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Edition Documentaries THETHE TECTONICSTECTONICS OFOF HUMANITYHUMANITY CHRISTIAN FREI COLLECTION 1 What makes these films so extraordinary? They are authentic moments that endure. Christian Frei takes us along a perimeter that both divides and unites individuals and cultures: the tectonics of humanity. KULTURZEIT Imprint Publisher Warner Home Video Switzerland Production Christian Frei Editors Marc Bodmer and Sophie Schricker Texts Peter-Matthias Gaede, Tilmann P. Gangloff, Christian Frei, Norbert Creutz, James Nachtwey, Peter Indergand Layout Mike Hartmeier (Boost) Copyright film stills Christian Frei Filmproductions GmbH James Nachtwey photograph David Turnley / Corbis Bamiyan photographs Christian Frei and Nelofer Pazira Oscar photo “Kodak Theatre” Cour- tesy of Keystone Oscar Nominees 2002 ‘Class Photo’ Courtesy of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Oscar Statuette ©Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences® Bamiyan Engraving ©Stiftung Bibliotheca Afghanica Grosny photograph James Nachtwey / VII Portrait Christian Frei Alex Spichale Portrait Peter Indergand Christian Frei Translations Peter Rigney Print Cinram Kindly supported by Swiss Films © 2007 Warner Home Video Switzerland / Christian Frei Filmproductions GmbH 2 3 Editorial By Peter-Matthias Gaede Editor in Chief, GEO rance and hope. Another strength of Frei‘s is that thought I could imagine what its he never upstages his subject. He like for James Nachtwey to pho- is never intrusive. Instead of for- I tograph the human drama. When cing himself on the protagonists of he endures what is hardly endurab- his films, he approaches them with le. I thought I knew him to a certain cautious sympathy. If it were other- extent, the world‘s most important, wise, he would never succeed in most contemplative photographer of getting close enough to experience the realm of horror and shadow. This scenes such as that of a daughter‘s taciturn, almost lonely chronicler of parting from her Cuban father as despair, whose work GEO has been she goes into exile; and he would publishing for years. I thought I had never succeed in transmitting this a picture of James Nachtwey. Until I intimacy to us, the viewer of “Ricar- saw Christian Frei‘s “War Photogra- do, Myriam y Fidel”. pher”. Only then did I truly move clo- Rarely then has a cooperative ser to James Nachtwey. venture pleased me as much as that And not only to him. Whatever which came about between Christian Frei‘s subject matter may be, it Frei and GEO. Not merely due to doesn‘t let go of you. His films sink the subject matter, for the scope of in, despite their doing without all all three films extends far beyond that the media world normally uses their settings and subjects. But to beg for attention – noise, pompous also because Christian Frei is one gestures, the rush of speed. Stillness of the most compelling reporters is the source of power. What sounds of our time. His works will become like a cliché holds true for the work classics of documentary film. To be of Christian Frei and his cameraman precise, they already are. Peter Indergand. Their films are calm, almost meditative, and subtle. They January 2007 exude quiet persistence. They are in- sightful, intelligently researched and well composed. This becomes parti- cularly apparent when director and cameraman, in “Giant Buddhas” for example, weave seemingly far-remo- ved chronological and plot layers into an intensive account of faith, intole- 4 5 “Thou shalt not bore” He is no “War Photographer”: Portrait of the Swiss documentary filmmaker Christian Frei uphold Billy Wilder‘s first com- mandment of filmmaking: “Thou shalt not bore!” Nevertheless, Frei considers it a coincidence that his “Thou shalt not bore” three major documentary films all take place in far away places. THOU SH“I could also imagine taking on a difficult topic right in the middle By Tilmann P. Gangloff the giant Buddha statues destroyed of Zurich.” Except that by now he by the Taliban (“The Giant Bud- enjoys a certain reputation, which his is a good place to work, dhas”). is why Lars von Trier entrusted him no doubt about it. The Rote And yet Frei dismisses any no- with the documentation of his Bay- TFabrik, or ‘Red Factory’ on tion of being an adventurer. “I‘m a reuth production of the Ring of the the banks of Lake Zurich, has documentary filmmaker,” he says, Nibelungen. When Frei asked von something of an artist colony. “and while I might not shy away Trier why he chose him, of all peo- Christian Frei fits in well here. from adventure, I do not seek it ple, the Danish Dogma founder re- And so he analyzes his own oeu- out.” This sets him apart from the plied, “Because you‘re a landmine vre, enthusiastically, with a sharp