27/11/2024 - The Bulgarian director discusses the joys and surprises of working with animals during the making of her new hybrid documentary

(© Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis/Constanze Schmitt)

A few days ago, Bulgarian filmmaker Eliza Petkova premiered her second documentary after 2021’s Mayor, Shepherd, Widow, Dragon – its companion piece is called Silent Observers [+see also:
film review
interview: Eliza Petkova
film profile] and played as part of IDFA’s Luminous strand. The film centres on a dog, a cat, a donkey, a horse and a goat, all residents of the small village where Petkova’s films Zhaleika [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Mayor, Shepherd… both took place. At IDFA, the director sat down with Cineuropa to discuss the significance of the location, as well as the pleasures and surprises of working with animals.

Cineuropa: Silent Observers is your second documentary after Mayor, Shepherd, Widow, Dragon. How does it relate to its predecessor?
Eliza Petkova: Well, this is the last one in a trilogy about this small village in the Pirin Mountains in Bulgaria. It was a trajectory that started with my fiction debut [Zhaleika], when I decided the village should be more than just a backdrop; it had to be an active character in the film. During the shoot, we made some very good friends there, so much so that we didn’t want to let go of that place or its people. So, we decided to go back a few months later and started shooting the first documentary, which would then take four years to finish; that’s when I decided to make a third film. But it had to represent a different point of view: if the fiction film brought a story in from the outside, and Mayor, Shepherd… told the stories of real people, then Silent Observers found its natural point of view in the animals’ perspective.

You used the word “natural”, but was there something about the way you approach fiction filmmaking that informed your approach in making this animal documentary?
Yes, definitely. Silent Observers is a hybrid documentary, and the goal was to make the human viewers identify with the animals on screen, rather than with the people in the film. In order to achieve this, I needed some sort of narrative arc where each animal would bring its own story in to facilitate that identification. Here, we have a link between documentary and fiction filmmaking, since the initial concept of the film included five self-contained stories.

How did this approach translate into the film’s visual style, where human faces are rarely even seen and the animals are in close-up?
That’s why the film is in 4:3, so that we could cut from a wider format in order to zoom in on the main characters – ie, the animals.

Practically speaking, how did the animals and the camera get along?
With the help of patience, love and treats [laughs]! The key to an animal’s trust on set is food! When you spend enough time with an animal in the same space, you develop a bond, and when that bond is rooted in trust, then the animal will follow your lead to a certain extent, or at least show up where you need them to.

There are so many static shots where you capture something extraordinary. What was the set-up for the camera, and was there a lot of waiting involved?
No, I’d say we tried to make things happen [laughs]. We had four weeks of shooting, and we had to tell five self-contained animal stories, so time was of the essence. There were some directions and prompts from our side, just like one would help human actors be at the place they need to be at.

Did you learn anything new about filmmaking in general while working so closely with animals?
Yes: firstly, on a more personal level, I was questioning the perception of human supremacy over animals; the idea that we’re more intelligent than, or simply superior to, the animal world. After working with animals in Silent Observers, now I can’t fathom how a person would ever think that humans are more important: it seems illogical and weird to assume such a thing. Perhaps this is the most valuable thing I’ve taken away from this movie, seeing the animal as an equal.

And when it comes to filmmaking lessons, Silent Observers has been a very unpredictable film because of its animal characters, so there were plenty of surprises on set. Perhaps something I learned was to be open; to be able to recognise the moment when life bestows a gift on you [in the context of documentary filmmaking]. And to accept that gift, instead of focusing way too much on the concept.