BISFF Correspondence 通信计划
This program involves conducting brief email interviews with the directors of the international films featured in the festival, in lieu of the traditional Q&A session that follows the screenings. Through this program, we hope to provide a platform for filmmakers to discuss their work and share their insights with our audience in China.
为了跨越种种障碍，开辟更多交流空间，我们设置了“BISFF Correspondence 通信计划”，对部分国际单元的参展作者进行系列访谈，这些访谈将在作品放映后发布在联展各个媒体平台。
Luci｜卢奇
Mateo Vega, Mathieu Wijdeven
2024｜0:15:59｜Netherlands｜Flemish Dutch｜International Premiere
Director: Mateo Vega, Mathieu Wijdeven
Interviewer & Translator: Pincent Liu
Coordinator & Editor: Suliko
导演：马特奥·维加，马修·维德文
采访、翻译：刘品呈
统筹、编辑：苏丽珂
Q1: This work is directed by two artists. Based on the information, both of your families had immigration or diaspora experiences. Firstly, how did you two meet and start the project of Luci ? Can you briefly introduce your different roles and how you two collaborated? Considering the subject matter is much close to Mathieu’s personal family history, how did Mathieu manage to swift among his many roles for the project? In the second scene, where Mathieu seemed turned out deeply emotional talking about Luci and Suriname on the phone, can I know more about Mathieu’s thoughts while shooting that scene?
这部电影由两位作者担任导演，根据资料，你们自己的家族都有移民或离散的经历，首先我很好奇你们两位是如何结识并开启这个项目的？能否简要介绍一下你们各自的角色与合作方式？考虑到这个题材与马修个人家族史的紧密关系，在创作过程中马修如何在自己的多重角色间转换？第二个场景中，马修因提及高祖父和苏里南的话题而感到动容，请谈谈当时的想法与考虑？
Mathieu Wijdeven: We met during the casting for Mateo’s first short film Radio Voorwaarts. Later, I participated in a residency program Mateo had set up in Lima in 2019. Around that time, I discovered the existence of my ancestor Rustwijk (Luci).
I followed Mateo’s work and saw a role for him in helping to tell this story through landscapes tied to it. I noticed he often used similar techniques in his own work. When we spoke, he offered to co-direct the movie. Our roles were clearly divided: I had an in-depth understanding of the story and its details, while Mateo contributed by translating it cinematically.
The emotion in the scene during the phone call felt so strong, I believe, because even though I had studied Luci’s life closely, growing up in the Netherlands and visiting Suriname created a sense of distance from the place. However, when I was speaking to my grandmother, the connection with the country suddenly felt deeply warm and personal.
马修·维德文：我们是在为马特奥的第一部短片 Radio Voorwaarts 进行选角工作时认识的。后来，我参加了马特奥 2019 年在利马设立的一个驻留项目。大约在那个时候，我发现了我的祖先鲁斯特韦克（卢奇）的存在。
我关注了马特奥的作品，并发现他可以通过与之相关的景观来讲述这个故事。我注意到他在自己的作品中经常使用类似的技巧。当我们交谈时，他主动提出想联合执导这部电影。我们的角色分工很明确：我对故事及其细节有深入的了解，而马特奥则负责将其转化为电影。
我认为那个通话场景中的情感之所以如此强烈，是因为尽管我曾仔细研究过卢奇的生活，但在荷兰长大和访问苏里南的经历让我对这个地方产生了一种距离感。然而当我与祖母通话时，与这个国家的联系突然让我感到非常温暖且私密。
Q2: The film opens with someone using cell phone to search for the central character, Luci, which seems much close to ordinary people’s experience in modern life. Can you talk about your decision to open the film in this way?
开头运用了手机短视频网络科普这样的形式来进入这个别名卢奇的中心人物，会让我感觉离现代普通人的生活很近，请问你是如何考虑以这样的方式作为这部电影的开场呢？
Mathieu Wijdeven: We came across a TikTok channel by a young Surinamese artist named Daniël van Rijn. He had dedicated his channel to the history of Suriname. We asked him to create a TikTok about Luci. With this film, we wanted to explore the significance of Luci as a historical figure in contemporary Suriname. Using TikTok felt like an engaging way to introduce the audience to Luci while also showcasing how a young Surinamese artist like Daniël views him.
我们偶然发现了一位名叫 Daniël van Rijn 的苏里南年轻艺术家的 TikTok 频道。他的频道专门介绍苏里南的历史，我们请他制作了一个关于卢奇的 TikTok 节目。通过这部电影，我们希望探讨卢奇作为一个历史人物在当代苏里南的意义。使用 TikTok 的形式感觉很吸引人，可以向观众介绍卢奇，同时也可以展示像 Daniël 这样的年轻苏里南艺术家看待他的视角。
Luci, Mateo Vega, Mathieu Wijdeven, 2024
Q3: The light setting in many interviews gave me a sense of on a theatre stage. Even in the second scene mentioned above, where Matthew was talking on the phone, there was also certain method of light using. Can I ask how you considered the lighting in these or other scenes? Light seems to be a vital element in the film. I also noticed the film title and the chapter titles was designed close to a fluorescent green glowing in the dark.
