News & Screenings

June 8, 2012 - Festival Screening

We are very happy to announce that NOSELAND got invited to the 11th Transilvania International Film Festival in Cluj, Romania from June 1-10. It will run as our WORLD PREMIERE in their "Special Screenings Showcase".

Featured on AFC's Website

There is a feature of NOSELAND in the official archive of the Austria Film Comission Website. If you are interested in screening NOSELAND at your festival, please do not hesitate and contact us!

Aleksey Igudesman: Interview with myself

Aleksey Igudesman, a world famous violinist, composer and comedian, makes his film directing debut with NOSELAND. Together with the young Austrian filmmaker Sebastian Leitner, he has created a highly original, independent docu-mocku-feature combining humor with classical music. He has also started talking to himself...

What makes you think that a musician and, as you quite rightly put it in the synopsis, a "wanna-be film maker", can make a decent movie without having any kind of movie making experience?

It is not quite true that I've had no previous movie making experience. I have edited many of my own clips and short films for YouTube or as extras on DVDs. Because my work with IGUDESMAN & JOO involves a lot of comedy where the visual side is as important as the music and the spoken word, I have been experimenting with film for numerous years.

Through my work with Hans Zimmer on numerous soundtracks in recent years, I have also had the pleasure of working directly with such great directors as Guy Ritchie, Gore Verbinsky, Jim L. Brooks and Christopher Nolan, who all have such an individual, contrasting and yet fascinating approach to music in combination with film that I have ultimately ended up with a truly diverse and unique training in this field.

What is the movie actually about?

I have always enjoyed movies the most that are not about anything. Or, to rephrase it, that are about nothing. Subtle difference, but very important. Since I am a musician and I write music, this is not a question I, or anyone else for that matter, would ever ask. What is this piece of music about? People tend to accept that most music is some form of more or less abstract art to be enjoyed for the mere beauty of it. Although most movies have the pretense of being about something, the real strength in a good film or any work of art is its shape, its form, the feel of it, the sound of it and the emotions it takes you through. The combination of all these aspects makes any work of art what it really is, in essence. The actual "meaning" is and must always be secondary, I believe.

The honesty is hidden within the context of humor, but the fact is that a lot of the things said by the great musicians in this movie are the truth. Last but not least, there is the theme of criticism in general. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and what is the most incredible performance for one person is an unbearable interpretation for the other. "The Music Critic", a project I developed for the Julian Rachlin and Friends Festival with John Malkovich in the main role, is featured in the documentary, but criticism of all sorts and the role of critics are touched upon in other parts of the movie as well.

What would you like to achieve through your movie and what are your dreams for the future?

One thing I've always been highly allergic to is actors playing musicians on screen. We don't believe you, even if you learn the violin for half a year and practice many hours a day. A musician is so particular in his movements on the instrument and his or her behavior on and off stage that it is practically impossible for an actor to emulate, short of actually becoming a musician. My dream is to make fictional movies about musicians, where the main roles are played by great musicians themselves.

How did you choose the music for the movie?

The incredible music, ranging from some of the greatest chamber music ever written, such as the Schubert String Quartet and Brahms Sextet, was all performed, filmed and recorded at the Julian Rachlin and Friends Festival. The great thing is that the performances became the soundtrack of the movie. And to capture the magic of these powerful interpretations was essential to me.

In fact, the humor and all of the interviews are mostly edited to the music and not the other way round, as is mostly the case. Clearly I saw this documentary more like a large piece of extremely eclectic music and therefore I approached it quite differently from a regular film maker.

FIND MORE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS IN THE PRESS FOLDER!