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Tijana Petrović – Camera Ready

Written By: Michael D. McClellan | Tijana Petrović is in the public eye, and for all of the right reasons. The Belgrade-born filmmaker, cinematographer and lecturer is one of the featured artists in The Hudson Eye, the inaugural new program presented by the Jonah Bokaer Arts Foundation and arranged by curator Aaron Levi Garvey. The series, which aims to stimulate cultural and economic diversity in the area, takes place August 23rd through September 2nd, 2019, timed through Labor Day Weekend in historic downtown Hudson, NY.

The Hudson Eye is the perfect vehicle for Petrović’s mesmerizing, monumental work Canyon, a 45-minute video projection of a continuous traveling shot of a winding canyon wall in Glen Canyon, Arizona. Equal parts ambitious, artistic, and thought-provoking, Canyon re-introduces the world to the fabled lost beauty of Glen Canyon, documenting the imprint of time and changes it carves into nature’s terrain. The film is especially timely, given the extreme weather and climate change the world now experiences as the new normal.

Canyon is also a history lesson of sorts, a reminder of man’s indelible imprint on the environment: In 1963, the floodgates closed on the newly constructed Glen Canyon Dam near the Arizona-Utah border, locking the waters of the Colorado River behind its concrete face. The water pooled behind the dam, slowly filling in the vast canyon – and the maze of slot canyons and grottoes feathering around its edges. Seemingly lost forever was the magnificent natural splendor of Glen Canyon, as well as oases like Cathedral of the Desert, Ribbon Canyon, and Dungeon Canyon. But now, after a decade-long drought that has reduced the 254 square mile reservoir to half of its 9-trillion gallon high-water mark, Glen Canyon is once again revealing itself to the world.

Petrović brings all of this into focus through her intriguing views of a winding canyon wall in Glen Canyon, taking the viewer on a contemplative journey that will screen on loop throughout the festival at the corner of 8th and Warren in Hudson.

FifteenMinutesWith caught up with the filmmaker born and raised in the former Yugoslavia.

Please tell me about growing up in Belgrade.  What memories stand out most, and how did this region, still healing from war, influence your filmmaking?

Growing up as a teenager in the 1990s in Belgrade (then Yugoslavia, now Serbia) meant that we lived through two wars, sanctions that lasted an entire decade, long teacher strikes, extreme economic inflation, and a period of transition from socialism to capitalism that has been slow and painful in many ways. In terms of filmmaking this period had a very strong impact on my love of cinema as an artistic medium. Living in a big city meant that I had access to the cinematheque which showed foreign and classic films by most important film directors. I spent a lot of evenings there watching films by Kurosawa, Bergman, Chaplin, Tarkovsky, and many others. Cinema provided an escape world. We had accepted the absurdity of things happening around us and the senselessness of the war. But these films were dealing with big questions and ideas about humanity and their attention to the subtleties of human existence was very much needed in our lives.

You studied filmmaking at The New School in New York.  How did the school’s multidimensional approach to education help shape you as an artist?

It was during my studies at The New School that I decided I wanted to focus on documentary film, so my experience there was foundational in terms of what I wanted to continue doing with film. I was part of the very first class of the documentary certificate program at The New School. We had great professors and were exposed to really accomplished and talented guest filmmakers. We took classes in the Media Arts department and I also worked at the Parsons School of Art and Design’s Photography lab as a student which allowed me to use their photography facilities and continue my photo work.

An MFA in Documentary Film and Video from Stanford University is next level stuff. What was this experience like for you, and what aspect of this journey did you enjoy the most?

It is an intensive program that has strong educational goals in terms of preparing you to work as a professional in the documentary film world. You are immersed in working on your own films during the two-year program and I think this aspect appealed to me the most. Having to make a film in a very short period of time and move on to the next one. Even though it felt overwhelming at times it gave me an opportunity to explore different approaches to filmmaking.

Let’s talk about the technical aspects of documentary filmmaking. What were some of the more difficult techniques or concepts for you to master, and what type of equipment are you using in your documentaries today?  What cameras do you shoot with most?

I use whatever camera and format are best for the project I’m working on. I still shoot 16mm film with a Bolex camera, and I recently shot a project on an Arri SR2 16mm camera. But most often I shoot on digital cameras of various sizes. In certain situations I use very small cameras, like the Black Magic Pocket Cinema camera in order to have a smaller footprint and be less conspicuous in public. In other cases, where I am able to move slowly and take my time, as in a current project where I’m shooting desert landscapes that I plan to manipulate in post-production I’ve used a RED Dragon camera and shot on a very high resolution.

Is lighting as difficult to get right as it appears?

Yes, definitely.

Documentaries tell stories. You strike me as a natural storyteller.  What draws you to documentary filmmaking?

