After appreciating the excellent quality of the experimental project “Breathing Dandelion Flowers,” we discovered “We Are Rivers,” which has been repeatedly viewed by the two international juries of WILD FILMMAKER.
We all agreed in defining the documentary directed by Argentine director Graciela Cassel as “an original experiment that takes the viewer on a journey into the yet-to-be-revealed secrets of cinema.” “We Are Rivers” confirms how important it is for film criticism to pay attention to independent cinema, as only films produced outside the major industries allow for complete expressive freedom. Graciela Cassel is a director with great maturity in the realization of her works, and with a simple and effective style, she manages to speak to the viewer’s heart in just a few minutes.
We are truly very happy that the “WILD FILMMAKER” platform revealed “We Are Rivers” to us, as it is an incredibly original project that we would never have seen without the distribution by “WILD FILMMAKER.” We wish Graciela Cassel to always have the same creativity, as independent cinema needs intelligent artists like her.
Don Pasquale is a priest from the province of Naples who loves music and composes Christian-inspired songs available on all digital platforms. From a young age, he began attending church with his family. At 15, he learned to play the guitar and led various charismatic prayer celebrations and meetings in his parish. After receiving the ‘Baptism in the Spirit’ at age 10 with a Catholic Charismatic Renewal group, he began to develop the decision to enter the seminary and became a priest in 1998. As a priest, he continued to nurture his passion for the guitar and, since 2017, has started composing Christian-inspired music. The singer-songwriter has since become a parish priest in the outskirts of Naples. His albums include: Certezza, Confidenza, Come roccia, Il dono della Vita, and Fedeltà. Don Pasquale has also released singles such as Fiducia, Guarda il Cielo, Gioia immensa sarà, among others (a total of 47 tracks to date); all are songs of evangelization and praise, and, along with the albums, are available on digital and streaming platforms. To stay updated on all the latest news about Don Pasquale’s music, it is recommended to periodically follow his YouTube channel, Facebook page, and other active social media channels.
– Can Art save the world?
I believe that art is a valuable tool for helping many people reflect on the need to work for the good of the planet and the salvation of all; each of us should understand that art, in all its forms, can certainly provide valuable assistance for the salvation of the world and the well-being of people.
– Wild Filmmaker is the largest global community of independent artists, also created with the dream of conveying a message of peace among people of different cultures. Do you believe that music and cinema can be an effective way to remind each of us that we are all children of the same God?
Music and cinema have a significant responsibility in the process of reconciliation between different peoples, as they are also means of communication and can easily convey messages of great values, such as peace and love among people; they can, indeed must, remind everyone that we are creatures of one God and therefore brothers and sisters who should respect and love each other. It is clear that even Wild filmmakers have a noble mission to advance, contributing to the human, cultural, spiritual, and moral growth of all.
– Every true artist is a revolutionary in their own way, while the Church, like any other religious institution, is archaic and hierarchical. How do you reconcile the dual role of priest and artist?
On this point, with due respect, I must dissent, as I believe that, especially today, Religion is more open to understanding and welcoming people. There will surely still be religious individuals who have difficulty adapting to modern times, but this is part of their personal journey and character. I also think that openness to the world should not mean compromising but, on the contrary, affirming with strength and perseverance the primacy of God in everyone’s life. One could say that everything is relative, but certainly not God and His love for humanity. My being a priest and artist perfectly aligns with my priestly mission as I always seek to place the Lord God first in everything; and my songs are born from the prayers I always direct to Him: they are Christian-inspired tracks that help me evangelize through music. In conclusion, I feel the duty to invite everyone to live their lives in serenity while continually cultivating the pursuit of Peace and brotherhood among all peoples. May the Lord keep you all in His love.
-What has been the greatest difficulty you faced in producing your project?
