An interview with Jet Andree, noted down by Cornelis Hähnel.

Where did you get the first idea for ZUURSTOF?

I wanted to make a short film and thought of doing something completely different from what I used to film. I had all kinds of ideas for horror stories. But then, one night, I was lying in bed and all of a sudden I had this kind of dream. I saw the whole film from the beginning to the end, in a flash. I found it very inspiring and decided to make something more personal. I began writing scripts about people talking to each other, without the viewer knowing what it was what they were talking about exactly. The way in which people talk to each other and their intonation says more about what they want to say then what they're actually saying. I wanted to play with that idea. I found out it is impossible to not talk about something, a conversation is always about something. So in the end I wrote a story about six women in a house without telling their names, who they are or what they are doing there. The feelings of the main character and the way she deals with her problem is the whole story of the movie (without telling what her problem is). It doesn't matter what her problem is, what is much more important is the way she deals with it and I wanted the movie to be about that.

It is a very static und extremely composed movie. Was this kind of staging planned from the beginning?

I wanted to make a static film, without camera movements. I even thought about making the whole film in one shot. All the shots were drawn beforehand. I tried to combine the static, artificial composed shots, kind of theatrical way of filming with a realistic story with casual conversation; As if you film a moment out of life and instead of using a home video way of filming I use a kind of “old Hollywood/theatrical“ way of filming.

In the beginning there is this heavy atmosphere of painful thoughts and then, suddenly, there is the liberating laughter, which is also stylistic viewable. What is the concept of this dichotomy?

The editing rhythm is a reflection of the state of mind of the main character. In the beginning the protagonist is focussed on herself and her problem. She doesn't pay any attention to the other women. She is the only one we see. The rhythm even slows down until it almost freezes when she looks into her cup of coffee. She has this tunnel vision: she not only doesn't look at the others but also can't listen to them anymore. She is completely into herself. Then out of nowhere the atmosphere changes, she is laughing and everything goes very fast. Has something changed? What happened? This dichotomy is the heart of the movie. It is the story. The effect I wanted to reach is that you try to understand what the problem is, wonder where this is all going to, and then all of a sudden the movie is finished and you wonder what happened and want to see it again because you have this feeling that you missed something.

Did you had any problems with financing or realizing the movie?

Together with a Belgian producer I applied for funding at the VAF (the Flanders Audiovisual Fund), but we didn't get it and so I decided to produce and finance the film myself. The whole crew and cast worked voluntarily on ZUURSTOF. Working this way gave us a lot of restrictions, for example we had to film everything in two days during daytime.

Have there been any problems while the editing of the film?

By directing and editing ZUURSTOF myself I learned never to do that again. It was too hard to let go of the "directors" thoughts while looking at the material from the editors point of view, even though I waited two months after shooting to start editing. While editing I found out I should have shot an extra shot of the protagonist when she stops laughing, gets up and asks everyone if they are coming. It is an important moment in the movie and as a director I should have paid more attention to that moment.

Links

• OXYGEN (B 2008. Jet Andree)
• Holding Your Breath – Cornelis Hähnel about OXYGEN
• A Brilliant Dose of Irony – Cornelis Hähnel about the Belgium film market