Interview with Rafael Kapelinski

Interview with the director of BUTTERFLY KISSES Rafael Kapelinski who is guest of Zlín Film Festival. His film won the Jury Prize at this year´s Generation section of Berlinale and now compete for the Europe Award for best European First Film.

You have won the Crystal Bear in Berlin. It was an award from the Youth Jury. Does this fact (youth jury) mean something more for you than for example an award from expert jury? Why do you think the film appealed to them so much?

I think the young people are brave, objective and they are not afraid of making brave choices. They are the future, so I definitely think that the youth jury award in Berlin, the Crystal Bear, was a very important milestone for our film. What they seemed to like about the film was the honesty as well as its aesthetic shape.

Why did you choose to shoot in black and white?

We expect our film to polarise the audiences, so it seemed to us like black and white was a natural way of acknowledging it.

You are originally a banker. How did you get to directing? What was the reason for you to fall for making films?

I was working in film before my banking episode. I have written and directed films from the age of 14. There are many common denominators between banking and film, so I feel like it was not wasted time.

Butterfly Kisses is your debut and so it is for the screenwriter Greer. How did the coopeation look like? Did you discuss a lot over the screenplay?

Yes, we worked on the story together. It was a very collaborative and open process. It seems to me like it is the only way to develop a script that is somewhat fresh.

Theo Stevenson is a former child actor. How did he get to your film? Was it casting? And how was the cooperation like with Byron, Theo and Liam?

Theo joined the cast relatively early. We wanted to leverage off his considerable acting experience, especially since the other two young leads had no experience at all. All three young leads worked very hard and they ended up being friends. Although we did not rehearse much, we did spend a lot of time together talking about the world of the film.

You are teaming up with Greer and Merlin again on a project called Cranley Gardens? Can you tell us more?

 It is a very exciting story that is very different from Butterfly Kisses. We all look forward to starting principal photography in November.