Two year’s ago we spoke to Spanish director, Amanda Lago, about her short film, Mrs. Poucheau, as part of the Femme Filmmakers Festival. It was a style of filmmaking that oozed warmth in the the dim shadows of melancholy.
Filmotomy reached out to Lago again with the release of Fatal Tiger’s ‘Fucking Down‘ music video, for which she directed. It has to be said, this is an exhilarating piece of art, with some of the finest juxtaposition of cinematography and film editing you’re likely to see.
Amanda Lago clearly has an eye for what the camera can capture – even if just a flash of a second. Those women contorting about, crawling, pulling at each other, dressed in skin-coloured under garment – may as well be wearing nothing at all. So vivid are the barrage of images, the immaculate lighting, frenetic yet ambient cuts, you can just about feel the heat, smell the sweat, hear their breath.
questions by Morgan Roberts and Robin Write
FILMOTOMY: What is a film genre you have never worked in before that you want to try out?
AMANDA LAGO: I have never worked on a documentary film, neither a thriller nor a porn film… Why not one day?
If you take all things film-related off the table, what would you have done instead?
I would have been dreaming. One of the things I like most when I´m not filming is to enjoy the nature, to spend time at home with my couple and pets, books, wine, music… Maybe kids?
Who is an actor/editor/cinematographer/writer you want to work with?
I’ve always wanted to work with Arly Jover. You might remember her from Blade (the young and blond vampire), but first I saw her in Axolotl Overkill, 2017, a German drama film. I think she’s great.
I would also love to work with Paul Dano (because he looks exactly like my friend Sara Etienne, and I have the feeling that it would be very funny, Isabelle Huppert, Chloe Sevigny, Adam Driver… (haha)
If you could be making films in any decade, which one and why?
The nineties. I love the aesthetics. Everything was more real.
What is your favorite part about being a filmmaker? What is your least favorite part about being a filmmaker?
Directing actors is what I love the best, because I love the adrenaline that appears at the moment that something that I have previously in my mind, becomes real.
What I like less from filming are the processes of production, post-production, and editing. It takes so long! I also hate the white sheet. I need tones of will to put my thoughts in order, or perhaps I need more ambition… Maybe both!
Tell us about the title ‘Fucking Down’? Do you worry about offending the more sensitive people before they watch it?
Fucking Down is the title of the song and I haven’t written the song. So, no. In any case, I don’t think it’s offensive. It’s just a call of attention from someone who is looking for help.
How do you think this kind of filmmaking expresses differently from those more story driven? What influences your unique style? Those vivid images, and editing, and flashy technical methods.
I believe that what makes a work different than others is to believe in your own way of making things, following your own instinct, and voice. Once Schopenhouer said that reading is to think with someone else’s brain. It is like getting a surgery to have someone else’s nose. It will always be artificial, like from a faraway system.
I chose to read less and think more, to watch less references automatically to be more focused on imagination.
What is it like sharing your film for the first time? Who do you prefer to share it with first?
I was intrigued by what would other people think about it, because it´s a crazy video. I didn’t know how was it going to be interpreted. I preferred to share it with my lovely philosopher friend Paloma Arroyo. She has a great criteria.
What has been your favorite film so far this year?
It’s been a strange year for everybody because of the COVID. I have seen nothing very interesting. Right now I’m moving to my old town in Galicia, and I haven’t got any internet there… Anyway, the last film I watched that made me think was “Scary Mother”, the first film from the Georgian director Ana Urushadze.
What have you learned about yourself during the lockdown period?
I became like the characters of Fucking Down, haha. I felt down and then I had to get born again. It was like the end of an era, with its own redemption.
