SOUL MAN 07 May 2008
If you missed last week's exclusive interview with Partizan's Saam Farahmand, never fear. Part Of The Weekend Never Dies is his new Soulwax film. shots caught up with him to talk about his very first documentary and what it was like to co-direct with Soulwax.
If you missed last week's exclusive interview with Partizan's Saam Farahmand, never fear. Part Of The Weekend Never Dies is his new Soulwax film. shots caught up with him to talk about his very first documentary and what it was like to co-direct with Soulwax.
How did the idea to do a Soulwax documentary come about - did you approach them or did they approach you?A couple of years ago they decided they wanted to make a documentary, and they approached me after Sasha Nixon [music video mogul of Partizan] showed them my scatty, unfocused video experiments and persuaded them somehow that I would be right.Is it your first documentary?Yes. It's my first stab at "the real". It's also my first co-directed project. A lot of firsts. How did the experience differ from the work you've previously done? I'd imagine there would be a lot less control, in terms of visuals and subject - was there? How was that?It differs from my previous work because everything else I make is fantasy and fiction, and this was a presentation of someone's reality. The process was delicate because I had to make sure that this reality was respected, especially as I had been a fan for nearly 10 years, and that they were older and more image-established than other people I have worked with.Another thing that the control freak in me found really hard was letting go. To co-direct it's like letting someone else paint the room with you, even though they have a different shaped brush. The room ends up with different brush marks around the walls, but hopefully they harmonise if there's enough light coming through the windows.How did you approach the film?Soulwax and I were conscious of indulgent "rockumentaries" that followed certain patterns. I was also conscious of the inevitable tightrope walk of presenting the whole "kids-beats-drugs-dancefloors" in the right way. It's so cringey when people get it wrong, and I hope we didn't.When it started we didn't know what we were making, whether it was an "on the road" document or a "straight stage film", or just an abstract montage.The technical approach changed every week, because as I said before, it was a lot of "firsts" for everyone.eg: Wednesday - Follow band through winding backstage mazes with producer, DOP shooting full HD with big lenses, handheld lighting assistant, and sound guy with boom.Thursday - Back to drawing board with four minutes of lame footage.
Friday - Follow band through winding backstage mazes alone with a little Sony Z1...How did Soulwax respond to the experience of being "documented"?You know that thing people do when they hear a recording of their voice, or when a dodgy Polaroid starts to develop and they freak out and snatch it off you? Multiply that by ten... but soon they stopped noticing the camera, which isn't easy. They have more guts than me.How long did you spend filming the documentary?Around 18 months.What did you learn from the experience?Documentaries are hard hard hard, because the truth is that reality is boring.Working with Soulwax was a dream. I know the film isn't for everybody, but I hope that the people who like it, really, really like it.If not, I hope that at least in 20 years' time, our kids will get stoned and watch it at after parties...
To watch a trailer for the film click here.
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