“La Robe Rouge” by Lars Kemnitz
When a young wanderer discovers a red dress hanging on a tree, she is immediately fascinated by it. But she has no idea what will happen once she tries it on.
FROM THE DIRECTOR
“Anyone who watches the film will probably inevitably think of the well-known fairy tale. But this wasn't the focus at the beginning. On the contrary, it only crept into the narrative later. In the beginning there was only one image that I had in my mind’s eye, namely that of a woman in a red dress in a mountain meadow. The story developed from this image.
Filming in the mountains had been a wish of mine—from the very beginning. I think there is something deeply archaic, primal and at the same time unfathomable about mountain landscapes. For me it was also an unfamiliar, new environment that fit perfectly with what I wanted to tell. Thanks to my dear friend Michèle, without whom the project would not have been possible, we found a wonderful filming location in Le Noirmont in the Swiss Jura. The final shots were taken in Basel.
I made the film for the Super 8 Festival in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. The special thing about the festival: Every participant has to shoot a film on one cartridge of Super 8. Once fully exposed the film is finished. Subsequent editing and post-production are not possible. The cartridge is sent to the festival unprocessed. Each participant must also submit an audio track that is created without having seen the film. At a big premiere in Neuchâtel, the films are shown to the participants and the audience for the very first time. That is always very exciting, because in the end you never know whether your film has turned out well until you finally see it yourself.
Since subsequent editing is impossible, all visible effects have to happen on site during filming. Therefore, I had to think about how I could implement them in advance. Surprisingly, a lot can often be achieved with simple means. In some cases it just takes a little creativity and improvisation.
The charming thing about shooting on film stock for me is that the film material already gives the film a wonderful look. Not least because of this look, the film exudes this dreamlike atmosphere. Therefore, there is actually no need for any post- processing. Hard to believe, but true.
Basically, every film created this way feels like a small miracle. We were very happy about the beautiful result and hope that others will enjoy the film, too.
-Lars Kemnitz
CREDITS:
Cast:
Michèle Bieler/ @michelebielser
Director// Lars Kemnitz/ @larskemnitz
Processing// Andec Filmtechnik, Berlin Scanning:
Grandmarquis, Biel/ @grandmarquis_films
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