An animated discussion

ROMAN Paul, the Germany-based producer of the award-winning Waltz With Bashir, was in Mumbai for its premiere last week

ROMAN Paul, the Germany-based producer of the award-winning Waltz With Bashir, was in Mumbai for its premiere last week. The film, based on an Israeli soldier's quest for his memories of the massacre at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon in 1982, has been brought to Indian theatres by UTV World Movies and is expected to release soon.
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Waltz With Bashir is a rather unusual plot for animation.

Did you ever think of making Waltz With Bashir into a feature film instead of animation?
No, it was always planned as animation. I knew about the Sabra and Shatila massacre because Paradise Now is about the last 48 hours of a suicide bomber and on the Israel-Palestine conflict. This movie had to be in animation because it was about memories. What do our memories look like? They refer to reality, yet are different. This is why it works. Waltz With Bashir is also filled with tension u2014 you will never feel bored.
It has its comic moments. There's a scene when its characters are watching a German porn film and Ari made me dub for it (laughs). This sound guy took his revenge on me, the producer, by demanding more retakes!

How was the response to the film in Israel?
Waltz With Bashir received all the Israeli awards and it was chosen as their official entry to the Oscars, from which it was nominated.

Is this your first visit to India?
No, I was here for a media conference in 2003 on world distribution. Then, there was no market in India for arthouse films and it was all about Bollywood. I'm glad for the access now because I believe films connect people.

In your previous job, you bought the distribution rights in Germany for acclaimed films like Amores Perros, Chocolat, The Others and East Is East. How did German audiences react?
Let me tell you, Amores Perros was the most difficult buy I have ever done. No one wanted to see that in Germany because dogs were suffering in it! (Laughs hard) My boss didn't want to see it and the price had gone down beyond basement level and yet, he wasn't keen. Once he did, we went and bought it, but the film did okay because Germany doesn't take to dogs suffering! My sister still remembers Amores Perros with a vengeance; she's still angry I made her see it. But now, the film is a hit on the DVD circuit.

East Is East was also not much of a success, but I bought it because I was a big fan of the British wave Mike Leigh, Stephen Fry, My Beautiful Laundrette. I consider buying these films a major achievement and was happy to contribute towards them.

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u00a0The Golden Globe-winning animated film Waltz With Bashir

What are you producing next?
This exciting film by a Hungarian director Benedek Fliegauf called Womb. It stars Bond girl Eva Green and Matt Smith, who is Dr Who in the British television series, as a couple who fall in love. But he gets killed in a car accident and suddenly, she has the opportunity to get him cloned. It is the biggest gift, to give someone life.

So she does, but is he the same person? The deep moral question here is should we bring back the people we loved, and lost? I don't think we're up for it, but soon, this will be a reality.

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