Argentinian-born film producer Fernando Sulichin will be in Durban during the city’s International Film Festival to conduct several workshops and to introduce the South African prèmiere of the Sulichin-produced Bully, the new film by Larry Clark — a frank and explicit portrait of the violent, nihilistic youth of the United States, based on a real-life murder in Florida.
What made you want to produce Bully?
For the same reason I co-produced Malcolm X: I like politically motivated films. Right now is a good moment to make an x-ray of what is really going on inside America. I read the script and liked its rawness and honesty. The fact that no one else wanted to touch it gave me more motivation to get behind it. The film shows how, in the age of globalisation and mass media, society is on auto-pilot and what happens when surprises come along to force it to take stock of itself. These surprises can take the form of kids shooting up their school or aeroplanes flying into the World Trade Centre.
For me the purpose of film is to insert consciousness into society and if the film has to be controversial to do so then perhaps that’s the only way. At the moment films are stupid and meaningless so it’s important to show what’s really going on.
What are your ties to South Africa?
I must say that I love your country. There are so many stories to be told in post-apartheid South Africa and I want to help make this happen. I have had a wonderful experience collaborating with the Nelson Mandela Childrens’ Fund, for whom I produced a documentary directed by Spike Lee. The work that these people do is outstanding — they are an example to us all. Their primary goal is to open peoples’ hearts and that is the same reason I make films.
Do you have any plans to produce any South African films?
Well, I would love to work with Oliver Schmitz and other quality South African directors. I like South Africa a lot — it’s given me a lot of love. South African film has a long way to go but it has a great future as long as filmmakers realise they have to be unstoppable.
Fernando Sulichin hosts two workshops during the Durban International Film Festival: Creativity in the Age of Sequels on September 27 at 3pm at Studio 5, University of Natal, Durban; and Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You: How to Make Your First Film on September 28 at the same venue