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| Fred L'Epée 02.10.1976 (Lausanne- Switzerland) |
Para proyecto EntreVistArtista (EVA) © 2009 - 2013
Entre Tú y Yo: Mirjana Milosavljević & Fred L'Epee
Independent filmmaker Fred. L'Epee is a
emergent artist within the international film avant-garde. The modality of his
work is based beyond the cinematic form in order to resuscitate an altered
perception of the visual expression.
Artist’s Statement: “In my personal path as artist, I always see
our being as an eternal procession. We belong to the process of the geometry of
universe. Abstraction with forms and indefinite lines towards an ultimately
unknown destination. The narrative of human being. As a post- atomic myth or
pre-war blues. We always choose the sense of belonging and farewell. We belong
of our movements which are expansion of our cycles. The structure of our human
geometry. Time is the rotation of our existence.
As
well the distance is a perpetual geometry which controlling our way of life,
the perception of our cogitation. In response, we create the movement. Through
this movement, we use the memory into our psycho- affective system in the
purpose to imagine our freedom, our cries, our drifts, our social struggles. In
exile, all we are. We belong to this path. And we use it as an ultimate form of
being. The Ideal is definitely established. This movement is related to the
circulation of our emotional system. Through this, the path of our
metamorphosis. Without this, the world is nothing.”
(Fred. L'Epee)
1. Mirjana: Hello Fred. I always like to give
the interview an opportunity to briefly tell us about themselves? So please,
tell us something more about you; where did you grow up and what's your
background?
Fred:
My family and origins came from many cultural diversities. I grown up
between Switzerland, France and Greece. That’s my roots and educational
starting point. I began studying painting at the age of 17 years old at the
visual art school of "Tetard" in Lausanne. However my creative
background is mainly influenced by the autodidact way of creativity.
Intellectually and pragmatically. That's the spirit essences.
*Contemporary Man | United States-Switzerland
| 2013 | 5min. 38s. http://lepee.net/2013/02/28/contemporary-man-2013/
2. Mirjana: I would like to know how someone
was first introduced to film industry; what was it that first attracted you to
it; when and what made you get into filmmaking?
Fred:
Each creative attractiveness is relative to the path you follow. Each
artistic step is a logical extension. As the existential cycles forming your
perspectives. So it was a personal development. A goal as a necessity.
Especially after being painter for over ten years. I had the desire to see the
picture still more lively, yet more possible. In 2005, I have created my first
audio visual production in Lausanne (CH). We were a collective of painters,
filmmakers, videomakers, Veejay or just art performer. As everything is contagious,
therefore, the impact was. The goal was to give the opportunity to represent
the experimental visual art for local artists and ourselves. Perhaps this is
why I started to make my living as veejay. Then by meeting people, you are
unconsciously surrounded and introduced into the process of filmmaking.
*The Testament | Switzerland-Greece| 2013 | 8
min. http://lepee.net/2013/01/16/the-testament-2013/
3. Mirjana: Who are your biggest film
influences? Are there other filmmakers whose work or style you admire and if
so, who and why?
Fred:
Godfathers like J-L. Godard, Ingmar Bergman, Andrei Tarkovsky, Wim
Wender, Jim Jarmush and particulary the chess master Stanley Kubrick. I am also
fascinated by the avantgarde and Dadaist cinema. From the begin of the light,
the artists Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp, and the french cinematographers Jean
Epstein, Germaine Dulac or Jean Cocteau. These filmmakers who know to reproduce
another universe. But actually, i am very attracted with the work of Leos
Carax, Sharunas Bartas, Guy Maddin and Bill Viola which I recently saw his
latest exhibition at the MOCA in Miami. The synergy of his work was just
indescribable and hallucinogenic. I like particulary the meaning of all them
because I may see a new visual approach concerning the philosophy of the film
and being filmmaker.
*Cycles | Switzerland-Greece| 2012| 3 min. http://lepee.net/2012/09/21/cycles-2012/
4. Mirjana: What distinguishes film from
other art forms; how does film unite different types of art and media and what
do you consider the elements of a good film?
