ALMA MATER – A CONVERSATION WITH ALMA JODOROWSKY

It’s noon on the first last snow day before the beginning of World War 3. The headlines in the news this week are a romantic mise-en-scéne for the start of trouble. At present, life is still normal. They put the first Christmas trees out for sale on the street this morning. The type of seemingly ordinary, everyday situations that immediately precede a sudden, disastrous event, where everything appears fine just before a major disruption or accident occurs are still in full effect.

Alma and I were suppose to speak last week. Our schedules collided. She is in the midst of the new film she stars in, Les Reines du Drame, being released in cinemas. While I had a long list of trivial procrastinations, She flew to Montreal for a film festival. Before leaving she finished filming her second short film. Upon returning she began to revise her treatment of a new feature length film, potentially the first, that she is writing. We are both in Paris now sitting in our apartments located across town from each other, separated by a river, and congested streets, watching the snow from our windows, waiting to speak.

She needs ten more minutes.

I need five more minutes.

Enough time to make tea and change a diaper. Finally our phone call connects. We have never met, but nobody in the 21st century is much of a stranger anymore. Before saying hello or introducing myself I start immediately with a question that my mind has spent the morning pondering.

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SN: I want to know what you think will happen to creative people if World War III happens tomorrow. People like us, young filmmakers, young writers, young artists, what will our role in society be if a war breaks out in Europe next week?

AJ: *LAUGHING*  I was not expecting that.

It’s funny, I asked ChatGPT what’s going to happen to artists if World War III breaks out. They said they’ll just be used to make propaganda.

When I’m thinking about World War III, I feel like I’m thinking about something else. I feel like I’m thinking about something far from art. I don’t know if art would have any power in these circumstances. I think it would be great, but I think art in such times might be an illusion.

We are women living in interesting times.

Art will be necessary when it’s finished as a remembrance medium and analysis of what we’ve done. But I think art can be maybe more useful before the conflict or afterwards, but during, I’m not sure we or art would be an important concern if there is a global war.

I’m already quite useless. Even if there is not an immediate war I feel like the society we are in has already come to an end in someway. 

I Agree. It’s outrun its course in a lot of ways and a lot of it has to do with this capitalist overdrive that’s just killing the planet and creativity and everything in it’s path. Another type of war. 

An artist today is expected to be creative all the time. And that’s not how creativity works. If you have one really brilliant thought every 10 years, that’s enough. Thats rare. But this constant pressure to create, to capitalize. To sell and be sold. It’s not natural to the human mind. It creates something superficial and disingenuous in both art and people.

Absolutely. Movies for instance are a part of the reflection we have of what our society and how it is.  I know that because especially in the US, like all these big studios and the aggressive capitalism kind of destroyed a lot of things. A lot of vision. It’s a negative reflection of life.

You can see that clearly in the difference between American and European cinema.

I feel like in Europe, maybe there are more alternative ways of doing art that involve less cleavage. Greater separation between big money studio films and very independent films. We have a different way of navigating through the industry of cinema and I guess that also allows us to incorporate social commentary that are integrated in the movies regarding many different issues. I’m thinking about feminism movies or queer movies or I don’t know, there are a lot of different people now that are step by step having a chance to express what they always wanted to express through cinema and it makes me feel positive.

With TikTok and Instagram, people’s attention spans are being obliterated.  What do you think the future of cinema is for our generation? 

Well, I think we don’t have to try to fight against social media. Now it’s part of our culture and I think it’s also good in some aspects. Younger generations have a new medium to learn about movies.  I’m in my 30s and I’m really happy that YouTube exists and that I can look at channels to know more about lenses and stuff like that. I think regarding cinema, it’s still very hard to make a movie, to get the money to do it, the whole process is complicated. I think if you’re not working hard and really, really deeply passionate about what you’re doing then it’s not really possible to make a movie, I mean, not a movie that’s on screen in a theatre and have a repercussion, you know what I mean?

Do you think we’ll see in our lifetime the format of cinema completely change? Like films will become 15 second posts on Tik Tok and you can scroll to watch the full movie? 

I hope not. I’m trying to be optimistic. For instance, cinema didn’t destroy theatre. So I hope that streaming and mobile phones won’t destroy cinema and movie theaters.  I think now we just have to accept that some movies, they are made for a platform and it’s okay…. it’s not a shame or anything.  It’s just a different kind of movie and entertainment.  I cannot close my eyes to the fact that people are going less and less to the movies, but I still feel like we have to fight to have some movies that are really made and produced to be viewed on a screen, on a big screen in a theater, in a room with other people sharing emotions. I don’t think anybody can disagree with the fact that it’s completely a different experience. Maybe some people don’t care about the cinema experience, but I mean, it’s just two different things. It just makes me sad that less and less people care about this experience, but I think we still have many years ahead to fight for  the survival of the cinema.

I’m a big advocate of 35mm film. I love film. I love films that are shot on film. I think it’s a completely different process of filmmaking when you have to shoot on film versus shooting on digital. I’m sure as a filmmaker, of course, you understand what a different process it is.. you know… when you’re shooting on film and manually measuring the lighting rather than pressing the record button on an iPhone.

Of course, I just did one! I just shot my second short two weeks ago and I shot it in 16mm. I was very into it. The science behind it is magic. It’s some sort of alchemy. I was very happy with the results I received. It’s really good.

Cinema is the most the most complicated art form because it involves so many different aspects and so many different people to create.  A  painter can wake up and just go take her paintbrush and paint on a canvas.  A writer can wake up and just type on the computer. They’re very solo activities almost meditations. But filmmaking requires a vision from one person that has to be communicated with big huge teams. You need financing and a million things.  How do you find that you are able to keep your creative solitude or your singular vision?

My beginnings are as an actress,  so it’s funny for me what you’re saying,  because I feel way more active and independent as a filmmaker than as an actress. When you’re an actress you can’t really do much, except nourish yourself with tasks like watching movies and going to exhibitions and reading. But you cannot really practice your craft alone. And for me, it’s always something that was very, very frustrating. 

Where do you see yourself in five years? 

I dream of having a family of my own and having made a first feature film. Those would be two great goals of mine. 

The filmmaker who I always hold envy towards is Stanley Kubrick, not only because of his brilliance, but because he sort of removed himself from society and went into hiding. He had this house in the countryside of England that was also his production center. He had his family there, with his children and made films. He didn’t really travel around much. He would just invite interesting people to his kitchen to come hang out and talk. 

It’s a dream. That is actually another goal of mine.  I’d love to have a country house.  I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to do that, but I’d love to have a country house and to be able to organize writing residencies and artist residencies with my friends. Cooking good food and having people over. It would be a great, great thing.