Interview

Several months ago, I had the opportunity to meet with Asif Kapadia in a post-production centre in the heart of London. He is a friendly, lively and candid fellow, clearly engrossed in his work and cinema as an art form. -Martyn

Martyn Conterio, Scene 360: Your first film “The Warrior” (2001) won the Carl Foreman Award for “Most Promising Newcomer” (2003). It is quite an achievement for a debut motion picture. How did it come about?

Asif Kapadia: “The Warrior” originated from a short film that I made when I was a student at the Royal College of Art. I made my graduation film “The Sheep Thief” (1997) in India, and won a prize at the Cannes Film Festival (“Cinéfondation Award For Best Short Film”). And because it did well, it was noticed by the industry. So when I went to work on a new script, it made perfect sense to set it also in India. I really wanted to push myself as a filmmaker. So we ended up shooting this morality tale–this fairy tale in the desert in India. And we worked with street kids and local villagers. There were no professional actors, and it wasn’t in English. It was a very difficult shoot. I essentially made the film with the same people I’d made the short film with. And that’s how “The Warrior” came about.

What was the inspiration behind the film?

Quite a few people I’d collaborated with at the Royal College of Art were students and tutors. My co-writer Tim Miller, who wrote “The Warrior” with me was Head of Production at the RCA when I was a student there. He had the idea after he’d read a book of Japanese stories and there was a scene in which a young boy is brought before a very powerful man, shown a severed head, and asked “Is this your father?” and the boy lies and says it is. And that’s where the movie came from– this four line scene in a book. I thought it was such a powerful moment… and I thought let’s explore it. And the whole film came out of that one scene.

“The Return” (2006), your second film was very different. Why was there such a long gap between movies?

It took a long time to get the second film together. I had a few projects I’d been developing and a couple of books I’d wanted to adapt. For one reason or another, they didn’t come together. Because I’d put everything into the first film, I didn’t have another one ready. For me, it takes on average, five years to make a movie. And it just came to a point where nothing else was coming together, I was running out of money, and also you only learn by doing, by shooting a film. So an offer came through, and the producer and those behind the film had done interesting stuff in the past. And it was something I was willing to try. I’d never worked in America before.

What were the problems encountered making a Hollywood film?

In the end, it was quite a political experience. Not what I’d hoped it would be. It was just… You know all the clichés you hear about? Unfortunately they became true. But you know, that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger! It wasn’t a particularly personal film in anyway.

What appealed to you in taking the project?

There was an idea for the story, and the problem with it was, it wasn’t quite right. And the biggest problem came when the film was put into production before the script was ready. You’re never going to fix it. It was one of those situations where you’re trying to hold the sea back and you just can’t.

Did it end up becoming a star vehicle for actress Sarah Michelle Gellar?

It didn’t start off like that, and as I was going along, I started to realise it became something like that. The film was marketed as a horror film. It’s not a horror! It’s not a scary film. And if they wanted a horror film, why did they ask me, having only made “The Warrior?” You just end up annoying the audience because they’re expecting something like “Hostel,” and it’s just so not that type of film.

Would you work in America again?

I would. I know a bit more and I’d be more careful about decisions. It hasn’t put me off working there. The crew were fantastic, most of the actors were fantastic. It’s an industry. I mean a proper industry in America in a way that it isn’t in Europe. They make movies as a nine-to-five job. Over here, you have huge gaps and then you work, give up your life in order to do a movie, and then you have a huge gap again. Over there, people just go from one movie to the next. It’s a machine in that way. And it was very interesting to step into that.

Your third film “Far North” (2007) was made in the Arctic, how was it like filming in those conditions?

It was cold (laughs). It was tough. But I’m really quite in love with that place. It took a long time to get together. The story (by Sara Maitland) first came to Tim and myself in 2002. My first trip to the location was in early 2003 and the film came out in early 2008. We all lived on a ship, it was quite mad. But it was one of those films that I know I won’t do again–a once in a lifetime experience. It’s very hard working in the extreme cold. Having worked in extreme heat and extreme cold: I’d take working in extreme heat any day. The cold just does something to your brain. It starts to shut down. It’s hard to communicate; hard to express yourself; it’s hard to think and the crew just couldn’t move at the pace you’d normally move in.