Fred:
The cinema industry has no art form in a abolute sens. We're agree. So
far as I am concerned, I will talk about author films and visual arts. I've
always compared a filmmaker to a writer by the way how to synthesize and to
observe the world. Even if the media are differents.
However, technology became a magnetic field
for art film process. As a multi-disciplinary scope where any creative element
can be embed and allowed. Experimental visual art is currently a cultural
necessity in the sociological concept of our being. As well in our emotional
matrix as well as in our need of identity. The term of "unity" is so
contemporain in the different types of media we use. And as any conception is
undefined I would say that the element of a good film is just the relationship
between objectivity and subjectivity.
*In Exilum | Switzerland-Greece | 2012 | 3
min. http://lepee.net/2012/09/21/in-exilum-2012/
5. Mirjana: One of the things that really
caught my eye about your work is that you research the topics of 'cultural
diversity’ and you seem to be able to jump from subject matter to another with
equal creativity, creating a unique anthology of ideas, which is a very
impressive. What were the requirements of your position and how did you
personally approach each subject?
Fred:
The cause of a vital need and the necessity for a language and common access.
Touching the image becomes perception. The psychic animations from our
emotional decompositions is a dream puzzle to compose. This post-existentialism
allows creating structural symbiosis like physical, mental, psychological or
metaphysical movements. I work in a fairly obsessively way the writing of the
image and its synthesis. Each film is an existential landmark as well as a
marker that is in perpetual evolution with the relation of yourself. Always in
parallel. I have always believed to the meaning of the journey for learning,
for discovering and for adapting yourself in any kind of ressources. This is a
matrix.
*The Island | Switzerland-Greece| 2011 | 5
min. http://lepee.net/2012/09/21/the-island-2011/
6. Mirjana: Do you have a particular approach
to filming particular themes and do you prefer to keep a representation of the
world as it is, or otherwise do you prefer to let the metaphysics to create the
whole story?
Fred:
I would say that I use especially the concept of theme in my films as a
subconscient narrative. This one is just the form but not particulary its
contents. So far, each film contents is worked under a process of temporality
where each elements are almost in shamanist relation with the subject. There,
where the evolution of human being has others definitions and other laws
in non-existence for the real world. But
this representation is a broader vision of human interactivity in itself.
However, I've worked also in a wider shape in the social field for
documentaries. From 2008 we made several documentary films; among others the
realization of the film project concerning the Psychiatric Hospital of
Thessaloniki. I can also highlight the documentary film about the accessibility
of blind persons in partnership with the European Grundtvig Project.
*Elegia | Switzerland-Greece | 2011| 7 min. http://lepee.net/2012/09/21/elegia-2011/
7. Mirjana: Your work is based on the
relation Switzerland – Greece, documenting environment of the last ten years.
Can you tell us what you find so inspirational about this relation between two
countries and what you hope others take from your films with this background?
Fred:
As I've said, these are my countries of origins. A part of my relatives
comes from Greece. During a while my last production "In-Depth Sea
Films" was established in Athens. It is true that this gives legitimacy to
this report. Moreover, my production is currently “Helicon films” (in
collaboration with Ed. Alvarado) set in Miami and my work is over there for a
certain period of the year.
*Unconcerned but not Indifferent |
Switzerland-Greece| 2011 | 4 min. http://lepee.net/2012/09/21/unconcerned-but-not-indifferent-2011/
8. Mirjana: Your official web site
http://lepee.net/ is a great record and archive of your projects, so would you
like to share with us some of your works and give emphasis to your perception
of these projects. Regarding to that, which festivals have you screened at and
which ones are coming up?
Fred:
All cinematic approaches and all inspirational themes depend always from
your social, cultural and environmental position. This symbiosis will influence
your progress and your lucidity. The environment plays extremely on your daily
thoughts and actions. Whatever the pace. All the succession of my films are so
linked, it is difficult to give a particular emphasis to one. But if I had to give emphasis on some of my
films for a better understanding, some exemples could be "The
Passengers" (2010), "Elegia" (2011), "The Testament"
(2013) or my last film's release "Contemporary man" (2013). I've
screened my films in a dozen of countries, including several festivals among
cities like Paris, Salzburg, Berlin, Madrid, New York, Athens, London,
Washington, Las Vegas, San Fransisco... Perhaps the ones I most enjoyed to be
welcome is certainly the TISFF "Thessaloniki International Film
Festival" in 2011 and 2012 as well as the “2nd Pan-Hellenic Congress of
Psychiatry” in Crete (Greece) for which my documentary film "Hypothesis of
traveling " has been awarded.
