Austin Film Festival - Vali
After a wild night VALI decides the time is right to settle a score with her lover Marco.
Interview with Writer/Director Hans Vercauter & Francois Mercier (a.k.a. HELVETICA)
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thanks! Francois Mercier and I (Hans Vercauter) were already working for a couple of years together under the moniker HELVETICA. We mostly worked on commercials and video promos. At a certain point we felt the need to do a more personal project. So we started pitching ideas for a short film to each other. We knew we wanted to make this short film fast! Making shorts in Belgium can be a drag if you want to do it the official way with money from the film funds. It is a good system but it takes so much time (sometimes over several years) so it can really take the blood flow and enthusiasm out of a project.
We said: ‘You know what. We know so much good people that can help us, lets try to do it the other way around, keep that creativity flowing and do it the rock and roll way!’. We set up some basic rules to come up with a story that was manageable in terms of production. In the end we shot VALI in two days in one location with the support of LOVO films (our production company in Belgium) and the help of a steady group of crew members we often work with.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
VALI is a story based upon an old Scandinavian myth where the god VALI was conceived for the sole reason of seeking revenge. In our surrealistic film VALI is a young woman whose sole purpose is to seek revenge upon her lover Marco. It’s fun to watch this story unravel. It is about female empowerment. As a plus our film has a killer soundtrack!
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Revenge was a theme that I previously explored in my short film WOLFS MILK. I loved it and was not quiet ready with it. When Francois and I discussed the project, we both felt we wanted to do something on the empowerment of woman. I think Francois came up with the basic idea of a guy cheating his wife getting cheated by his lover. We did a lot of research and found out about the Scandinavian myth of VALI. This kind of made the puzzle complete and we then approached this theme with humor and a surreal twist like we always tend to do.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
Actually story wise we pretty much knew what we wanted. So the story did not change much during the development. What really put the film together was when we found our actress Camilla Lehmann for the role of VALI. At one point Francois and I were really struggling to find the right person for this role. We work a lot with visual reference material and one pic we had in our collection of references was a pic of Camilla.
We found out she was a Danish actress. Although we knew it would be hard to set up a collaboration due our limited production resources, we did not let that stop us and said ‘f#ck it!, lets contact her and see how it goes’. Turned out that Camilla loved the script! The rest is history.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
We got very good reactions on the film. The audience seems to really appreciate the magic that is happening on screen between Sam Louwyck (a Belgian cult actor) and Camilla Lehmann. Our framing style and inventive transitions are very often mentioned. We also get good reviews on the soundtrack.
Someone told us recently that she wanted to know more, know what happens next to Vali in her life. Nice compliment but we have no plans to translate this story into a feature film!
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Not really! However, one thing keeps popping up. In the beginning of our film VALI uses the thumb of her lover Marco who’s sleeping, to access his iphone. We had some funny feedback on that part. It always brings up a lively discussion about privacy in relationships. It is fun because we never suspected so much reaction to this.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
We hope that more people discover our work and looking forward to set up new collaborations.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
A film only truly lives when an audience sees it. So we hope to show VALI at as many festivals as possible. We are also looking for festival directors willing to program VALI, distributors and buyers who can distribute the film on TV, VOD, Internet, etc…
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
We are realistic about this. This is a short film, most people see these kind of films only at festivals. So the impact is small. Nevertheless it looks like VALI really is finding its audience. This fills us with great joy and pleasure.
On the other hand we hope that this film opens new paths to set up new collaborations to make a feature film or work in television fiction.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Is cheating a cheater a bad thing?
Would you like to add anything else?
I think the most important lesson that we learned from this film is that nothing is impossible. In the end you just have to go out there and make that film. We hope that our no nonsense approach inspires other filmmakers to do the same.
What are the key creatives developing or working on now?
We are working on a couple of music promos and developing a new art project for the internet.
Interview: October 2016
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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VALI
After a wild night VALI decides the time is right to settle a score with her lover Marco.
Length: 10min
Director: Hans Vercauter & Francois Mercier (a.k.a. HELVETICA)
Producer: Bert Brulez & Chou-Jung Kuo
Writer: Hans Vercauter & Francois Mercier (a.k.a. HELVETICA)
About the writer, director and producer:
HELVETICA is a directing duo created 2013 by Hans Vercauter and Francois Mercier. Francois is partner of production company LOVO films. Hans’ previous short film WOLF’s MILK received the jury price at the World Film Festival in Montreal.
Key cast: Camilla Lehmann, Sam Louwyck
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): yes
Funders: yes
Where will it screen in the next month?
The film is picked up by one of the biggest short film festivals in Europe Interfilm in Germany, Berlin. Out of 6000 submissions VALI will be part of the international competition here.