Justin Anderson, part of ASVOFF Light Series.

Nice.

But then, soon after Chore, is when I approached you with the Light Series brief, for which you did “A Poem For A” – a completely different universe. How did the idea of the poem come about ?
War played its part.

The brief was tough – because all film is about light.  I started to think about making  a dark film with cracks of light, that kind of white light you have creeping through when you try and keep a room cool a hot climate. I used a dress by Roksanda Ilincic which I really loved and cast a very beautiful black girl to also contrast the light colour of the fabric. The dress reminded me of 70’s YSL and then I stumbled on a poem that was written in Paris is 1974.

It was written by Harold Pinter about his then lover and subsequent wife Lady Antonia Fraser. I was never a huge fan of Harold Pinter really because I didn’t know him until I saw him give a speech in Hyde Park on an anti-Gulf war march. His speech was one of those great moments, he had so much fire and fury in his belly that it still burns for me.

‘The United States  is a monster out of control. Unless we challenge it with absolute determination  American barbarism will destroy the world. The country is run by a bunch  of criminal lunatics, with Blair as their hired Christian thug…’

Since that moment I followed Pinters politics and then sadly  his ‘progess’ with cancer.  this Poem I saw read by  a bunch of actors at a tribute to him after his death. I found it quite moving because it was a love Poem by a man who had be famed for being very caustic. Again the opposite. A tender moment from the firey old bastard.

That film had 2 elements which I particularly liked.  First, as for Chore, the sound design seemed less music noise and more like “sculpted noise” which worked really well.

Then, I thought it was refreshing to have graphic and textual elements in film, to contrast with the image…
Sound is really important- I work very closely with a guy called Pete Diggens. His approach to sound is very close to the graphic textual elements you are talking about.  We spend a lot of time using adjectives like scratchy, squelchy, sucking, rasping, empty, ticklish… Or…  it sounds like something is happening next door … In fact often the real challenge is find the language to describe the sound.

As for the visual side – my challenge to myself is to push the image in a graphic way- the female form has such fantastic shapes it is great to be able to play with then in this way.

Moving on to the Armani trilogy, I think it’s kind of interesting actually how different facets of you work came across the 3 different films: in the Jeans film, we can see the “fantastic female shapes” you were just mentioning, in the EA7 sports film the graphic element is very strong, and in the Emporio film, it’s the sensuality… three very different ways of developing the theme of the Chase.

The Armani trilogy was an entirely new challenge. To begin with there were parameters set – two of the films had to be shot outside, we had to include at least five characters and the films had to work across quite different platforms- online and on massive store screens. The different clothing ranges were entirely different and for logistical constraints we had to use the same five models. Therefore I know I would have to give each film its own strong identity. The Jeans Bike film is probably the most tongue-in-cheek film of the three and was meant to be quite light hearted.

(As a footnote – I have just been reading some online comments about it and it has been posted by some fixed wheel bike forums. As we are all much more obsessed by negative criticism I have been reading some hilarious comments by bike forums who seem to take their mode of transport as well as themselves rather seriously. I still get a lot of comments about Chore also – most are very complimentary but occasionally I get negative, interestingly from men who take offence on behalf of womankind.)

GARDEN by Justin Anderson, for Emporio Armani. The Stimuleye project.

Most of these films involve models, but when shooting this trilogy in Athens, I could feel a slight difference in attitude coming from Theoharis Ionnidis, the male character in the Emporio film, who is an actor rather than model. Was it just me or did you notice that too ? How do you feel about models vs actors in the nascent genre of fashion film ?
Your question about models is quite pertinent as fashion film, in its infancy, is having to address this issue. When casting models – it can be a bit of pot luck. I have a lot of respect for models- I think it is a pretty tough job – they are often very young and have had no formal training – they have grown up knowing and being told they are beautiful (which created its own complications) and then have entered a job in which they spend most of the time being rejected after 3 minutes on how they look.

When we cast them – our primary criteria is do “they look right for the part” but have very little time to find out how they will be able to act on the day. During the Armani casting some of the models had a fabulous physique and looked amazing but when we asked them to run their gait was surprisingly uncoordinated and awkward. I think the point about Theoharis is that as an actor – he probably has had formal training- he is used to taking direction and above all he has stamina. Making films is tough- the more beautiful and effortless they look, the more tough they were to make. Standing in cocktail dress outside in the cold and making love to the camera is no picnic!

CHASE, by Justin Anderson, for EA7. The Stimuleye project.

Things are really moving forward for you these days, can you talk a bit more about that ? What are your current and upcoming projects ?
As for upcoming projects I have two very exciting projects I am currently working on that I am afraid at this time I am not allowed to mention. I have just teamed up with a new producer and working with a new production company Epoch London. This is an international company and with them I am hoping to move forward securing the kinds of budgets that have traditionally been handed out to stills campaigns to make some (hopefully) interesting and groundbreaking films.

