Observation on the Current and Future State of Filmmaking

“This is a bit of an unusual position for me as a cinematographer,” says Slawomir Idziak, renowned Polish cinematographer and frequent collaborator of both Krzysztof Kieslowski and Krzysztof Zanussi, as he stands in the spotlight. Thus begins his talk on the possibilities the future holds in collaborative filmmaking. Collaborative, you say? But isn’t filmmaking already a collaborative art with its crews of thousands? Hardly, according to Idziak. He believes that the creation of the cinematic arts can still be “more interactive, more creative.”

For aspiring filmmakers in Poland, the fate of their creative development as filmmakers can be incredibly daunting as 50% of students are expelled from Polish film schools after their second year. In my country, Singapore, film students suffer from these situations as well, though only 10% of students get kicked out of my film school and not 50%. Idziak believes that film schools “should be a place that allows for failure and experimentation.” His experience as a teacher at the Lodz has allowed Idziak to witness the pain and frustration of film students in their struggle to define who they are as artists and what they are capable of, which is, as he says, “an invitation towards disaster.” Students in film schools are trained to excel in specific production roles, not encouraging an understanding of each production role.

This is a situation that I will have no problem identifying with as I venture into my third and final year in film school. After three years, each student is expected to either participate in a short film production, which I chose, or work in the industry as an intern at film companies. However, each student is allowed to choose only one aspect of film production to study during the third year before actually participating in productions. I chose directing as my curriculum for next year, but I wanted to learn more about editing, cinematography and documentary production as well. Sure, we learnt about these in our first two years, but hardly in a sufficient manner that would make us efficient in these aspects of film production. That our job on each film production is designated according our selected curriculum, as a director, I wonder how I will be able to communicate with my fellow crew members effectively?

The ego of individual crew members supports their belief that they are singular artists. “Cinema is not a place for artists,” says Idziak, but rather for craftsmen. It is a belief of Idziak’s that a resolve to these predicaments is for film schools to give students the opportunity to take on different roles in film production to create an understanding of all aspects of film production. The process of pre-production, says Idziak, should be a sharing of a wealth of ideas coming from people working in all departments of filmmaking, preventing the "christmas tree" syndrome of having too much crew on set without purpose. This "christmas tree" syndrome is a common situation in the Singaporean film industry, with interns from my school frequently finding themselves working at film companies which require them to do nothing but serve coffee or buy lunch.

It is because of this that I initially thought of Idziak’s ideas to be unrealistic and foolish. Fortunately, “filmspring” says otherwise. It is a project he developed to get people from all over the world together to make films despite their cultural differences. The filmmakers could communicate with each other prior to production through the project’s website.

In a week’s time, I will be returning to Singapore to begin pre-production on my first short film. I will surely try to create a cohesive, collaborative environment for my fellow filmmakers.

Lim Ling Chieh

© Berlinale Talent Campus 2007