Real, Raw, Radical
The eleventh interview of the FemGems in the Arts series features filmmaker Ralitza Petrova
Ralitza Petrova is a radical and brave film director. She is a true artist, who has the courage to defend her own convictions and never compromises with her work. If I were to describe her personality with one word it would be “integrity”. Her films are hyper-real and raw. They focus on human existence and behavior and are striking in their original subjects and expressive cinematic language. She crafts them with specific wittiness, cold irony, and dark humor.
Ralitza studied film and video art at University of the Arts London, and later, fiction directing at the UK’s National Film and Television School (NFTS). Her shorts have won wide acclaim at the film festival circuit, including Cannes, Berlin and Locarno, as well as on numerous art platforms, such as Tate Modern and the Centre Pompidou.
Her exceptionally powerful and artistically highly-ambitious first feature “Godless” (2016) deals with fundamental moral and ethical categories such as forgiveness and redemption. It premiered at Locarno Film Festival, where it won four awards, amongst them the Golden Leopard for Best Film. Since then, the film has won 27 awards and has been nominated for European Discovery — Prix FIPRESCI 2017 by the European Film Academy.
Ralitza Petrova is a fellow of the DAAD Artist-in-Berlin Program 2019, where she developed her next feature film.
What made you pursue a career in the Arts?
I think it comes from a need to make sense of the world around me — that outside and inside of me. When I was younger I used to write poetry. Later I did sculpture, and then photography. Filmmaking seems to have been a natural progression. To me it contains elements of all three art forms.
I was 22 or so when I first thought of film as an art form. It was during an odd experience I had with a painting. It made me feel that film could give me what the painting couldn’t. Soon after I got an Hi8 camcorder and started shooting an experimental documentary about teenage suicide survivors in Japan.
Today I feel it is the same urge to make sense of life’s mystery that keeps me making films. I tend to make personal films, where the imagined and the real merge to create narratives with more complex meaning.
How has your professional artistic taste developed in time? Who were the important directors, authors, and ideas for you?
I tend to be drawn to filmmaking that is not afraid to tackle uneasy subjects. One that has a dark sense of humour, too. By which I don’t mean cynical, but rather one that makes you think and feel.
The American stand-up comedian Bill Hicks, the English Mark Watson and Chris Morris are good examples of such humor. There is an undertone of pain and sadness to their jokes, but not at the expense of putting people down. The directors whose cinema I enjoy have a similar flavor to their material. They communicate with intelligence and grace. They also know how to create mystery. To me, a good film is one that doesn’t give away all the answers. It creates space for the audience to have an experience for the first time. In life, when we have an experience for the first time we are intrigued and mesmerized. It’s like getting to know someone. We want to demystify the person, to uncover “the bad” behind “the good”. The contradictions of characters in stories create that mystery, and we yearn to unravel it through the length of the film.
For me the more complex the contradictions, the more I like it, because it rings true to life. Such stories inspire me, as they are not simply entertainment. They carry the power to transform the heart and mind.
Some of the filmmakers that do that for me are Chris Marker, Carlos Reygadas, Wang Bing, Jia Zhangke, Kaneto Shindo, Hirokazu Koreeda, Chantal Akerman, Jane Campion, Claire Denis, Jessica Hausner, Kira Muratova, Andrea Arnold, Kelly Reichardt, Lucrecia Martel, Michael Haneke, Nicolas Roeg, Sergei Loznitsa, Mike Leigh, and Brillante Mendoza…
How do you start your creative process: with a basic idea of the plot, with a vision of a specific character, with a strong visual reference or with a particular feeling that should be present in the film?
I usually start a film when something bugs me inside, something that doesn’t give me peace for some reason. It is usually a strong feeling, or an emotion. It could come from a certain memory, or something I’ve witnessed in life that I don’t completely understand. Making a film gives me the chance to unravel the mystery around it, to understand it, and learn from it. It again boils down to why I make films in the first place.
Once I decide to embark on a film idea, I often go and literally live in an environment of the story. I meet with people who are similar to my characters. In this sense I am very close to the process of a documentary filmmaker. This gives me the chance to experience the world of the story first hand, which later gives my writing and directing the right measure. I know when an emotion is enough, when to stop, and what to leave in the unsaid. It takes much longer as a process. But what comes out on the other end is deeply satisfying, as it comes from real life. Along the way I also meet extraordinary people, which is the privilege of what we do as filmmakers.