lifestyle of the “bored and wealthy specialist.” Unfortunately, the pro- eye and an agreeable sense of who are in constant need of an ad- duction was broken off, and with it humor. Our conversation takes renaline rush.” He adds, “I‘m not the joint project. place where Frei and his regular at all interested in any kind of ex- cameraman Peter Indergand plan treme sports; I’m not constantly The reverence. During filming their joint projects. The spartan in search of kicks.” It’s not that he for “War Photographer”, dealing and functionally furnished space gives you this impression either, with real landmines could not be would not have you believe that it‘s just that the reports of his film avoided. But Christian Frei wasn‘t here works someone who nearly shoots happen to sound quite ad- thinking about that when he got won an Oscar. If there were ever venturous. the idea for the film. It came to him proof that planning is half the Frei‘s creed is this: “As a docu- as he sat on an airplane reading battle, then it is to be found in the mentary filmmaker, I want to ex- an issue of ‘Stern’ magazine which films of Christian Frei. Even so, he plore the tectonics of humanity featured a series of Nachtwey pho- regularly gets himself involved in around the globe. Where the plates tos invoking the forgotten war in precarious situations that are ac- rub against each other, where there Afghanistan. The topic was a per- tually anything but predictable. are tremors or earthquakes – that‘s fect match for what Frei demands where I find the stories that inte- of a film subject: “I need the cer- The adventure. If you’re going rest me.” Someone who zeroes in tainty that the story is larger than to the front with James Nachtwey, on emotional epicenters and yet life, and that it‘s worth pursuing the most famous war photogra- is no daredevil? “Naturally, these for the next three years.” pher alive today (“War Photogra- usually aren‘t simple stories, and When the director came to un- pher”), you can hardly entertain sometimes things even turn dange- derstand that the photographer, in hopes that what you will encoun- rous,” answers Frei, “but only when his quest for authenticity, wished ter will in any way be predictab- things become difficult do people nothing more than to be invisible, le. The same can be said for the rise above themselves; only then do he had the decisive idea: The most daring expedition into the remo- the images become important and powerful images in “War Photo- te Afghan Bamiyan Valley, where interesting.” grapher” are captured with a mic- ro-camera attached to Nachtwey‘s Christian Frei devoted himself to That‘s just how it is if you photo camera. This set-up yielded 8 footage of breathtaking authen- While filming in the inhabited ca- ticity. You see Nachtwey at work, ves of Afghanistan for “The Giant and at the same time you are Buddhas”, two or three flashlights eyewitness to the photographer‘s positioned throughout the rooms search for the essential moment served as lighting. The privacy amidst war and despair. Without of the caves‘ inhabitants was re- this high-tech equipment, the film spected, which is precisely what would not have been possible. Frei produced to such highly excee- is still indebted to the specialists dingly intimate footage. “Thanks from the Zurich company Swiss to Indergand‘s enormous emotio- Effects, who “tinkered and experi- nal intelligence, we get images as mented” for half a year. highly precise as those in feature This detail illustrates two films, only without the staging,” things. A crucial prerequisite for says Frei of the cameraman. “He achieving relatively smooth filming simply has an unfailing feel for conditions is Frei‘s ability to anti- situations.” Other shots had to be cipate all potential developments virtually wrested from the difficult – including, of course, the emoti- conditions: For the fascinating im- ons and objections of persons who pressions of the Gobi Desert, Frei will be at the focus of his films. and Indergand had to repeatedly More crucial still is the respect for get up at 2 a.m. in order to reach the people he films, “whether it be a particular spot by 5 a.m.. Once the President of the United States there, they had no more than ten or a mountain farmer who might minutes in which to capture the not like me trampling across his “completely outlandish images” field.” which are among the most power- ful in “The Giant Buddhas”. The images. Peter Indergand‘s con- Once again, Christian Frei‘s ac- tribution also cannot be underesti- counts of these film shoots illus- mated. Although the two are com- trate why meticulous planning is pletely different in character, they so crucial. It sounds like a truism share what Frei calls “a fascinating when he says, “A farmer can only friendship”.