The movie is full of incredible photography. The opening shot of the sea freezing and the scene featuring the northern lights. Was this all in the screenplay, or were they captured during the filming?

The opening shot of the ice probably wasn’t. I’d done quite a bit of research because the landscape is a key part of the story (it’s another character). I went out there with my cameraman, my DP (Director of Photography), a focus puller and a line producer. We hired a small boat and went out to see all the locations to see what it looked like. I.e. How much daylight we’d have and we shot something just to see how the camera worked? Would it work? We were travelling on the boat and right before our eyes the sea became very still, and as it became less and less choppy, it just froze. The sea became solid. It looked like oil for a bit and then just became solid. Some people think the opening shot is a helicopter shot and it’s not! We got into a small boat and we were actually ten inches off the water with the camera leaning off it, looking down. The northern lights were real, very hard to photograph… technically quite complicated. Essentially you have to shoot it like stop-motion. As if it is animation.

Your focus on environment and landscape recalls the work of filmmaker Terence Malick. Was this director an influence in your movies?

Sure. Another one I would say was a big influence is Zhang Yimou [“Raise the Red Lantern” (1991) and “House of Flying Daggers” (2004).] He was a cinematographer before he became a director, and I admire all his early movies… the landscape… the poetry of the imagery. And Malick, absolutely! I did meet Terence Malick after I made “The Warrior.” He was the person who said to take a camera and some film when you go on a location hunt, because you never know what you might see. Quite a lot of the imagery in “Far North”(2007)– all the wide-shots were shot a year before we made the film. When you’re shooting you’ve just got to do the actors. You haven’t got time to do anything else. Shoot the scene, shoot the actors and then we ran out of daylight.

There seems to be a strong supernatural element in your films.

I like magical, mythical stories. I like fairy tales and folk tales. I’ve always liked that type of film. I think it comes down to the fact that I’m a Londoner but my background is Indian. I was brought up with religion, and idea that there’s another world out there: heaven and hell–there’s a spiritual element that comes into normal everyday life. So there’s this idea of reality, but running parallel to that is other stuff you can’t always see and explain. And I was brought up with that. It’s natural that some of that will come out when you’re writing. It doesn’t always have to be realism.

The use of music in your work is very striking. When you’re making movies, do you give a rough edit to the composer Dario Marinelli as a guide?

I’ve been working with Dario since my student films. He’s composed all three of my movies and he’s quite brilliant. He’s won Oscars! I realised quite early on that the cinema I wanted to make is with very little dialogue. There’s very little talking so the imagery has to play a big part and it is paced a certain way. I don’t like to over-edit. So to tell a really good story, I know I need a good sound design and music. What I’ve done quite early on is given the edit as a work-in-progress to the composer.

How did you develop your unique cinematic aesthetic?

After I graduated from university I got a job in television. I had to do everything: shoot, produce and edit. And what invariably happened is a lot of it was “talking heads” and I couldn’t stand it. I was glad to have a job, but I just wasn’t happy. Just being behind a camera did not interest me. I wanted to be interested in what I was making. So I quit and went back to study for a Master’s degree. I wanted to make films for the big screen that were not just about people standing around and talking. I wanted to tell stories through images and how they are cut together? That became my whole reason for going back to film school. There’s not much dialogue in my films. “The Warrior” is a 90 minute film with 7 minutes worth of dialogue; same with “Far North.” It became a conscious decision to tell a story through images or symbolism–ome kind of device that allowed me to tell a story without spelling it out. And if you do that, you allow the film to be open to interpretation. And I like that.

What’s your favourite part of the filmmaking process?