Does every project need a very personal urge to be done and how do you define that urge?
I believe that every filmmaker needs to have a personal connection to their film on some level. Otherwise there could be the danger of not completely owning the emotional authenticity of your story and characters.
You might not even realise it, but this prevents you from being fully honest and an audience can feel that. To me, film is a poetic medium and as such it deals first and foremost with emotion.
In poetry the poet writes from a place of emotional truth. Regardless of whether it is imagined, or real, to the poet the emotional experience is always true. In that sense the challenge in my creative process is to reach an emotional truth that feels right.
In your films you seem to observe extreme situations in which your characters often mix up reality and delusions, violate others or harm themselves. Why are you interested in that?
As artists we are drawn to material which feels close to us. Our taste is often defined by what we’ve been through in life and the degree to which we were able to rise above our fears. I have a lot of fears connected to growing up in Bulgaria during the nineties. There was a lot violence and shady morals. Being a teenager during those years left a mark on me. My stories and characters help me to overcome those fears and understand my background and environment better. You could say I am more of the horror-thriller-mystery-drama type person, than that of the romance movies and straight comedies.
Also, I like stories which can be told in a minimalist way, and technically what you describe as “extreme” creates dramatic conflict.
This allows me to tell a lot with little means. Even in the cinema of Ozu, where seemingly there is little “drama”, you would find a lot of dramatic conflict, as he plays with stark contrasts in expectations, which can be just as violent, as a character being killed.
Do you believe that redemption could really heal and purify your characters?
I read somewhere someone saying that unless a society openly talks about its “issues” it cannot progress as a society, because there is no collective understanding. Another great mind, the physician Gabor Mate (an expert in addiction) said: “When I am sharply judgmental of any other person, it is because I sense, or see a reflected in them some aspect of myself that I don’t want to acknowledge.” I very much agree with that. Perhaps on a subconscious level I am trying to understand, accept and heal those aspects within myself that I see in my characters. As for the capacity of redemption to heal, I believe that anyone, who is prepared to face themselves with rigorous honesty could self-heal.
For me redemption is about raising in consciousness. It is about realizing something, about growing spiritually. In that sense, my characters are my teachers. By trying to understand their “rottenness” and redeem their souls I learn about aspects of myself.
The visual style of all of your films is very impressive and unique. Can you talk about your visual style and the things that are important for you regarding the cinematography?
I like cinema that is immersive. I tend to communicate through the cinematography, editing, and sound design a lot more than through the acting. This doesn’t mean that acting is not important to me. On the contrary, the actors need to feel authentic and documentary-like, as Bresson said “to be” rather than “to seem”.
But I build the meaning of what a scene is about through the image, the edit, and the sound. It is about creating a certain atmosphere that reflects the emotional world of a character. There is a degree of impressionism about it that communicates beyond the plot of the story. In that sense, sound design is actually even more important to me than cinematography…
Peter Albrechtsen, the sound designer on Godless, when he first read the script said he’d rarely read a script with so much sound design written into it, which was also what attracted him to work on the film. Peter was initially my tutor at the Torino Film Lab. This is how he got introduced to the project, which ended up being one of the best things that happened to the film at that stage. We got involved with the Danish production company, Snowglobe, that co-produced the film. The collaboration was incredible. Very honest, passionate and true. It also introduced me to Denmark, where I feel at home somehow.
What do you think about contemporary cinema? There are trends and successful models, but what does it take to create something really deep and brave which speaks with a strong and unique voice? How does Bulgarian cinema fit in the international context?
I never know how to answer the question of “formulas”. To me this is a myth. For the “critic” it is easy to judge and claim that a film follows a successful formula, especially if the film receives international acclaim. The reality of filmmaking is that it is an extremely difficult process. Every second of screen time involves enormous effort from a lot of people. Even if you set yourself to “cheat”, so to speak, I doubt that you would be able to sustain the illusion throughout the whole process. Anything away from a truthful intention seems exhausting. In that sense
I believe that the directors and teams behind every film have their best intentions at heart. The extent to which a film turns successful, or not, seems about being in the right place, at the right time. There are too many factors at play to guarantee “a success story”.
