Lunch with Electric Swan
Interview with Konstantina Kotzamani, director of Electric Swan
Can you tell us a bit about the filming process? What inspired you to tell this story?
Well, the idea of Electric Swan started quite magically! I first moved to Buenos Aires in 2016. During my very first day in Buenos Aires, I had a long walk at the park where this film’s tropical swan lake lays. While I was resting on a bench, a Chinese tourist family was staring at a swan floating quietly on the water. It was really hot and the swan was floating in stillness. The father turned and asked me if the swan was electric or not. As I seemed quite shocked by his question, he explained that in their hometown park they have electric miniature animals that move with batteries. I ended up staying in Buenos Aires for two and a half years as I was overwhelmed by the city. And the phrase of the Chinese tourist “electric swan” echoed inside me for a long time. Reality can be diffracted on crystals by different emotions and cultural associations and change instantly its route. How do I perceive the new, how can I get a deeper understanding of a culture I didn’t grow up in? So this is how Electric Swan was born; trying to captivate and imagine the surreal micro-portrait of a city that I loved so much.
How did you create this particular, dreamlike atmosphere?
There is no straight technique behind this. I feel that all my films have a dreamlike quality as all of them are connected in a way with archetypical themes such as love, loneliness, mystery and surreal in life. And of course a lot of misunderstandings that tingle the narration and force it forwards. Dreams are full of hypnotic misunderstandings; misinterpretations that we are called to decode. Castles of misapprehension that are build in the sand. Well, I try to make these castles visible in my films. Leave traces on the sand that bind characters and ideas with a subconscious magical way that makes the story seem as a puzzle that needs to be solved.
How did you end up making films with both French, Greek and Argentinian partners? How did that collaboration go?
Well, the Argentinian partners are all close friends and collaborators that I met in Buenos Aires while I was staying there. Vicky Marotta, the Argentinian coproducer, was my roommate during those two years and she was the reason why I entered so quickly the local cinema circle. I met Ecce Films from France a few years ago while I was attending the Next Step of the Semaine de la Critique workshop and we made quite a match! When I pitched them my idea about filming a project in Buenos Aires they were very excited and supportive. I feel that the chemistry of these three countries worked really magically! We were under the Swan Lake spell after all…
What are your influences or inspirations?
The Swan Lake, Leda and the Swan, David Lynch, Tsai Ming Ling – and the glaciers that still resist time and humans in Patagonia.
Would you say that the short film format has given you any particular freedom?
My last films are nearer to the medium-length format than the short. Electric Swan is even 40 minutes. I love this length as it really gives you space and depth to dive deeply into a theme and explore its bottom but without being asphyxiated. I wish that there was more space by festivals to explore and embrace this format as well.
Electric Swan is part of National Competition F7.
