Danis Tanovic: I immediately felt at home in Sofia

Danis TanovicProbably one of the most long-awaited guests and for sure one of the favorite directors of the audience especially of SIFF (since 2002, the year of No Man’s Land – the film, the Oscar, the wine, the whole story) Danis Tanovic finally came to Sofia to meet his devoted audience.

After the screening of his new film Circus Columbia following the Ceremony of bestowing the awards of SIFF there is no need to talk. Circus Columbia is an original piece of artistic work, saying everything by itself and it’s better to be watched, than discussed. But on another hand Tanovic is so interesting interlocutor, so it would be shame on us, if we miss the opportunity to have a talk with such an intelligent person and artist. Our conversation starts indirectly, not as a journalist type of interview – from musical subjects, because Tanovic has also a musical education, as you might be remember from No Man’s Land and his other previous movies…

You know, I’m really not sure that you could be a film director without having a musical talent. Because in the movie, when you edit it, there’s rhythm and tempo, so this is very organic thing. I was supposed to be a musician and maybe I will be one day. Music still plays a big part in my life – every year I try to learn some other new instrument. Recently I learned drums, last year I started to learn saxophone, I play piano since I was 4, also guitars, bass, whatever…

But it’s something that is really private, something, that I really enjoy and I’ve never felt urged to do it publicly, except when I make music for films. You know, I’m very much involved in doing it – in No Man’s Land and also in Hell (L’enfer, 2005) and Triage. So, in the last film I didn’t want to have any music, I just felt it this way… But how did the music influenced my filmmaking? I don’t know exactly – everything influences you: reading books, for instance – especially if you write stories, it’s important to read other writers, for making movies it’s important to watch other movies, ect.

You can read the whole interview on our festival's site www.siff.bg

12 March 2011