*The Land of Scaramanga | Switzerland-Greece
| 2011 | 5mn. http://lepee.net/2012/09/21/the-land-of-scaramanga-2011/
9. Mirjana: You’ve said that “film is a
visual work featuring the existential correlation between the body and its
environment through the notion of the time deprived”, would you please describe
your state of mind just before your screening?
Fred:
Body, time and environment. These are three essential elements of
existentialism. The fourth element of thoughts that I've included in this film
is the sensation of death and its implosion. Quiet and slow. As post-atomic
fable for getting a kick out of pre-war blues.
* The Passengers | Switzerland-Greece | 2010
| 9 mn. http://lepee.net/2012/09/20/the-passengers-2010-2/
10. Mirjana: The work you create is sometimes
very personal, and with putting yourself into the project takes the risks
associated with that. Has putting yourself into the project so much ever
backfired? Is there anything you have worked on, that you regret putting up?
Fred:
The fact to be able to identify yourself to the work of the author is an
essential element of art. To create an intimate dialogue with the viewer. Like a personalization which is totally
psychological and perceptual. For exemple, Truffaut, Lelouch, Godard and many
more was brilliant film authors and often producing a very personal work. Writen like real artists with lot of creative
proximity. Even now, you can still recognize their styles but their
personalities was always protected by their ambiguity. An artist must create as
he thinks. He can not hide himself behind its creation. I regret some artists who
have no longer the honesty to be what they are. This is a paradox.
* The Car | Switzerland-Greece | 2010 | 3
min. http://lepee.net/2012/09/20/the-car-2010/
11.
Mirjana: What lessons did you learn from all of your projects? Both the
positives and negatives. This will be read by a lot of first-time filmmakers,
so you can get really detailed if you'd like and give them some sound
advice?
Fred:
I'll be honest when I’ll say that you need to know how to protect
yourself from the public criticism. Whether good or bad. It is sometimes
psychologically needful to keep some distances and to detach yourself from your
films and and your creations. This in order to keep your genesis. Then it is a
difficult job that induces yourself in a field full of complexity. When you
begin there is lot of probability to remain for days without interactions. This
is exactly where you must not lose this faith which is your art in an absolute
sens. But in a positive way, this domain will lead yourself to know a multitude
of people to whom you will share rare and unique moments. This opportunity to
discover an another land within an another mothertongue.
*The Move | Experimental-Concept | poetic
fragment | 2010 | 1min. http://lepee.net/2012/09/20/the-move-2010/
12. Mirjana: Do you have a specific approach
to find the titles in order to be integral to understanding your work, and
describe how you develop the titles for your work?
Fred:
I like actually to use the title in connection to the act of images if
the work is conceptual.
However if the film is written, having script
and scenario with frames of complete structures, I think that the title must be
found between the lines. Like the most beautiful and lost sentence written in a
book.
* The room of Franz Kafka |
Switzerland-Greece | 2010 | 4 min. http://lepee.net/2012/09/20/the-room-of-franz-kafka-2010/
13. Mirjana: On your other site
http://fredlepee.org/ you also have another interesting ongoing project “The
Forgotten Film Gallery 2013”. Can you share your thoughts and experiences, on
this project?
Fred:
It was a great moment to meet as co-producer Ginnetta Correli. Curator
of the project. I've been particulary mesmerized by the concept of "The
Forgotten Film Gallery" and to be in this unique universe of the Mojave
desert dedicated almost to the soul and spirit between absence and presence.