I used to say the shoot. I love being on set, but there is another stage that is really special. It’s when you’ve shot the film and you see your rushes for the first time. And you think “We’ve got a movie…or, oh shit we haven’t!” (laughs). There’s a point where you look at the footage, and you’ve either got it, or you haven’t. It’s a pretty nerve-wracking stage. The special stage is when you’ve edited it and you add the music, there’s something about adding music and the images together which just lifts it. The cycle of making a film is actually quite perfect.

When you’re editing, are you quite ruthless with the material?

I like films that may feel really long, but aren’t. All my films are around ninety minutes. And that’s conscious. I don’t believe films have to be long. I try to be ruthless but I also leave it to the editor to cut the film, and I give my opinion.

Interview

Stuart: Andrea, how did you first hear about the 1000 Journals Project?

Andrea: In the Fall of 2003, I had suddenly lost the financing for a feature film I was in the middle of producing, and was discouraged and idle.  I wrote a lot, and had time on my hands to browse the Internet. One early morning, I came across a small posting somewhere which said, “Someguy sent out 1000 blank journals into the world…” and I thought: wow! What an amazing thing to do! The post continued with the report on one of these journals returning.  I clicked all available links and started to research.  And how about you?

Stuart: I saw it mentioned online somewhere, back in 2002, so I visited the 1000 Journals website and immediately saw something of great value.  I thought it was one of the most significant and innovative sociological experiments in recent history.  Think about it—each journal potentially criss-crosses the globe, with people of all walks of life adding their ideas, scribblings, rants, drawings, personal effects.  I once told you that I would like to be present when they all came together in a show.  I imagined the room vibrating with the collective input of humanity that the journals would encompass.

For the longest time there were no journals available and I began to worry about ever obtaining one.  I wrote to Maria Noain, a young woman in northern Spain, who was in line to receive one and asked if there was any way that I could contribute to hers.  Finally, Journal 973 became available, so I signed up and eventually received it.  I also signed up my wife, sister, mother, and a good friend to receive journals as they became available.  My wife, Joanne Warfield, did finally get one (#987) as did our friend, Maxine Martell, an amazing artist in Washington State.

Stuart: What were the circumstances in which you had that “Aha!” moment when you just knew you had to make a film about it?

Andrea: I soon realized that as fanatic as people were about joining the 1000 Journals Project, the risk of it going away and under was huge: The internet was growing and changing and other social networking sites appeared, and many wanted to participate in the next hot thing.  Also, spam and identity theft started and as a result, many people changed their email addresses and handles and didn’t update existing profiles.  People are on the move, especially in America, both on- and offline.  I felt I had to act “now.” The story of 1000 Journals had to be told, and the sooner I started investigating and hunting, the better.

Andrea: I know you featured the project in your arts magazine, TheScreamOnline, so when was your “Aha!” moment when you knew you had to do so?

Stuart: It happened when I received my journal in the mail.  It was quite a momentous feeling to open the package and hold the actual journal for the first time.  By then the project had become quite legendary, and the prospects of getting a journal were slim.  Part of the process is to scan the pages and send them to Someguy before sending the journal on to the next person.  As a result, his 1000journals.com website accumulated a lot of material, and so I contacted him about doing an art feature on the project, and I mined his site quite extensively for images of pages that had been sent in from people around the world.

I mentioned Maria earlier.  She and I have become pen pals, and I learned that she is an archaeologist, so I encouraged her to write an article with pictures about some of her digs for the magazine.  It’s been interesting to see how the Journals Project has brought people together in different ways.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Video: Film title sequence by LindA Zacks

Andrea: Didn’t you also feature the Brooklyn artist LindA Zacks in your magazine? We interviewed her for the film, because she had designed one of the Journal covers, and ended up hiring her for the film’s title art. Which was a dream come true—making this film from within, with people who had contributed to the Journals Project.

Stuart: Yes, I had featured LindA’s work in TheScreamOnline in January 2004, so it was an immense pleasure to see her connected to the film. I love how that works… and whether we know it yet or not, we are all connected!

