1) What have you been up to since we last spoke in 2019 with "Living with the NEVERMIND"?

Not that much has changed, still trying to shoot as much personal projects as possible while working as a freelance director and filmmaker.

2) What were the initial ideas for these projects and how did they evolve from there?

For Pina & Henry there were mainly three things I guess:

1. Henry was used in a commercial shoot and I could keep it afterwards. I always loved how he moved with the help of nylon cords, so I asked myself how far one can stretch it (SPOILER: I guess I’ve stretched it enough). So I always had that in the back of my head.

2. Holidays in Croatia: I put my feet in the ocean and some cleaner shrimps started to nibble on them.

3. Mandalorian S01 EP04: The first shots with the shrimps. I listened to the soundtrack of that particular scene while writing a first draft of EP01. At that point, it was kinda different and not planned as a series, but I realized, that if I’m gonna build the set, I might as well try to tell a little bit more.

VALETTA was more of a quick shot. While Pina & Henry was still in post production I had the urge to shoot something completely different to clear my mind and to take the pressure off me. So I set myself the time frame of two weeks to produce and shoot something else. I had a few ideas already written down but had to discard them because of covid. So in the end I had to improvise because time was running out.

I bought the tree from a flea market a few years back, against the advice of my girlfriend, she said it’s tacky. (She’s still my girlfriend, there’s no Valetta, she even did some of the handheld shots when I was in costume, so that part is not autobiographical) Since then it always had a place on my desk and a special place in my heart. So while thinking about what to do, I grabbed the tree and just randomly let it fall onto the desk and then it turned itself upright – 5 times in a row! After that everything came together rather quickly, since I already had these loose images of his home and the surroundings in my mind.

3) What was the biggest challenge in both? And the easiest part?

Pina: Definitely the story itself– still trying to figure things out. Also shooting in my 13,5m² office at home again. I know - in the end nobody cares, where you shoot a movie. If it sucks, it sucks, if it’s good, it’s good. For me personally having the possibility to go there at any time, even wake up in the middle of the night and try something out was the best way to get it done while making a living. I guess having limitations also challenges oneself to get the most out of it. But one day there’s the point where you’re just over it and want a clean, tidy room. Nevertheless shooting with Felicia and Maren was a blast, they 100% went for it despite these special conditions.

Since I decided to remove the nylon cords after everything was shot, post production was interesting as well… The easiest part was probably finding the music, I had most of it before shooting started and could use it for previsualization.

VALETTA, to be honest, in comparison to Pina, felt like vacation, because everything was rather simple, straightforward and I love just how stupid everything is. I could very much identify with it. Building the miniature for the „outdoor“ shots was a lot of fun.

4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?

I just watched Beast of the Southern Wild again after years. It has had such an impact on me when it came out, because of the music, the setting, the organic feel and of course the story. So I really enjoyed watching it again.

5) What’s next for you?

I'm moving my office to a shared co-working space, which is basically a huge studio. So I guess VALETTA and Pina & Henry were the last projects in that tiny room, we’ll see!

—

konstantinenste.com | IG: @konstantinenste