我很好奇许多访谈段落中的布光设置，给人一种戏剧舞台的感觉，即便是上面提到的第二场戏（马修通话的场景），也有一定对光的使用，想问问你们在这些场景打光上是如何考虑的？光似乎在这部作品中是个非常重要的元素。我注意到标题和章节字幕的设计，字体的颜色像是一种会在黑暗中发亮的荧光绿。
Mateo Vega: The title of the film "Luci" comes from an alias that GGT Rustwijk used to publish his work. "Luci" means "light" in Latin, which has a strong significance within GGT's drive to expose injustices and enlighten those who were previously in the dark. We tried to conceptually build from that in making GGT and his legacy come alive by using light as a strong, sometimes fantastical element throughout the film. Other examples are the light-emitting mask that Mathieu wears at the end, or the computer-generated recreation we made of GGT's painting of a comet.
For the interviews, which were actually shot on the theatre stage, our cinematographer Sam Broekman and I were inspired by the yellow-green larger-than-life lighting in Kieslowski's La Double Vie de Véronique. The second scene of Mathieu on the phone was just natural light shining through his bedroom curtain. Although we were interested in a heightened, fantastical style for certain scenes, we also very much like to work from what the locations and environments already give us, of which this is a good example.
马特奥·维加：影片的标题“卢奇”来自于 G.G.T.鲁斯特韦克用来发表作品的别名。“卢奇”在拉丁语中是“光”的意思，这对于 GGT 揭露不公正现象并启发那些曾经被蒙在鼓里的人的努力具有重要意义。我们试图从这一概念出发来构建，在影片中将光作为一种强烈的、有时甚至是奇幻的元素，让 GGT 和他的遗产变得栩栩如生。其他的例子还包括马修在影片结尾戴上的发光面具，以及我们通过电脑生成对 GGT 的彗星画作进行的再现。
那些采访段落其实是在剧院舞台上拍摄的，我和我们的摄影师萨姆·布罗克曼（Sam Broekman）受到了克日什托夫·基耶斯洛夫斯基（Krzysztof Kieślowski）的《两生花》（La Double vie de Véronique，1991）中黄绿色超现实照明的启发。马修打电话的第二场戏只是自然光透过他卧室的窗帘照射进来。虽然我们对某些场景的夸张、奇幻风格很感兴趣，但我们也非常喜欢根据拍摄地点和环境已经具备的实际情况来进行创作，这就是一个很好的例子。
Luci, Mateo Vega, Mathieu Wijdeven, 2024
Q4: 3D modelling animation of past spaces is an interesting visually representation method of history. Modelling is perhaps a form of painting. Matthew did painting on one of Luci’s portrait image, and painting and writing was also added by one of the interviewees to the octopus drawing. Can these painting actions considered as a kind of responding to and interaction with what Luci created before? Also can you talk a bit about the scenes where Luci’s portrait image being projected at the site of his past spaces?
对过去空间的 3D 建模是一种很有趣的还原历史的视觉表现方式，也许建模是绘画的一种形式，马修在卢奇的肖像影像上涂画，以及那张由受访者写划的章鱼图，这些涂画的行为是否可以被看作一种对卢奇之前创造的回应或互动？能聊聊将卢奇的影像投影到空间上这样的动作的考虑吗？
Mateo Vega: Absolutely, we really wanted to not just talk about GGT's work as this thing from the past, but also really work with it from a perspective of the present where it's constantly in dialogue with both Mathieu as a character and spaces in Suriname the way they are now. I think there's a political significance in showing the legacy of an artist like GGT not just as something static, historical, or stuffy but as very much alive, animated in the literal sense of the word. This of course also opens up artistic possibilities to use new technologies and contemporary aesthetics to make archival material come to live. The scene of GGT being projected in the streets of Paramaribo is a good example of that. We used AI to make a moving animation of the only remaining photo of him, and then went out with a projector at night to bring that digital creation back into physical space.
马特奥：当然，我们真的不希望只是将 GGT 的作品当作过去的东西来讨论，还想真正从当下的角度来研究它，让它与作为一个角色的马修以及苏里南现在的空间进行持续的对话。我认为，展示像 GGT 这样的艺术家的遗产具有政治上的意义，它不仅仅是静态的、历史的或沉闷的，而是非常有生命力的，在字面意义上是鲜活的。当然，它也打开了新技术和当代美学在让档案素材活起来这方面的艺术潜能。将 GGT 投影在帕拉马里博（Paramaribo）街头的场景就是一个很好的例子。我们利用AI将他仅存的一张照片制作成动画，然后在夜晚用投影仪将数字创作带回到实体空间。
more information: https://www.bisff.co/selection/luci