The greatest challenge in creating the project was first of all to find a cameraman/woman who could implement the idea and image design straight away and bring the appropriate storyboard to life, as the film had to be very visual from the start. And the second challenge was to find a sound man/woman who would work for no budget. It is very difficult for independent filmmakers, especially women, to get funding if the film does not come from a state film university such as the Dffb here in Germany. There is therefore no fund for career changers. You only get financial support if you are part of a state institution.
-Do you think the film industry today has been damaged by political correctness?
I am a huge advocate of diversity and inclusion. And as long as you have respect and appreciation for those affected, things will change for the better in society. And every change needs clear rules first, until at some point it is seen as normal and it is no longer questioned.
-What was the greatest source of inspiration for creating your project?
Pink City Film was intended to be a homage to Twin Peaks. Since I grew up with the famous series, it had a big impact on me both visually and through the unusual way it tells the story. But since my neighbor was killed 3 months after I finished my script, in the same way as my protagonist in my script, who, according to the description, also looks like the fictional character from Twin Peaks (Laura Palmer), I ended up dedicating the film to my neighbor Melanie Rehberger.
-If you could ask a question to a great director from the past, who would you like to talk to and what would you ask them?
That would be of course David Lynch, and I would like to know what difficulties he had before the successful career.
-What do you think of the Wild Filmmaker platform?
An excellent opportunity for independent filmmakers to gain visibility and to give an insight to what challenges filmmakers have to overcome.
–What has been the greatest difficulty you faced in producing your project?
“Remnant” was a challenging production from the beginning. Firstly, financing it independently without studio backing. While it is great to be independent, it still has its drawback as the producers must raise the money from other sources. In the case of “Remnant”, we fully self-funded the film, with our own money. We also ran a successful crowdfunding campaign which contributed to the postproduction budget. The production schedule for “Remnant” was impacted by several delays due to the COVID pandemic. We originally wanted to shoot in the latter part of 2021, but it became apparent that we would have to delay production indefinitely due to lockdown restrictions. This resulted in a significant amount of preproduction, including auditions and casting, to be carried out on Zoom. But it also enabled us to further flesh out character arcs and work closely with the actors. The biggest obstacle came from having to change the location of the finale. In the original script I had written it to take place in an abandoned shopping centre. We had that particular location locked in but it changed ownership while we were in pre-production and we eventually lost out. There was a lot of going back and forth but we finally secured an amazing 1920’s Art Deco movie theatre in Mudgee NSW to shoot in. That meant that I had to rewrite the ending with that set piece in mind and it changed the whole dynamic of the film. On the flip side of that, we now had a real gothic location at our disposal, and I wrote extra scenes to take advantage of this. It was a lot of work to rewrite the script, but the film turned out much better for it.
–Do you think the film industry today has been damaged by political correctness?
Yes, I think political correctness has definitely got out of control. It stifles a filmmaker’s creativity by putting in requirements and restrictions which can completely change the intent or direction of the production.
-What was the greatest source of inspiration for creating your project?
The two main inspirations for ‘Remnant” were Dario Argento and John Carpenter. From the very beginning I was inspired by the famous Italian movement, Giallo of the 70’s, and the works of Dario Argento and his films “Deep Red” and “Suspiria”, with their vivid colour palette and distinctive look. They are both stories that really unfold as you watch them. Dario Argento was very good at giving the right amount of information while at the same time, leaving things open to interpretation. For my film, I wanted the audience to be taken into the world that the characters are in and be with them as they try to make sense of the what’s happening. The character of Grace is trying to figure out what’s happening to her and in a sense, she is reflecting what the audience is thinking and feeling as well.
-If you could ask a question to a great director from the past, who would you like to talk to and what would you ask them?
I’d choose Stanley Kubrick, one of the most influential filmmakers in history. My passion for filmmaking ignited at very young age, fuelled by the sci-fi and horror classics of the 50s and 60s. I vividly recall watching 2001: A Space Odyssey on my ninth birthday. Though I didn’t fully grasp the story, I was completely captivated by the visuals. It’s a groundbreaking work that redefined the science fiction genre, and its special effects remain unparalleled even with today’s CGI. If I had the chance to talk to Kubrick, I’d love to ask him about his creative choices in 2001. Specifically, I’m curious about why he chose to eschew traditional cinematic and narrative techniques, instead minimizing dialogue and employing long, music-driven sequences.
