HOMe — Directors' Library

Grajper directs ‘HOMe’.

Words from Grajper below.

What was your starting point?

G: At the very start of the pandemic, while walking around the empty city, I realised that pigeons were the only creatures that moved around the city. I have always associated birds with freedom. These creatures deprived of food due to the absence of humans and subjected to continual ostracism by the majority of society aroused my empathy. I remembered how those birds were pejoratively called “flying rats”.

HOMe

At the same time, I was talking to one of my friends who has started to deal with the homelessness crisis. He has met many victims of homelessness and the stories he told me were devastating. I felt that I should highlight this issue, and it seemed organic to me that it was meant to be pictured by dramatic dance. I have never seen a character in a homelessness crisis combined with dance. In the end, all those scraps of consciousness came together and they seemed just right.

There’s a feeling of being very improvised, and then at other times confidently structured. How did you find the balance?

G: From the very beginning, we wanted to achieve something between very precise moves and totally organic and performative, so it was an assumption that we made a goal of.

We wanted to achieve something between very precise moves and totally organic and performative.

Secondly, I think this feeling comes with an uncut master shot. The technique makes you believe that what you are seeing is actually happening and are not being tricked by an edit. You can see all the transitions between all the moves.

What are you reading at the moment?

G: ‘We Are To Live Here’ – a non-fiction by Elena Kostyuchenko.