Split, in Croatia, is a city of white stone on the edge of a turquoise sea. Branko Karabatic invited me to the festival to show some work and also to receive an award (“for outstanding contribution to the artistic development of the moving image”) which of course was very flattering.
This summer I put down some temporary roots. These roots started as packets of seeds, mostly vegetables. I have learnt how much work goes into producing food and, at the same time, have experienced a sense of wonder at the interaction of earth, air and water (and seed) which produces such miracles as peas, carrots, beetroots, and coriander.
A few weeks ago at the G20 summit in the UK I went to Bishopsgate (a street on the fringes of the financial centre of the City of London) to see what was happening with the ‘Climate Camp’.
There is an interesting new post on the forum from ‘EasyLife26’. The writer had seen the Reuters TV report from Berlin about RAGE and responded with “Naked Cinema?…I just don’t find it very interesting or justifiable that ‘only’ a million dollars was spent on this film. That doesn’t impress me.’
I suspect RAGE may be seen as a film for lean times.
It’s certainly ‘no waste’ filmmaking: low-budget and definitely not an extravagant spectacle. But what it lacks in special effects, fancy locations and orchestral score I hope it makes up for in entertainment, somewhere close to the roots of cinematic storytelling.