I make films out of necessity. The stories I tell have a certain urgency. As to whether they are brave or unique this is not for me to judge. My responsibility — to myself — is to make an honest film. The rest is out of my control.
Bulgaria’s contemporary cinema is diverse in its voices. To me this is a good thing. Especially, since Bulgaria is a country of seven million. I guess where we end up being pigeon-holed is being called “Eastern European cinema”.
Having lived abroad for many years, I feel that the films, which currently come out of Bulgaria, tell universal stories that can resonate with any culture. I hope that the international film industry decision-makers remain open to Bulgarian films, and are able to see beyond the politics of geography and the “Eastern European” stigma.
You’ve been a resident of the prestigious DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program 2019. What kind of experience was that?
I was very honoured to have been chosen as a DAAD Artist-in-Berlin Fellow. It was an incredibly rewarding experience at this stage of my creative development. The program gives an opportunity to artists in mid-career to focus on making new work, without the worries of external pressures. I focused on the script development of my next feature film. Being in Berlin gave me access to resources that were invaluable for the project. I also had the chance to meet and exchange ideas with artists from different backgrounds, which was truly inspiring.
You are working on a second feature film. At what stage are you at the moment?
I am at a script stage. I hope to lock the script in the next few months, and to start applying for financing. I am excited about this film, as it deals with some uneasy questions around family codependency, addiction, and sexual stereotypes. Essentially, it is a coming-of-mid-age anti-love story with elements of black humour, which ends with hope for the main character.
Is there a significant difference between male and female artistic thinking and what are the advantages and disadvantages of being a woman in the film industry?
I prefer to think of male and female artists from the point of view of the type of people they are, before looking at their gender. By this I mean their capacity to express honesty, understanding, and empathy for the human soul. This is what moves me as an audience, and it’s what I aspire to achieve as a filmmaker.
Then we all partly build our identities on gender stereotypes, because of what we’ve been taught. This influences the types of stories we choose to tell as females or males. But I don’t believe that a female cannot treat a male subject and vice versa. I feel that to achieve gender equality in the film industry, we need first to be open as societies to empathise and be curious about each other’s experiences, regardless of our gender. This would naturally be reflected in the films too.
“Godless” was praised outside Bulgaria, but at home, with a few exceptions, it was ignored or disliked. What are the professional challenges, hardships or prejudices that you often face in your work?
I left Bulgaria when I was seventeen and returned twenty years later, after much traveling and living amongst different cultures. My stories, influences, and film language are defined by those experiences. They reflect the person I am today. Relying on yourself since an early age has one advantage that it forces you to live outside your comfort zone.It is often challenging, but in my experience it is where the biggest lessons are. Perhaps this is why I like stories that border on situations, which test the morality of characters, ultimately, helping them to grow. I really like this quote from the Bulgarian physicist Teodosiy Teodosiev, who said “the happy end needs to be earned” implying the need for sacrifice and effort. Today the reward that I most aspire to is to have more consciousness for myself and the people around me.
Which of your personal qualities serve you the best and what are the personal weaknesses that you are trying to overcome?
As much as I can, I try to be honest with myself and others. I try to be kind and empathic. At work I am a perfectionist, for a better or for worse. Letting go of control, both, in life and work is something I am trying to become better at.
How are you dealing with hesitations, insecurity and personal fears?
By going through them. In my experience, running away is rarely a good option. The fear catches up with me, no matter how far I go, or how long I hide. A friend recently said to me “a lot of it is about understanding your resistance”. I couldn’t agree more. It’s about being in touch with myself, and connecting with a higher power of my own understanding. When I am spiritually fit, the outcomes become relative, and I am much more accepting of what is. In that state, feelings come and go, nothing is constant.
What was the most important step during your professional path so far and what was your biggest mistake or delusion?
I would say the most important step so far is that I made one feature film where I didn’t compromise my vision. Generally, when I am in the ego, mine or someone else’s, I am in delusion.
This portrait is the 11th one of the FemGems in the Arts series, proudly part of FemGems, whose mission is to boost female entrepreneurship.
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