– The prolific Latvian director talks about imagining a poetic world around a set of anonymous photos and shares some curious glimpses into her process
(© goEast Filmfestival)
Inspired by exposed photo negatives from 1968-78, taken by an unknown photographer, Laila Pakalnina’s Cat on My Mind is currently showing at the 26th goEast Filmfestival in Wiesbaden, after premiering at Mar del Plata International Film Festival. She speaks about what triggered her to reinvent a past that might never have been, and the importance of preserving the human touch.
Cineuropa: Cat on My Mind touches upon an ontological function of cinema – to revive the past through images. How did this idea emerge?
Laila Pakalnina: From the photos themselves. There was this bag next to a rubbish bin with negatives in it, and my cameraman started to scan them, just to try out his scanner. One of the first images was of this lady with flowers, probably for a birthday. It stayed with me for a long time. It was as if the photos were saying to me: “Make a film!”
At first, I thought maybe everything would be centred around one family. I even started to write a script about this woman, calling her Aunt Emma. But when I saw more and more photos, I understood that it could not just be one story. It was something different, like lines of poetry, and each line was about one photo. It’s more about imagination than reconstruction. I’m sure none of it was like what we imagined.
At the same time, you dive into the atmosphere, recreating precise details of the clothing and the surroundings. The era is revived.
In that sense, yes, we go back in time. However, the film was financed as a documentary – but in fact, everything that happens on screen is fiction. There were no professional actors, only amateurs, but everything was created, as inspired by the photos.
How did you manage to find people who resembled those in the photographs?
It was not easy. We decided to shoot in Talsi, a small Latvian town, and we were aiming to find people there. We went to sports institutions for kids and young men, and to cultural centres for adults, where there were dancers and singers. Latvia is a singing nation. This “Aunt Emma” sings in a choir. In real life, she is an accountant. And now, for me, the woman in the photos is also a retired accountant.
You keep a certain distance from the people in the photos – they don’t become fully fleshed-out characters. Was that intentional?
Yes, because we had no material with which to make characters – no real story or development. Only fragments. But when you look at all of the photos, you understand there were at least two photographers because the style changes. So, we imagined a father and son, and the son later gets hold of the camera.
How many images did you work with?
There were 36 boxes, each with 36 images. Not all were usable, maybe around 30 per box. In the movie, there are maybe around 100 images. I knew the exact number before, but I have forgotten now.
What kind of technical tricks did you use to mix the real photo images with the fictional recreation?
It was important for us to do everything on set, not in post-production. We wanted to keep those “mistakes” – blur, double exposure and so on. We used filters, but we also attached different things to the camera. Even a knife and fork, just to achieve reflections or distortion. Sometimes, the camera looked really crazy. But if you do it later, it becomes mechanical. When done during shooting, everything can be seen through the image. It is human-made.
How were you able to identify the time period when the photographs were taken?
Not from what is seen in the photos, but from the expiry date on the boxes in which the film negatives were found. If the expiry date says 1968, then it is probably around that time, maybe a bit earlier. Sometimes there were notes – a street name or a motor race – but not enough to identify people.
Did you consider looking for the people in the photographs?
No, it was more interesting for us to imagine everything. Maybe today you could find them, but I prefer not to. Perhaps after the film is released, someone will recognise themselves.
After working with the images for so long, did you come up with your own theories about who these people were?
Yes, in my imagination, I created an entire structure, comprising family, neighbours, relations… But it stayed in my head. It’s like what I mentioned earlier – because the actress was an accountant, now I believe the woman in the photo was also an accountant.
People are the protagonists, but you focus on the cat in the title. Why?
There were not only people in the photos, but also chickens, piglets, cats and so on. So, no doubt, our unknown photographer was thinking of a cat as well because he was trying to take a photo of it.
