As extended knowledge of 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' would prove you, arriving at the Gorge of Eternal Peril, you can be confronted with questions as tricky as 'what's the capital of Assyrya ?' or as obvious as 'what is your quest ?'
This first, --actually, not yet...-- issue of FOVEA is the ideal occasion to unravel the latter. Who are we and what is our quest ? In short I'd say that we are gourmets, guides and knights. Not in the daily life, of course, where our activities are more akin to architecture, art, music, anthropology, pedagogy and journalism, among others, but in the metaphorical sense.
We're gourmets because we like good cooks : people who can turn a few basic ingredients into something extraordinary for other's delicate and often demanding palates. This first issue will deal with those excellent cooks that are independent filmmakers, having to deal with limited resources and confronted to high expectations. Just like your auntie preparing the best Nasi Goreng in the world. --Yes, we are, mostly, Indonesian--
We're guides because we've been travelling the ways of movies in many directions, hanging out in the dark rooms of local theatres, in the erudite spheres of the cinematheques, in the festivals for the most lucky of us, and let's admit it, in front of our computer's screen waiting for the torrents to be downloaded. Hours after hours. We've seen it almost all and we like to share it with others. No, not the torrents. The excitement ! Showing you the unnoticed details that make sense. You know, like those statues in 'Angels and Demons' (but rest assured, we don't live in Vatican).
We're knights because, com'on, we're starting a paper-only magazine in the age of internet, about independent cinema, without subventions and formal links to any film distributors. It is a work of resistance, of guerilla. Yeah. Once a masochist, always a masochist ! Or on a more positive perspective : the key to freedom, and the price to pay ! And we didn't forget that Mr. Wayne who reminded us that : with great power comes great responsibility.
Our quest : to find the Grail of course ! That movie which speaks to our heads and hearts ( admittedly, the other way around is fine as well ). That filmmalkers who will not only make you learn to make movies, but also make you learn to think. Those people who organize alternative distribution networks and viewing opportunities. Those ideas that put back the thinking in the viewing, that help discerned gold from lead.
Here we stand in front of the Bridge of Death, with such unusual guild, and these were our answers. Now let's see, eyes wide open !
the editor and its shadow |
