Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.05.2012, Page 33

áSGEIR H. INGÓLFSSON
STILLS
33
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 5 — 2012
Film | Interview
From Kosovo To Cannes (Via Reykjavík)
In a small country like Iceland even
the successful artists are often
struggling ones, so there's always a
decent chance the person serving
you coffee is a part-time musician,
a struggling poet or an aspiring
filmmaker. The bearded, wiry wait-
er at Hressó is a good example. His
name is jasmine Rexhepi and he
moved to Iceland from Kosovo four
years ago. And he'll be going to the
world's most prestigious film festi-
val with his short film this spring.
Jasmine was born 28 years ago in Gn-
jilane, a small town between the Serbi-
an and Macedonian borders of Kosovo.
His teens were spent during the civil
war, but he plays it down. “Things were
much worse in other parts of Kosovo.”
He studied journalism in Pristina and
worked as a journalist there for four
years, before moving to Iceland. He
had grown weary of the Balkans and
isn't eager to dwell on the past there.
“I needed something like Iceland and
now I consider Iceland my country,” he
says.
THE FORGOTTEN MONIQUE
However, the film he's taking to the
Cannes Film Festival feels neither Ice-
landic nor Balkan. It's all in French and
we don't learn the title or see the main
character until midway through the
seven-minute film. It starts with a long
montage of various people on Christ-
mas Eve, spending the holiday in very
different ways. Then, midway through,
we find the chain-smoking Monique,
the title character of 'The Forgotten
Monique' (“La Monique Oubliée”).
She's alone for Christmas and is texting
her friends, asking them to pay her a
visit. “It actually happened to me once,”
Jasmine says. “I'd just gotten back and
wrote to my friends, only later I learned
that they had changed their numbers.
But everybody has his or her own sto-
ries and I found it interesting to create
the character of Monique—a selfish pri-
ma donna who knows that she's beauti-
ful. She only cares for herself, but ev-
eryone is sensitive in those moments."
But why French? “I just like the
French style of moviemaking. This
Mediterranean style... I could under-
stand it. I like to make colourful movies.
But I'm still on that level where I'm try-
ing to find my style," he says.
The movie has no actual dialogue
between characters, just voiceover and
music. It’s a rather eccentric voiceover
reminiscent of 'Amelie'. "I like [Amelie
Director] Jean-Pierre Jeunet,” he says.
“I like that style. And yes, it's in French,
it has voiceover, it's colourful and there
are a lot of dolly shots. But all of that is
simply something I like; in all my scripts
I use a lot of voiceover, and the time we
had was limited and I wasn't sure I'd get
professional actors."
As he goes on I realise that one of
his strengths is what a practical film-
maker he is; he realises the limitations,
his limited experience and lack of bud-
get and manages to turn them into a
virtue, simply by finding out what can
work best given the limitations. “I had
a few projects in mind and I wanted to
shoot the movie inside, with only inte-
rior scenes. I was afraid of using loca-
tions that might ruin my scenes,” he
says. “So I skipped the dialogue and the
background sound and used voiceover
and music instead, and in that way it
could look very professional, given the
conditions it was made under."
He's been studying at the Icelan-
dic film school recently, but film is an
old love. “I have been trying to get into
the movie business for a long time,” he
tells me. “After I finished my degree in
journalism in Kosovo I've been writing
all the time, including some documen-
taries. But then I applied to Kvikmyn-
daskólinn [The Icelandic Film School].
I think it was a good solution, even
though it's a bit expensive it could be
worth it if I use it well. I find studying
there interesting, I don't speak Icelan-
dic well yet but they helped me a lot,
gave me transcripts in English, gave
me extra hours and were always willing
to help. It's not the best school in the
world, but in every school in the world
the principle is the same: if you want to
gain something, you will do it yourself,
rather than wait for the teacher.”
And he found his Monique at the
film school's acting department. “She's
called Vanessa Andrea Terrazas and I
think she is a really talented actress.
And the others I found from my world,
through work, friends... there are a few
Kosovo guys helping me. Ervin Shala
who played the doctor has worked with
me a lot and the editor [Dukagjin Idrizi]
is also Kosovar.”
THE FRENCH REyKjAVíK
The film may be in French but in fact
the voiceover is the only thing that
is really French. “Some people have
asked me: ‘Did you shoot in France?’”
Jasmin says of the film, which was shot
entirely in Reykjavík. “It helped it was
all shot inside; you can fool people bet-
ter that way, it's easier to play with. The
main stage, where we shot Monique's
scenes, was at my house. I decorated
it myself; found ten packs of really ar-
tistic looking playing cards at work and
that made the wallpaper very colourful
and good looking. Then I bought a lot of
props in Kolaportið and Góði hirðirinn;
it doesn't matter if they are cheap or
expensive—if they look good people are
not going to think about how much they
cost.”
So what lies ahead after Cannes?
“I'm working on some five projects,” he
says. “It may not sound good to juggle
so many things at once, but I'm trying to
gain more experience in short films for
one more year or so... we'll see what the
future brings. We'll work hard and it will
pay off.”
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Jasmine Rexhepi tells us about his ‘Forgotten Monique’
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