Andrea: I think all of us did what we could to help keep the Project alive.  In fact, you took “the rules” very seriously as far as passing on your Journal 973 was concerned, and didn’t allow it to stray, not even in your own household.

Stuart: Well, that’s a funny thing.  It really didn’t occur to me to offer mine to Joanne, since I knew she had one on the way…  eventually.  Actually, hers came from Zihan Loo in Singapore.  Mine came from a girl named Sammy in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I was the fourth person on the list, and once I added my pages I then sent it to Allie in Loudonville, NY.  According to Someguy’s website, it was last seen in Durham, Maine.  Joanne’s journal, on the other hand, was actually the catalyst for this film and is featured quite prominently—I think it also was part of the show at San Francisco’s MOMA.  At the end of 2003 you had learned that it was in town, so you called us to ask to see it.  Joanne had been feeling guilty about keeping it for so long, but she had extenuating circumstances… her mother dying, for example.  So you showed up with cinematographer Ralph Kaechele and filmed interviews with both of us.  I think you may have taken the journal with you, or at least you did end up with it after Joanne was finished with it.  But it was during that initial meeting that you learned that I am a composer, so one thing led to another….

Andrea: What did you and Joanne think when I showed up in your house with the plan to make a film about 1000 Journals, even though only two of the journals were alive and accounted for—#987 in your house and #526 in Someguy’s possession?

Stuart: In spite of the fact that anyone who goes into documentary filmmaking has got to be totally nuts, we both thought that it was an extremely worthy project.  We were thrilled that you had chosen to grab this particular tiger by the tail.

Stuart: You aren’t in the film as an interviewer or any kind of an identifiable presence.  Please explain what drove the style, your approach.

Andrea: When I started to think about telling the 1000 Journals story in a film (rather than a book), I wrote treatments for two very different approaches: The first was the story of my investigation, first person singular. A detective story about tracking down 999 missing journals and their keepers.  The other and very different approach was for a film without the all-knowing voice of a narrator.  Echoing an artist who calls himself “Someguy,” the identity of me, the filmmaker, was far less relevant than what the journals themselves could say.  My goal was to go for a story where no one outside the Journals Project speaks, where no one knows more than the journals know.

As to the score, at first I wanted us to experiment with a translation of the 1000 Journals journaling process: going online to find a journal, Someguy’s inspiration from graffiti, and street art, mixed media and collage work found in the journals.

Stuart: Yes, you told me that you loved the idea of visceral, everyday sounds woven into the music, and I began writing a somewhat “muscular” theme‚ sorta “in the streets of San Francisco”-type of feel.  I put in a motorcycle sound with a revving engine, and believe it or not, a road crew showed up in my back alley and started using a jackhammer, so I grabbed a digital recorder and held it over the backyard wall, and I used that sound in the initial main theme.  You and I even experimented with a modem sound, a fax machine, all sorts of things.

Andrea: But then the movie started to grow its own “voice,” and we were developing more cinematic themes.

Stuart: You sent me some music from Massive Attack that you liked, so I changed the instrumentation to guitar harmonics, piano, and percussion to create the theme we now have.

Andrea: And we were on the same page in that we didn’t want to score the film wall to wall.

Stuart: Yes, especially for a documentary.  There’s nothing worse than trying to hear what’s being said over some boring, droning music that has nothing to do with the scene.  In 1000 Journals, we hear the Main Title theme when appropriate, for scenes that show the process and that identify with the main theme.  All other music was written for “source material,” music that you’d expect to hear in the coffee shop, or on the street by the accordion player, or in the ballroom—that’s all me.  If the viewer starts to listen to the music for the music’s sake, then the filmmaker has failed.  Music should either enhance the dramatic effect or be there because you know that music is being played (on the radio, in a concert, etc.).  A documentary is a different animal, but still should somewhat follow the same rules.

Stuart: Andrea, the film has been in many festivals around the world and is now out on DVD.  What are your plans for its future?