The purpose was also to meet Robert Fulton who is manager of California State
University Desert Research Center and speaks about current day environmental
concerns with large for profit utility scale solar projects within the Mojave
and surrounding areas. Here is the
interview: https://vimeo.com/63791420
The Forgotten Film Gallery is an
environmental documentary film project and video art installation which plans
to showcase a collection of films dealing with interpretations of the forgotten
and the indefinite time period during and after the present. The goal for the
Forgotten Film Gallery is to unite the new with the old. Link the past to the
future using the Mojave and remote fragile places as a gallery space then using
World Wide Web as a platform to distribute a documentary freely with the
public. Follow the Forgotten film Gallery on: http://theforgottenfilmgallery.wordpress.com/
By utilizing the lonely desert as an
audience. Contemporary artists might continue to create freely without the fear
of rejection. Sharing the film on the web will also allow the general public to
recognize and value the importance of our often under appreciated past and
present natural environment.
* Molecule Past | Switzerland-Greece | 2009 |
4 min. http://lepee.net/2012/09/20/molecule-past-2009/
14. Mirjana: What do you hope to achieve with
your films and what's your dream project? Are you currently working on any new
projects and if so, could you tell us something more about them?
Fred:
I just hope to be fulfilled in my vocation and to discover unknown lands
horizon. Always have the opportunity to
freely create. And never to say me once, while watching at the sky, that my
soul is tired for good on the path. Of course, I am currently working on
several projects apart my personnal work. Here is some representation of them:
NORM/NO-Madic Lives - International Video Art Project (2012 –2014)
In collaboration with Simon Mack - visual
artist from Liverpool. Cities of Exhibitions: Melbourne, Liverpool, Beirut,
Copenhagen, San Francisco, Berlin, Ramallah. SIDOL (2012 - 2013)
In collaboration with poet Faraòn Meteosès
(pseudonym of Stefano Amorese), narrator Brigitte Severin and music composer
Takuto Fukuda. The project is based on the original poem “SIDOL” and extended
to visual and aural media, in other words, the film, the recitative and the
music. The poem "SIDOL" is part of a series of poems entitled
"Psicofantaossessioni". The final publication will be released and
available by book and by Dvd.
I can also highlight the project dedicated
for a music album IMAGINARY ENNEMIES (2013). I ‘m currently working with
"Midnight Moodswings" under the label "Seism work" on video
clips concerning the elaboration and concept of the last album from the electro
band of Pittsburgh, PA
* 21 Days | Switzerland-Greece | 2008 | 15
min. http://lepee.net/2012/09/20/21-day-2008/
15. Mirjana: Finally, if you were asked by
someone for some advice, who was interested in doing filmmaking themselves, or
who simply wants to improve their skills in film industry, is there one piece
of advice you would give them to get them started. What skills and approach is
required to become as good in this field as you obviously are?
Fred:
First of all, I really think it is important to have a basic structure
of daily work. To have a time schedule in order to manage in the best way all
the plurality of this work. It's requires a certain flexibility, some adaptability and responsabilities. Especially if you're indie filmmaker and
you're also producer of your own as well as co-producer in several projects you
share. This is a extreme multipurpose work. Secondly, I think it is needful to
have some knowledge of the trade laws like authors' rights (which is a only
part of copyright), the intellectual property or broadcast rights. Especially
now because lot of these notions are changing. Thirdly you have to be in a
total proximity with the set of a film crew as well as digital technology such
like media formats and movie processing, broadcast of engineering and all audio
visual data transmission. But to conclude, it should not be elements of
apprehension. Creativity is the first support and this is by this freedom where
all will coming from.
*Athens December 6th (2008) http://lepee.net/2012/09/19/athens-december-6th-2008/
Mirjana: Fred,
thank you so much for sharing your experience and thoughts on how you got started
with your professional filming career. Much honored and appreciated. I wish you
the success in your future endeavors and thank you for all your contributions
to the creative community.
________Fred. L'Epée: Film Maker | Short- Film | Visual Arts | Experimental |
Documentary | Visual Perception Research. Fred. L'Epée evolves in the visual
arts domain. Basically independent, the modality of his work is based on an
unconventional cinematic form in order to resuscitate any alterated perception
of the visual expression. In the incessant way of persecuting tragically the
internal hemorrhage. || Curator of 'In-Depth sea Films' | An Independent Film
Laboratory of Art Expression and Perception created by Fred. L'Epee &
Dimitra Pouliopoulou.
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