German-Iranian director Reza Memari is part of the Face to Face promotional campaign organised by German Films. He is presently working on his new feature-length animated film, The Last Whale Singer. We talked to him about his plans and his inspiration.

Cineuropa: Your first big animated flick, Richard the Stork [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film], premiered in 2017. You are now working on your next feature-length animation. That’s quite a long period between films; was it difficult to find the funding?
Reza Memari: Animation per se, as a process, is super long. It's all about patience: the actual film production takes two years, while developing the movie and funding it can take more than seven years. Financing is always hard here in Europe, if you are making an independent film. Of course, if you have a streamer supporting you, that's different. In Europe, there is a maximum limit up to which we can raise the budget for one production.

What are the challenges for animation in Germany right now?
It's still difficult to convince people that animation can reach all audiences and is not just kids’ stuff. Moreover, animation is not a genre, but a medium with which you can tell any kind of story – you can also make a horror film using animation. This is what I try to do: I try to push the boundaries and debunk the preconceived ideas of distributors who keep looking for a certain style or look.

Your next film, The Last Whale Singer, is a co-production with foreign partners. What are the benefits and the risks of a co-production like this?
Because of budgetary reasons, we are usually forced to work with other partners. But I see it mostly as a big benefit, as it allows you to have a reality check for your material through another culture. We are working together with producers in the Czech Republic and Canada, which are two entirely different worlds. The Canadian co-producer is closer to the USA and puts a much bigger emphasis on making global films. They urge us to think bigger. With the Czechs, we worked on the trailer, for which we were able to benefit from their technical capabilities.

The Last Whale Singer is a multi-format concept. You are planning a feature film, a series and a game. Was that the idea from the start?
From the beginning, we wanted to use a game engine – software to make games. The technology has got so good that you can make an animated film with it. It is so-called real-time technology that has many new possibilities. It enables, for example, the creation of a story universe, since you can reuse elements of each format in another one. I wanted to make a game out of Richard the Stork as well, but we had to start everything from scratch because the formats weren’t compatible. That was a waste of time.

The universe for this film is destined mainly for a young audience. How did you prepare in order to target these specific members of the public? Did you have a consultant?
It's all about my inner child taking over [laughs]! I translated my memories of films that influenced me throughout my childhood. I wanted to capture that kind of magic and give it back to a new generation. But we also had some specific support. Since we are working with a broadcaster, and its editor is from the children’s department, she helped us understand whether the story was okay for a young audience. We deal with some heavy topics, such as loss and climate change, so it was important to know how to approach them in order not to scare the children, for example.

What do you intend to talk about in The Last Whale Singer’s universe?
The protagonist is a whale that needs to find his voice in order to be able to save the ocean from a monster. I heard about whales’ ability to sing, and that they copy each other’s songs and melodies, even if they are thousands of miles away from each other. And that fascinates me. In Richard the Stork, there was a sparrow, a very small animal with a big ego. Here, we have a gigantic animal who is having doubts about himself. Moreover, the story is a parable about climate change.

Why do you like to tell your stories through animals?
They allow us to speak using metaphors. It's more universal if we use them. They are almost like humans, with a lot of personality already, and it is fascinating to be able to give them a voice. Looking at the world through them is similar to looking through a telescope or through different lenses.

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