Andrea: I’m very excited about the implementation of collaborative journaling in schools, museums, community projects, even hospitals, and more, and I try to show examples and connect these projects via the 1000 Journals Extension network.  I feel this film is a commitment to the community that made it possible, and don’t want to withdraw.  But I’m working on a few new ideas for documentaries as well….

Stuart: Are there any particular memorable moments from the festivals?

Andrea: The World and International Premieres, at the Los Angeles AFI Fest and Berlin International Film Festival respectively, were both very emotional events for me. A couple of festival screenings ended with a surprise: In Indianapolis and in San Francisco, journals resurfaced during the Q&A sessions.  Shannon, from Indianapolis, came out with Journal 832, and Erin, from S.F., with Journal 270.  Both had had their journals since 2001, and both were brought back to life right away and passed on.  You attended the Port Townsend (Washington State) Film Festival in my stead and did Q&A sessions after the two screenings. How did that go?

Stuart: The film was very favorably received. Many people had good, intelligent questions, so it was nice to see that the film connected with the audience.  I told them that a journal had surfaced at the screening in Indianapolis, and I asked if anyone happened to have one in the audience.  That brought a big laugh, but I could also hear a collective gasp at the prospect that there could be one there.  So, most of the people had not heard of the Project, but in only 90 minutes the film created a sense of magnitude about it that was interesting to see.  So, hat’s off to you, Andrea!

Andrea: Stuart, you’re in the middle of making a documentary yourself now. Describe….

Stuart: It’s really Joanne’s project.  The film is about Silvia Nakkach, an amazingly ethereal singer from Argentina whose voice transcends anything I’ve heard.  She has a school in the San Francisco Bay area called Vox Mundi, and one in Rio de Janeiro, so we travelled to Rio, Buenos Aires, and San Francisco to gather some preliminary footage for the film.  Yes, I know, we are completely insane!

[Stuart's latest film score is "Mythic Journeys," which won the Audience Spotlight Award at LA's Dances With
Films festival in June 2009. Links: DVD and soundtrack and trailer.]

Interview

What route did you take into filmmaking?

I started by watching films and then after university I did little Super-8 films and I got the chance to do some research work for Lindsay Anderson (British filmmaker of “This Sporting Life” [1963]) on a documentary he was making. He was one of my heroes as a teenager and I got the chance to do some work for him. Then I got the chance to do a documentary on Ingmar Bergman, “The Virgin Spring, Wild Strawberries, The Seventh Seal” (1957), and spent six months on that… that’s how I got started.

Does working on smaller-budget films give you flexibility in choosing material?

Yeah, I mean, it gives you more freedom in terms of financing, it gives you more freedom on a whole. I suppose the key thing is I prefer working with a small crew making films that are relatively simple to make. You go out and whilst you’re filming you can try things, where there’s less of that industrial machinery around.

Have you had problems distributing your films?

It depends which countries you mean. On a whole with the films, it requires that they be sold in quite a few countries in order to add up to more people watching them. Which makes it viable to make more films. Some films do better in some places than others. It has become easier to make films, but distribution is still pretty much still like the old studio system, which means it is controlled by a small group of distributors. There are very few independent screens out there and very few small distributors. So distribution is always going to be difficult if you work outside of the mainstream.

Some of your movies seem very politically engaged, e.g.: “Welcome to Sarevjo” 1997), “In This World” (2002), “The Road To Guantanamo” (2006) and “A Mighty Heart” (2007). Do these suit your personal sensibility more so than your other projects?

I don’t think films need to be political or have a social dimension. I want to find a subject that I’m interested in and what I think would make an interesting film. Everybody is affected by these political events and the society we live in, so it’s natural to respond to that when making a film.

Has it ever been dangerous undertaking some of these projects? I assume you shot on location such as Pakistan?

