INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR, PHIL GRABSKY

Phil Grabsky is an award-winning documentary filmmaker.

Phil and his company Seventh Art Productions, which is based in Brighton, make films for cinema and television. Phil has directed for all major broadcasters and has written four books.

In 2001 Phil directed 'Muhammad Ali: Through the Eyes of the World', which was a major success and has been seen in over 100 countries.

'The Boy who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan', which Phil filmed and directed in Afghanistan during 2002/2003, has played in cinemas and on television worldwide. To date, it has won eleven awards, including first prize at Valladolid International Film Festival, and the Gold Hugo in Chicago for best film.

Phil is currently filming a major documentary in Luanda, Angola, and making a film which uses Mario Petrucci’s 'Heavy Water: a poem for Chernobyl' to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster

Q. Why make a film about Mozart?
In some ways, a film about a young boy in Afghanistan (the subject of my last film) and a film on the life of Mozart seem far apart. Actually they have a number of things in common: first, the desire to explore the human potential for creativity and, secondly, an equally strong desire to examine how the individual can rise above circumstance to make a mark. There are few names more famous than Mozart’s – it’s remarkable to consider. Will I have even one film in thirty years' time that people will be still be watching? And yet Mozart has not a few, not dozens, but hundreds of works that are still loved, admired and performed. I was fascinated to look into just who he was. Where did he come from? What made him? What made his music? It was a huge task – and no-one has done it in this detail before, so I had the extra pressure of making sure I – and my colleagues – did a good job and made a film that does him justice.

Q. How did you secure such an impressive list of performers and interviewees?
If I had known how complex a task I was embarking upon, I would have hesitated. In some ways, my naivety about the classical world helped because we weren’t afraid, weren’t dishonest and weren’t in a rush. Also the fact that I film things myself meant I could respond to a last minute granting of access and hop on a plane with my cameras and microphones. But certainly the biggest challenge, besides the difficulty in raising finance in a media world fixated by 'reality' and humiliation shows, has been to gain access to live performance. But as the word has spread about the film, so the doors have opened - in London, Vienna, Berlin, Paris, Lausanne, Mannheim, Rome, and many, many more. And we’ve secured interviews, too, with the very best – such as Renée Fleming, Thomas Allen, Imogen Cooper, Lang Lang, Jonathan Miller, Charles Mackerras, Gerald Finley, Ian Bostridge, René Jacobs, Louis Langree, Frans Brüggen - to name only some of the 80 interviews filmed. A special word of thanks must go to my Associate Producer Nicky Thomas who, with the assistance of London’s Barbican, opened her extensive list of contacts for the film.

Q. What was the most surprising thing you discovered during the making of the film?
For me, the process of making this film has been a search. Who was he? What was the world in which he lived? What were his influences? What are the myths and realities of previous films, especially 'Amadeus'. And the results have shown the reality to be far more interesting, revealing and stimulating than the fantasy. I think it was fascinating how, like Muhammad Ali (and Pelé, who I have also made a film about), so much is application, perseverance, sheer hard work. The explanation that suggests divine inspiration is behind genius is attractive to some but offers no real help. This film is far more interested in the nuts and bolts of 18th century Europe and how Mozart is a product and benefit of such a world. Would there have been a Mozart if he had been born ten years earlier or later? That’s such an interesting question – and I think the film is surprising in suggesting that the answer is ‘probably not’.

