It’s not everyday you get a chance to chat with such a versatile and talented artist and filmmaker.
We got a chance to have a very interesting conversation with German artist Akiz. For those of you unfamiliar with him, he’s a painter and sculptor who’s work has received high praise from critics and those of the art world alike. David Lynch and Banksy count themselves among his many fans. He revealed a ton of fun information about his interesting film ‘Der Nachtmahr‘, like the fact it didn’t start off as a film. It took years for an idea Akiz had to eventually become a full length feature. Akiz discusses how a concept for a sculpture transcended that and became something more. He also discusses his other art works and how fluid it becomes to move from one art form to another. If you don’t know Akiz, now’s the best time to get to know him! Check out our interview below:
What inspired the film?
Akiz: I am a painter and a sculptor and my first impression was to just make a statue, like a solid statue, not a film, not a creature for a film, and that’s what I did. I started with a stone creature and it evolved into a fully animatronic creature and during that time I took notes and all different kinds of ideas. Again, without the intention of making a film. It was just random scribbles I did in the moment. Then, after I collected all of them and read them, they were really intriguing to me. I felt like an ecologist who’s trying to put together a broken vase, put the pieces back together, and actually that’s how I came up with the story. I never sat down with pen and paper and thought ok what inspires me or how can I translate that idea into a film. I was kind of following, you know like in the 20s, actually a [colleague] of mine, he did this collage technique in finding structures or finding images like his, but when you watch the sky and you see clouds and it’s an image, and you’re just following what’s there. I know that’s that a really satisfying answer to the question, but that’s how I came up with the story and I can only look backwards and I can only try to interpret the story the way everyone else does. I think I know sometimes what inspired me when I was a kid and what must’ve inspired me because there are some elements in different movies and art pieces. It was sort of that while I was writing the story, shooting this film.
Talk about how your diverse art background impacted the film.
Akiz: It did impact the film in terms of creating the creature, directing, some tracks of the film, some softwares, that was the result. I think film is the highest most complex art form out there. I think everything else is interesting as well, but limited, not on that kind of level. Film comes closest to human perception. I think that it comes from all disciplines and comes closest to the way we dream at night and everybody dreams, even people who don’t remember their dreams. I have not 100% figured out how a dream happens in the human brain, especially when it comes to structure or rhythm of the way. I have no answer how if you dream at night you see one scene and you see another scene, how you jump from one scene to another. Is that like the self or is it like a cut to black, a period in between, I have no idea. I think film comes closest to that kind of experience. I was happy that I was not forced to put it into words for a designer or somebody else what I wanted to see, I did it by myself so that was really easy. I’m having a hard time trying to describe my really clear vision. I would rather do it myself. It’s really quick, it’s really joyful, it’s really fun. To try to explain it and put it into words for somebody else, make somebody else understand is difficult for me. Sometimes if I know some people, we are at the same level, the same frequency. It was easy, it was nice, and we did the film for really, really, a small amount of money, $100,000. Which was a hard time in the beginning but no one was able to tell us how the film should be done. I was free to edit the film the way I wanted to and make the music the way I wanted to. I think if I had a regular budget, then there would be somebody like at the studio like you can’t show a 16 year old girl in a club, or this kind of show, or this kind of sound, it’s not going to work out, but I was free. We did the film the way we wanted to do it. I think it was possible because I could put a lot by myself. I was not forced to pay other people. I’m building a creature for the whole film. That’s what I like. There’s no real division for between painting, sculpting, and making movies, it’s all kind of the same. I was always sensitive to people who speak a lot of languages because I suck. I can speak English. I understand French a little bit and I speak German. My cousin, he speaks like 7 or 8 languages and he told me after the third or fourth language, it becomes easier. Spanish and Portuguese are the same. Once you have several languages all the rest becomes pretty easy and for me it’s the same thing with art. You move your pen in a different way, I’m making a sculpture and creating a sound is kind of the same. It starts from a vague idea and it’s just a technique that you learn.
What was one of your favorite scenes when filming? I found the last scene to be one of mine.
Akiz: Actually this scene was the very first scene that came to my mind. Before I had the idea of doing the whole film, I wanted to do this one moment, I had this one shot. The two of them riding in the car. It was kind of like the beginning and end as well. Like the dream logic. The movie is driven by like shuttle where you start where you ended but on a different level. Thanks for pointing out the scene because that is like the core of the film. The only explanation I have to when people keep asking me what are they going to, what does it mean, and I’m not trying to make it more mysterious then it is, to me, the only thing is wherever they are going, they are driving into the next level, what ever that may be. She’s matured and come to terms with herself. One guy in Germany said wow, for him it means that I put the subconscious behind the wheel and I liked that. I didn’t think about it that way, but looking back at it, it’s night. Her falling asleep means she trusts the one behind the steering wheel. It’s a nice ending, not a devastating end. Makes you feel easy. I have no idea what would be the next film or the second part of the film or what would be the next scene, but it would be the next level. Everybody else has stress, but she’s freed herself from the society.