Yeah, the truth is you’re more likely to get killed in Pakistan in a traffic accident. So it depends what you mean by dangerous. On “Welcome to Sarajevo,” we went there three weeks after the war finished, and we were having to clear landmines when we were filming. What was interesting making “A Mighty Heart” and researching the story… I was there at the time in Pakistan when that happened (the kidnapping of Daniel Pearl). Me and the writer of “In This World,” we went to places that in retrospect where you think “actually, something bad could have happened.” We were in the tribal areas and at the time that seemed perfectly safe, but bad things can happen anywhere. Bad things can happen in London. Only a small number of people are affected by kidnappings. Statistically the truth is you’re more likely to get hit by a truck.

How do you choose the visual approaches of your films? I’m thinking in particular of “Wonderland” (1999).

It’s not so much trying to think of a visual style as a separate issue to the film. “Wonderland” was an attempt to capture what it felt like to live and work in London. I’ve had bad experiences of filming in London. If you’re in a great big city, it is very hard to close places down and when you do close them down, it’s really hard to re-animate them and make them feel real. The idea was to try and insert our actors into real situations and real locations and not close them down—to have our actors acting within an uncontrolled Soho or Brixton. And that determined the visuals of the film.

I met with Sean Bobbitt (the cinematographer) and he had done a lot of news and documentary work, so we did some tests and went out into Soho into cafés. And we found out that if there were no lights, microphones or clapperboards and no people on set, then you could go and film with actors and nobody paid any attention. But as soon as you put up a light or had a microphone… or somebody talking on a radio they immediately paid attention and were suspicious and stopped behaving normally.

Did you shoot on digital?

We shot a little bit on that as well as 16mm and 35mm. The camera can be a little bit smaller, little mini cameras, which are a bit more discreet. But as I said, it’s more to do with the lights and stuff, than it is to do with the size of the camera. People are so used to seeing cameras these days.

What attracted you to making “Genova” (2008)?

I went to Genova and I liked it, and I thought it would be an interesting place to make a film. This was probably two or three years before we made it. I went back with my two daughters and had a couple of weeks there, and I liked the idea of making a film about a dad with two girls in a kind of limbo… between one life and another. Their old one in America and their new life in Italy. They’re dislocated and spiritually lost, and working out how to get over their mum’s death, and they have to start afresh. Genova’s old town is a labyrinth of tiny narrow alleyways and it seemed to me a good place to locate the story.

What inspired “9 Songs” (2004)?

Lots of things! When we did “24-Hour Party People” we spent a lot of time re-creating concerts and thought it would be fun to shoot bands that I liked. We’d wanted to do something in the Antarctic and to do something about the emptiness of the Antarctic. When you do a film based on sex, it’s always very problematic, very tense and self-conscious… the artificial nature of what you’re doing. There are rules about what you can see and what you can’t and so on, and that had been the case with other films. I just thought it would be nice to do a film where the people would be relaxed enough and open to the idea that we could actually film the sex for real. To start with the two of them together and see if we could tell a story through their physical relationship rather than try and avoid the physical stuff.

Looking back, what are your feelings towards this film? It was quite controversial at the time.

Everybody was like “You’re mad! You can’t show sex in the cinema.” But actually when we made it, we got an “18” certificate (British Film Board classification), and the censor said it was fine. It was interesting working with people that had a more censorious idea about it. We filmed it bit by bit, and the idea was “If it didn’t feel right or weird, we’d stop,” and weirdly (laughs), it became incredibly normal. It was more a case of boredom. So it was an interesting project to make, and I really liked the two actors, and filmed it with a nice crew… exactly the same set-up as “In This World, one camera person and one sound guy. It was satisfying to actually make it and be able to show it. It was an enjoyable experience.

Do you have any “dream projects” that you want to make one day?

There’s not one that’s continually there. There are projects I am working on now that I hope to get made in a year’s time. There was a film I wanted to make ages ago, which was a little documentary about the relationship between Jean-Pierre Léaud and François Truffaut. He found him when he was about fourteen for the film “Les Quatre sans Coups” (1959) and they made four or five films together. I liked the idea of a little film about their relationship. I tried to make it about twenty years ago and got the money but couldn’t get the permission. Then I got the permission and couldn’t get the money. But I really do want to make that film.

