Bastian Guenther, the director of HOUSTON, answers All About Indie Filmmaking's questions about the film, which is competing in the World Dramatic Competition at Sundance 2013.
Tell us about your film.
Tell us about your film.
Clemens Trunschka is a corporate headhunter and an alcoholic. Drinking increasingly isolates him from his life and leads him away from reality. On the hunt for a top CEO in Houston, Texas, his addiction takes him on a haunting journey into his own darkness.
My first idea was to make a film about an addict. I didn’t want to make a typical drama about an alcoholic but rather a film that puts the addiction in a bigger context in terms of our modern way of life, the systems we create and support every day. Since addiction and our economy run on similar rules – short term goals and short term satisfactions – it made perfect sense to me that the main character is both an addict and a recruiter for CEOs of global corporations.
It has a certain openness. It leaves room for the viewer's imagination to take a hold of the story and characters. It poses questions that hopefully the audience thinks about, in terms of modern life and the inhuman systems that we support which alienate us from each other and even from ourselves. I also really like the look that we created for HOUSTON. We shot on 35mm cinemascope and used old Russian lenses.
I started with the first idea almost 5 years ago.
Several German film fundings and two German television stations financed the film.
Certainly shooting in two countries and having two seperate pre-productions was the most challenging part. Low budget independent filmmaking leaves little room for complaining. You just do it, and the process itself creates energy. A lot of creative discovery happens in production, and this feels like movie magic.
I guess everyone says this, but I had to ask my producer several times if he was serious when he told me the news. I always believed Sundance was the ideal place to premiere HOUSTON, and so I am incredibly happy and honored to have been invited. I came here three years ago (just to watch movies), and I loved the atmosphere and the films.
Each time you make a film, you find at least a little detail (sometimes more) that you would do differently next time. I’m very happy with the film and how it turned out, but I’m sure that in time, I will find something that drives me nuts.
The film already has distribution in Germany and is scheduled to hit the screens in fall 2013. During Sundance, we will look for a U.S. distributor. Beyond that we hope to screen HOUSTON in other festivals across the U.S. Since I’m working on a new film in Texas, it would be helpful if a lot of people see HOUSTON. The film was made for the big screen, and this is where I hope people get to see it.
Phew. I think the most important thing is to follow your vision. As "romantic" and naive as this sounds, I believe it’s true.
Check out the trailer for HOUSTON here:
Check out the trailer for HOUSTON here:
0 comments:
Post a Comment