WomenCinemakers vol V WomenCinemakers vol V | Page 25

that Maja, my daughter, perfectly copes with acting.
The scenes we have recorded were very emotional.
Everybody felt the serious atmosphere of the set.
Hunger features a brilliant cinematography,
marked by a sapient use of cold tones and static
figures. How did you conceive the visual style of
this film?
I wanted the movie to be relatively free. Hence the
employment of static characters, which thanks to lack
of the proper dynamics, expose their inner self in front
of us. Cold tones were to replicate the raw and tragic
character of the Ukrainian 1930’s. The weather was
not favorable most of the time. Most of the shots were
recorded during the summer, not in the winter. The
operator and the lightning engineer worked really hard
to create winter, in the middle of the summer.
Your film is clever and well-built. What technical
aspects did you focus on in your work?
I love films in which the dialogues are quantitatively
limited. When I was writing the script I knew that
dialogue would be almost absent in my movie. The
concept of a Little Matchstick Girl is self-explanatory.
Image speaks for itself. There is nothing to add.
Composition was very crucial for me. We have
recorded a lot of material, half of which did not make it
to the final movie. The material we had would be
sufficient to create at least three variants of the movie
– and each one of these would be completely different.
We have even created one alternative version.
However – it was not my story. I wanted to faithfully
transfer the script’s assumptions into the movie. I’ve
made it.
Hunger is a mind-bending meditation on war. What
do you want people to remember after seeing your
movie?
Only the fact that it is worth to remember our ancestry
– people, thanks to whom we are here. And the fact
•interview•by•Solveig Kiel
cinemakers // 11