The Stimuleye presents

A Short Film With Jamin Puech

for Vogue Italia

LA MAIN DANS LE SAC

“Caught red-handed”

Directed by  Antoine Asseraf & René Habermacher

Styling by Michaela Dosamantes

Assisted by Alexia Hollinger

Starring  Quinta Witzel @ IMG Paris

Make-Up by Tracy Alfajora

Hair by Romina Manenti @ Artlist

Assisted by Masako Hayashi

Filmed at Prunier, Paris

Music by Shane Aspegren & Lori Schonberg of  The Berg Sans Nipple

Thank You: Lisa Kajita, Nicolas Barruyer, Erotokritos Antoniadis, Yoann Lemoine.

Made in collaboration with bag makers Jamin Puech, the film will debut on Vogue.it’s A Short Film With section,
featuring original music by Berg Sans Nipple.

LA MAIN DANS LE SAC

A Short Film With Jamin Puech ⎜ Directed by Antoine Asseraf & René Habermacher for Vogue Italia – Talents
Styled by Michaela Dosamantes Featuring looks by Prada, Jil Sander, Lanvin… ⎜ Starring Quinta @ IMG
Original soundtrack by Lori Schonberg & Shane Aspegren of the Berg Sans Nipple
Filmed at Prunier Paris

Caroline Daily: what is the first film which made an impression on you ?

Antoine Asseraf: The most striking memory for me is David Lynch’s Lost Highway.
It was my first Lynch, and the mix of glamour and goth, the changes in personality, the concept of looping, free intepretation, all left me without voice.

With David Lynch, there is always a staggering artistic direction, a mix of architecture, music, design and casting which create entirely novel worlds.

In a different register, there is also Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting, which left a mark because it’s such a violent film, but with an “english” type of violence – very different from the hollywood violence to which i had grown accustomed.

cd: this film for erotokritos is filled with references to classic cinema, what are your cult movies ?

Well of course Lost Highway, you can find in “La Lutte De L’Amour” the splitting of personality between the blonde and the brunette, who may or may not be the same woman…

There is also a film I had seen for a class on cinema which had struck me by how conceptual it was : Suture, where the main character is perceived by the other characters as white is played by a black actor, which creates a very disturbing offset between the spectators and the film’s characters. I attempted to do something similar in “La Lutte De L’Amour” with the voice-overs, which get gradually describe the image less and less.

I really love all types of films, but as strange as it may seem, the films that have followed me around the most are the ones I saw dozens of times as a teenager, and therefore not necessarily great classics… My classics are rather “The Addams Family,””Addams Family Values,””Priscilla Queen Of The Desert,” the films of John Waters and early Almodovar. Very kitsch, very camp comedies, whose one-liners still make me laugh. I think that’s why I couldn’t resist making a cheesy joke with “skull” and “skullhead.”

cd: why a struggle ? what is the message of this film which seems like a double-edged sword, between lightness and madness ?

At the heart of this film, there are Erotokritos’ moodboards, with pictures from Godard’s “Contempt,” but also the imaginary universe of his brand and above all, his name. The name “Erotokritos” comes from a famous epic poem of the Greek renaissance, and means more or less “struggle of love.” So I imagined that this could be the title of a Nouvelle Vague film about the vagaries of a Parisian couple…
It seemed essential to have a contrast, a tension (between “love” and “struggle”), to avoid falling into something too honeyed or too “costume drama.”

cd: for this film and in general, what are your sources of inspiration ?

For this film my point of departure was the trailer for Contempt.

 Each detail was thought out. With this short, I wanted to do something rich, that you could watch several times, noticing new details with each viewing. I’m a bit of graphic designer, so for the lettering, I used the actual letters of LE MEPRIS to write LA LUTTE DE L’AMOUR, while the conceptual discrepancy between voice and visual spoke to my advertising side.

Inspiration comes from all over, and sometimes it’s difficult to concentrate on one thing, so I try to ask myself very down-to-earth questions : “what do we need,” “what are the strengths of the brand, the actors, the clothes,” “what tools are available.” It’s a bit the “Robert Rodriguez school of filming” : we have a car, two horses, a riffle and a belly-dancer – what kind of film can we build with all that ?

cd: what are your next projects ?

Well, there is the The Stimuleye.
I’m working on a series of interviews between Maria Luisa and different designers : Rick Owens, Haider Ackermann.
I’m working on a project for Viktor & Rolf’s Flowerbomb perfume.
I have to finish this Buto-inspired film, filmed in December.
And I just did the creative direction for a series of fashion films for Armani, which should come out soon…