-What do you think of the Wild Filmmaker platform?
The Wild Filmmaking platform loves the history of cinema, and that shows, especially how they foster support for independent filmmakers. With my lifelong love of cinema and its history, this really resonates with me. I’m honoured to be a part of Wild Filmmaker Platform, and the amazing talented filmmakers it supports.
-What has been the greatest difficulty you faced in producing your project?
My greatest difficulty was coming to terms about how to create a satirical film without hurting people’s feelings. The story of two poetic muses, one an intellectual prostitute and the other, a reluctant daughter of a senile God both vying for love, is a strange fantasy that appeared for some people too challenging and threatening to appreciate. Why? Perhaps the answer lies embedded in the next question.
-Do you think the film industry today has been damaged by political correctness?
Yes, I do. Political correctness ruins film’s creative freedom. This especially applies to new attitudes about humor. The misunderstanding of how irony, sarcasm and comic exaggeration create laughter is too often literally interpreted and silenced under the brandishing sword of moral correctness. If anyone deserves the questioning eye of a creative filmmaker it is this puritanical crowd of well-meaning yet boring simpletons proselytizing moral superiority.
-What was the greatest source of inspiration for creating your project?
“Salinger’s Two Dark Muses” was first of all inspired by my own experiences of being a young man aspiring to be a poet. Another great source of inspiration was the Faust legend. Faust craves the whole world and is willing to sell his soul to Mephistopheles to gain fame. The last great inspiration was the Ern Malley literary hoax. Two conservative Australian writers created a fictitious poet imitating modernist poetry which in the early 20th century tricked the whole world into thinking that Malley was a new great genius.
-If you could ask a question to a great director from the past, who would you like to talk to and what would you ask them?
Perhaps I would have liked to meet the greatest director of all time, Fellini. But what questions could I ask of a genius who himself so marvelously questioned reality? All I would say was, “Thank you Federico for opening the doors of cinema for me.”
-What do you think of the Wild Filmmaker platform?
The people working at the Wild Filmmaker Platform are informed, ambitious, friendly and very supportive. I’m not sure yet of what and how they exactly operate but hopefully with time that will become clearer to me.They seem to be reaching for the sky.
The screenplay “Brothers of Babylon” received top marks from the “Sun Dance in Paris Film Awards 2024” team. The narrative style and originality of the author, Gabriel Womack, met all the high expectations of the jury. The WILD FILMMAKER team had pointed out the young American screenwriter Gabriel Womack as a great talent, frequently awarded in the international festival circuit hosted by the WILD FILMMAKER platform, and we were very pleased to discover that the information provided matched our evaluation. As a jury, we are certain that “Brothers of Babylon” has all the qualities to become a film with an international cast, as it is a universal story that deserves to transition from screenplay to film. It would be interesting to find out if the author Gabriel Womack also wishes to direct the film based on his excellent screenplay or if he prefers to entrust the project to another director. We will find out. For now, we can only state that Indie cinema can boast an author of extraordinary creativity to whom we wish the greatest success. Once again, we thank the WILD FILMMAKER platform for introducing us to an artist of excellent inspiration like Gabriel Womack.
The Omnipotent Resolution project profoundly captivated the jury of the 2024 Swedish Critics’ Choice Awards! This short film, which can also be considered a music video, possesses extraordinary spiritual power, where music and dance become a pathway to understanding the human soul.
Artists Uniqueness Heiress & Azia managed to move and provoke thought in our jury, and unanimously, we decided to award the project the highest marks. We are very pleased to have formed a partnership with the Wild Filmmaker platform, which allowed us to discover this fantastic Artwork!
