INTERVISTA A MARTIN RAHMALOW
di Francesca Villani
Did you take inspiration from anybody or anything for your film?
The title "Aal im Schädel" is inspired by a scene in Günther Grass' novel
"Die Blechtrommel", where men are fishing eels with a cut-off head of a horse.
The conversation in a surreal, nightmarish surrounding between the traveller and the War is inspired by the Divine Comedy in some way, I guess.
The character design of the traveller is inspired by sculptings of Giacometti
and for the wartorn landscape I watched WW 1 -photographs and drawings of Otto Dix.
The film took almost four years to be accomplished, from the initial idea to the finished product. Why?
Hey! It's a seventeen minutes 3D movie with five characters and five sets. Try to do it in less! No, I'm kidding.
But you have to keep in mind, that's a student film.
You haven't got a production pipeline like a animation studio. And you're learning. You are making mistakes and you
should have the guts to go back two or even three steps in order to correct them.
Who is "the traveller"?
It's you. It could be everybody as everybody is on a quest for fortune.
Devoting to animation was it a choice, a passion, a job or you went into it by chance?
It's a punishment. But I always like to draw and I loved stories, so animation seems to be good choice for me.
What are your cultural roots?
Born and raised in Kiel at the Baltic Sea.
Digital animation is in your opinion a matter of technique or a kind of art?
It's a tool like a pencil. But today it is used only in a rather conservative, traditionel way.
There's nothing wrong with it, but in the future there will be more
unique, self-contained approaches, I guess.
Your film is very romantic, in the literary sense. Do you agree with this view?
Yes, and no. It depends on your perspective. If you're looking on it through the eyes of the War for example, you might say it is pathetic.
8. What is the message of the film, if there is any?
..Potrei rispondere a questa domanda con una sola parola oppure con pagine intere. Mi sembra più giusto lasciare la cosa all'interpretazione individuale.
What are you presently working at ? Have you got new projects in the field of animation, or has your film been just a step towards something else?
I'm currently working for the University in Volda, Norway as a maya teacher. And I just started working on a script for a new short movie.
How do you envisage the future of animated films? Is animation relevant in your country? Is it popular among young people?
I'm wondering if the US major animation studios will continue to produce family entertainment only, telling stories about a couple of fluffy friends,
who have to learn to stick together or if they are daring to try something else. In Germany animation is only relevant in terms of children entertainment.
biography
Martin Rahmlow (Germany, 1975). Student at the Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg.
official site
filmography
Vorbei (1998); Die Aufgabe and Die Chance (2000); Jimmy (2001); Aal im Schaedel (2006), his graduation film.