Have you ever had any offers from Hollywood to make massive budget feature?

Not necessarily massive budgets. But yeah, I’ve had offers from America. They tend to be more in the middle budget areas rather than massive like they use for action pictures. I’ve had offers from Paramount Vantage or Miramax and so forth. Even though I make low budget independent films, often you have to have some sort of connection with a distributor like that in order to get films made.

Critics often debate whether you’re an “auteur filmmaker.” Do you care about critical responses?

No, I think it’s all bollocks, especially when I read reviews by critics on other filmmakers and their films, and I think, “that’s just not the film I’ve been watching.”

 Reference:
[1] Quote about Michael Winterbottom, The Guardian, February 1st, 2004.

Interview

Adriana de Barros, Scene 360: You clearly have influences from the 80s era. What are some of the bands that inspired you?

David Fonseca: There are a lot of them, but back in the 80’s I would focus more on the songs, than on the bands itself. I started listening to real music (opposite to fake music that played constantly on the radio) with an album called “From Langley Park To Memphis” by Prefab Sprout. That was probably the first album I heard from start to finish… Well, I’m not considering “Breakin’ – There’s No Stopping Us,” the soundtrack of the movie, even though I danced to it like there was no tomorrow. The greatest influence I had came in the early 90’s with the most amazing band of all times: The Pixies.

You’re known to wear Converse sneakers, and and some years ago, you influenced a trend in Portugal of the “layer-look” (e.g. t-shirts over long sleeves). And now I’ve seen you with 80 style sunglasses, among other fashionable stuff. Where do you buy your clothing and accessories?

This is a tricky question for me, since I don’t pay attention to fashion that much and I don’t know much about the latest trends. I guess I’ve been wearing pretty much the same clothes for some years now and, amazingly, they fit into this era! I buy most of what I wear at very common places, nothing too specific.

You are good looking man. You promote yourself on the web, and also through print mediums with distinct and artistic photography and design of your album campaigns. It is all presented in a modern yet classic way, as if the images could be shown in twenty years time, and still look good. How important is branding one’s self to benefit actual music sales?

Well, thank you Adriana, I’ll keep that in mind when I look at Sasquatch in the mirror every morning ; ) It’s important to me to find the right imagery for the songs I’m doing and I work on them with the same spirit, but I don’t think I’m doing that for business reasons. Photography was my first love and I couldn’t do it other way, it’s just another way of releasing the passion that moves me in this job. Maybe it helps the folks down at the store, but that’s not really my thing : )

You have a film degree and you were a professional photographer working in fashion. Does this explain why you are fully involved in making your own videos, designing album covers, and more? What are the advantages of doing this yourself?

As I said, I really enjoy doing it. The great advantage is that I know EXACTLY what I’m looking for. I’m working on something that came a long way to get here, all I have to do is to put the right frame on it. I’d like to have more time to do these things, so I could get more out of it, but I put music in first place.

Videos like “Little Drummer Boy” and “Amazing Grace” have a home-made look to it. Is this showing a more realistic side of David Fonseca?

Those videos were done by myself, running around hills carrying the tripod and a guitar, no crew involved, no special effects, no camera movements. I like to do those videos because I have fun doing them, but I don’t know if they represent me in a more realistic side. I think they’re just like any other video I made, only with worst lighting.

At a concert in Caldas da Rainha, you did a cover of “Radio Killed the Video Star” by Buggles. What other covers have you done over the years?

So many, I LOVE to play someone else’s song. “Spit on a Stranger” by Pavement, “Everyone Else In The World” by Stina Nordenstam, “All day and all of the night” by The Kinks, “Just What I Needed” by The Cars, “Debaser” by The Pixies, “Da-Da-Da” by Trio….and sometimes I just play bits and pieces of whatever comes to my mind, it depends on the mood of the show.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I absolutely love your remake of the song “Rocket Man” by Elton John. It just sounds very different from the original and the video is simple and artistic. Please take us through the idea and making of this video? Also, what led you to choosing this song?