Q. How did you decide which pieces of music to use?
Again there is a similarity with the Buddhas of Bamiyan film – I started with the music. For me, one of the most gratifying awards we have won was for the soundtrack of the Afghan film because we started to write it before we started filming. And it was the same for Mozart – except I had almost 700 pieces already written! How does one chose? Well, slowly and carefully. At different times in the film, you need different pieces to show different things – his prodigal talent, his maturity, his heartbreak, his showmanship, his craft. Having made a preliminary choice, we had the Herculean task of gaining access to film a list of 80 works. This is no big budget film – we are partly self-funded – and on occasion, the quote to film one orchestra or opera was in itself greater than our entire budget! But slowly, slowly we talked to people, showed them previous work, etc – and as the film progressed and the word spread, it became easier and, indeed, some top names approached us. This was certainly a massive task though, and bear in mind too that the way in which I filmed a piece – and then edited it – also had to carry a message, a narrative reason. So a good deal of planning went on. At the end of the day, I’m amazed by what we have, although, of course, there were ultimately some pieces that we couldn’t fit in, especially from the operas.

Q. How did you approach the task of filming large orchestras and major opera performances?
With enormous enthusiasm. Once we had the all-important ‘yes’ to filming, I was consumed with energy and desire to get there and get started. The privilege of it all! To be so close to such great performers was a real treat and I can honestly say that practically everyone showed me great patience and respect. That allowed me to concentrate on ensuring I captured what I needed, properly shot, properly recorded. I think, in a way, my joy of being there often shows through – so many films I have watched about classical music or Mozart in particular, are frankly dull as ditchwater – especially operas. I think that’s often because the camera teams haven’t been enthused by what they are filming and they are going through the motions, taking no risks and looking at their watches. And once you disengage from an opera – even Mozart’s – it shows. I’d love to be given the opportunity to shoot an opera as though I were shooting real life events – that would be tremendous (especially as the standard of acting that I witnessed in operas in so high).

Q. You went in search of Mozart. Did you find him?
Yes – he’s all there in the film. And he’s far more complex and actually more interesting than in that great, but misleading, film Amadeus. I tried very hard not to visualize a Mozart until late in the day – and I certainly tried to dispel the wonderful Tom Hulce from my mind. But as the shooting progressed and the editing began, a clear picture, a real sense of who he was, emerged in my mind. I can imagine him exactly now –which bits of him are like people I know and also which bits of him are just like me.

Q. How did you raise the finance for the film?
Well, with great difficulty – but in the end we made 20 (!) pre-sales to broadcasters – starting with Five in the UK who were very supportive and encouraging. We also worked very hard indeed to source some money from the European Commission. We weren’t entirely successful in raising the budget because art & culture projects figure way down everyone’s priorities (sadly) and broadcasters could make us offers of only a few thousand Euros for the film. I’m grateful for their support but wish they could find a healthier balance between what is paid for films like this and what is paid for the endless drip-drip of game shows, reality shows, soaps, etc.

Q. What, for you, is the point or purpose of the film? What are your hopes for it now that it’s finished?
I want people to watch this and, perhaps for the first time, get a sense of how the pieces fit the jigsaw of his life and work. I have deliberately followed a straightforward chronological approach so everything is as clear as possible and I think it really works like that. This is, I believe, the film I’d liked to have watched when I started the project. But what I also want to do with the film is stimulate people to follow their own creative paths – how many ‘Mozarts’ are there who didn’t follow through, didn’t practice hard enough, didn’t travel enough or didn’t listen enough. Certainly it’s hard not be to be moved when you hear the works in the film, performed by such great artists. The film is already being booked for many public screenings in concert halls, opera houses and town squares, and for me that is absolutely thrilling. People are saying this is the film of Mozart Year 2006 but I want it to be the film for many more years than that – at least until someone equally foolhardy tries to tell and illustrate the whole story again!

Q. What’s next?
Well, of course I have many months of doing Question & Answers with the film at festivals and screenings – but I am also looking forward to a bit of time to recover… I won’t deny it has been very hard work. Then in the pipelineare more cinema docs – a film on Chernobyl, told through extraordinary poetry, a film on a schoolboy in a remarkable school in a Rio favela, and films in Africa and Asia. All tremendously exciting and with a real value to them, but I have to be honest: I can’t wait to get back to a concert hall or opera house and, with cameras ready, hear the five-minute bell again….