5 Questions with Sandra Heremans
1) Can you talk briefly about your background? Do you feel it informs your work, why or why not?
I have always been fascinated by the (moving) image and the way it could affect me. I studied Art History and try to make sense to that experience by focusing on art theory and philosophy. Out of frustration I went towards Social and Cultural Anthropology. In which I hoped I could have a more ‘international’ perspective on the art and the way it is perceived. Those studies gave me some theoretical frameworks to understand or conceptualize the world, but still I felt something was missing. But through Visual Anthropology, I got introduced into the experimental films of Maya Deren and later Raoul Peck’s documentary ‘Lumumba, La Mort d’un Prophète’, Chris Marker’s ‘La Jetée’, Jonathan Caouette’s ‘Tarnation’ and of course Jonas Mekas’ reminiscences of a journey to Lithuania. Those films changed something in me, and it suddenly all made sense. And that’s when I realized that I wanted to make films, the way I felt it and tell the stories the way I wanted to tell it. That’s when I started making ‘The Yellow Mazda and His Holiness’.
I remember being in my room, putting the pictures in the editing program and just editing the way I felt it. There were no rules, no theoretical frameworks, no filmschool, no producer, just doing it the way it felt right. The only limits that I experienced were the ones imposed by the editing program (Final Cut Pro 7). I needed this freedom to tell my story, and the one of my family.
I think the viewing feels this ‘leaving’ behind of theory in my film. It tells not only the encounter of my parents but also the story of becoming an artist.
2. What's the backstory here - what was the initial idea & how did it evolve from there?
Well, I was born in Rwanda and moved to Belgium just before ’94. My father used to be a Belgian professor in History, and was a former missionary in Rwanda. He used to keep everything: newspapers, letters, books, pictures, … which resulted to be a real family archive. This archive was like of materialized witness of his past life. And that archive was also witness, of how he met my mother, who is Rwandan.
After my father died, I went through all this. Me, growing up in Belgium, experiencing that country in a post-colonial era, was something. I felt that my way of experiencing Belgium, the world, was different. And then seeing and experiencing that family archive, made me feel that gap even stronger. And that feeling was the starting point of the film. This combined with the sense I wanted to tell my own story (and that of my family) and to use the form that felt the best.
3) What was the biggest challenge in making this film?
The biggest challenge for making that film was ‘me’. I really had to fight that strong feeling of being an ‘imposter’ and ‘of not being at my place’. I felt insecure about the fact that I didn’t do film school nor had any type of technical training. I didn’t have any producer, because I barely could say out loud that I wanted to make films. I really needed to deconstruct that feeling and follow my gut. And apparently it worked well. I am still surprised by it.
4) What's a film that you saw recently, new or old, that you really loved, and why?
Well, I saw ‘Atlantique’ last week by Mati Diop. She came to present her film in Brussels and the screening was followed by a Q and A. I was really looking forward to seeing the film. Not only because it won ‘Le grand Prix’ in Cannes last year, but because I have been following her career as a filmmaker for many years. The artistic choices that she made in the film were courageous. The courage and the way she could explain every choice in her film really inspired me.
5) What's next for you?
I want to make more films!!!!!! I want to create a situation where I can develop myself as an artist, filmmaker and keep making films that feel right.