I chose it (suddenly) while I was talking about the idea of including a version on my new album. It came to my mind while I was having this conversation and it made a lot of sense to me. The song talks about, among other things, the hidden part of your average day-to-day persona and what lies underneath, which was something that was clear about my new record. I ended up doing the video as a performance piece on that specific idea, trying to be very specific about it visually. I just wanted it to look under someone’s skin and see what’s going on inside… it ended up being me in the video, a wild and amazing shoot. I actually had that idea while I was having lunch, so it was quite spontaneous the way I ended up taking 5 KG of strawberry syrup on me.

Getting people to watch videos sometimes requires taking risks and doing things in new ways. In “Rocket Man,” you ended the clip dressed as a woman—some people liked it and others didn’t get it. I read online that some viewers were confused with your sexuality as a result of this video. Are you ever bothered with what people say on the Internet?

Not at all, the video was all about raising ideas and different interpretations, so I guess it worked. I really don’t see it as a sexually inclined video, I look at it as a piece that talks about difference and some kind of inner power. The idea that something beautiful and unexpected can happen after so many accidents was the main key of the video and I tried to do it the most specific I could. It’s a metaphoric video, I guess.

Your album “Dreams in Colour” was recently released in Italy and soon will be in Greece and France. You’ve done a few shows at the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas. How challenging is it to get your music out on the international scene?

It’s always challenging to get out of your seat and do something that is far from your town’s comfort, but I love it. It’s not easy to get through though, there are a trillion bands and songwriters doing the same effort to reach new audiences, but I’ll do it as long as I’m having fun.

Do you plan on releasing an album in North America?

I’d love to and I’m working on that.

A funny thing that you mentioned was even your postman was singing one of your songs. Who else did you hear sing your tune in an unexpected place or situation?

That has happened a lot with this record, specially with the whistling bit of “Superstars”. I’ve listened to it in almost any place you can imagine, in a plane during a 5-hour flight to almost everyone inside a restaurant, it’s mad.

I recently interviewed Rita Redshoes who has a song called “Dream on Girl,” and you have an album titled “Dreams in Colour”—you both may be dreamers but one thing is certain: you’ve worked together. What is it like seeing Rita evolve into a new persona (“Redshoes”) and now with a solo career?

It’s just great! I know Rita for many years and I knew about many of these song for a long time. I also knew that when she felt ready to launch her first record it would be an amazing one and I was right! I’m really happy for her and it’s an honour for me to have such a great talent in my band : )

You were part of a special music group called “Humanos,” which joined various well-known Portuguese singers and gave tribute to brilliant singer-songwriter Antonio Variações. What was the goal of this project, and what was it like working with these other musicians from different backgrounds?

We wanted to bring some of the lost tapes of Variações to life and to celebrate his talent and outstanding songwriting. It was such a thrill for me to work on this special project and to be able to stand side-by-side with some of the greatest singers and musicians in Portugal. I think there were no specific genres in this project, which led to some kind of weird mixture of influences and perspectives.

If you could make a wish come true, which person would you like to do a duet with?

That’s too hard, there are so many that I admire… but I would go for Roisin Murphy right now, she’s absolutely amazing.

On MTV Portugal, you listed 10 videos that you liked. Are there any recent favorites that you can share with us?

MMmmm… I really like the idea behind FATBOY SLIM’s “The BPA Toe Jam”, it’s such a fun video. I like the strong ambience in “Sex on Fire” by Kings of Leon and the happy/sad environment in “Read My Mind” by The Killers.

Reference:
[] Introduction about the Singer, written by A. de Barros, based from the official press
release "David Fonseca - Dreams in Colour" Retrieved on Jan. 2009. Courtesy of Vachier & Associados.

Credit:
All Photos of David Fonseca are © David Fonseca. Courtesy of Vachier & Associados.