What appeals to me the most is the documentary process itself which for me is one of exploration, digging, revealing. I don’t know very much about the subject of the film at the start, usually a film is born out of some instinctive attraction, an idea that seems appealing to me and resonates with themes I’m interested in. But it’s the process of making the film that then generates new ideas and creates itself, and this process is one that always has to be very open in the beginning and remain open for a while in order for some new element to be revealed. I love that documentaries allow for spontaneity and surprise and I love when these elements are included in a film. It feels like you are collaborating with reality.

You also teach and lecture. What are some of the common mistakes that beginning filmmakers make?

Most early mistakes have to do with technical issues and the general lack of experience with using the equipment. But this is just a part of the process and the best approach is to try to embrace the mistakes and find a way to integrate them into the project. This is a truly creative approach to documentary filmmaking, to always be responding to your material, rather than trying to control it tightly. Often times these ‘mistakes’ allow you to discover something new or end up being an important element in the film.

I love the concept behind Changed Landscape. You have the mundane overlaid with reminders that the world in which we live has become far more complicated and chaotic than ever before.  Where did you draw your inspiration for this film?

I was interested in making a film that didn’t have any kind of story but was rather shaped by an imposed structure and was conceptual in nature. I also wanted to work with image and sound in a way that created new content when juxtaposed together. But in terms of content I think the film is concerned with a feeling that was very familiar to me as a young person growing up in post-war Yugoslavia – a sense of absurdity of everyday life in light of extreme circumstances, the banal and the tragic put together.

Let’s talk about The Hudson Eye. How did you get involved in Jonah Bokaer’s inaugural 10-day public program?

Jonah Bokaer had seen a few of my recent works and was interested in including something in the festival. He asked me to send them to the curator of The Hudson Eye, Aaron Levi Garvey who decided to include Canyon, the video projection that will be shown at the festival.

I’ve watched the 7:58 excerpt of Canyon, and it is brilliant.  Please provide me with the genesis of this project.

I was interested in landscapes that were altered in some extreme ways for human use and over time couldn’t be controlled any longer. Instances where our predictions about a place were no longer valid and our ability to control it was lost. I came across an article by Rebecca Solnit about Lake Powell and the declining water levels which revealed the canyon walls that were under water for many decades. She writes with such brilliant insight about the circumstances of the formation of this man-made lake and its precarious future in light of environmental change, that I was immediately drawn to this geography.

Canyon – Tijana Petrović

The idea about a single traveling shot came once I had spent some time at the lake. I am very much drawn to films that use long duration to express ideas – films of James Benning, Sharon Lockhart, Chantal Akerman, and others who are concerned with the element of time in their films and how it can shape our seeing. 

I wanted to create a visceral relationship between the viewer and the place and I didn’t think that would happen by explaining the story of the lake. I wanted to create an experience in which the viewer could have a very intimate engagement with the piece and its subject. I felt that by filming it in this way I was placing a magnifying glass in front of the viewer, and that gesture I felt spoke for itself.

From a technical standpoint, what were some of the biggest challenges faced in shooting Canyon?

There were many technical challenges. Doing a single take is always a difficult task and in this case there were many parameters we had to figure out before shooting the actual piece – time of day to shoot in, getting to know the actual route, and many other more technical issues related to in-camera settings. We ended up doing many iterations of the shot over a 10-day period.

Last question: If you had one piece of advice for aspiring filmmakers, what would that be?

To keep making work, look for support and community and watch a lot of films.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Tijana Petrović is a filmmaker born and raised in the former Yugoslavia. Her films have screened at festivals and screening venues internationally including True/False, Ann Arbor, Anthology Film Archives and Dok Leipzig among others. Her work has received support from various institutions including The Enersen Foundation, University Film and Video Association, RI Council for the Humanities among others. Tijana studied documentary film at The New School in NY and holds an MFA in Documentary Film and Video from Stanford University. She is a lecturer at San Francisco State University and Stanford University. Currently she is a Resident at the SFFILM FilmHouse for 2019.
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL: The Hudson Eye is an artist-driven 10-day public program and urban showcase, with a focus on Dance, Music, Performance, Film, Visual Art, Dining Out, and Nightlife. Works by the following artists will be featured during the First Edition of Hudson Eye: Jonah Bokaer Choreography, Ryder Cooley, Laura Gutierrez, Patrick Higgins, Rachel Libeskind, Elena Mosely, Tony Orrico, Tijana Petrovic´, Matthew Placek, Davon, Betti Rollo, Erika Schipa, Sheida Soleimani, Timothy Stanley, J.M. Tate, Alexander Turnquist and others.

The Hudson Eye will also feature daily Hot Topic Talks hosted by guest speakers whose professional affiliations represent the diversity of Hudson. Speakers include Dr. Carrie Wilkens, Dr. Jeff Foote of Center for Motivation and Change, Sean Kelly founder of Sean Kelly Gallery, Dr. Gidon Eshel of Bard College, Ned Sullivan of Scenic Hudson, Jon Bowemaster and others.

Visit the festival website for the full line-up: https://www.thehudsoneye.com/
Michael McClellan
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