Hello Matteo, tell us something about yourself, and how you got into 3D design.

I‘m not a professional 3D artist, let alone a filmmaker, it‘s just a hobby. I‘ve always been fascinated by the things you can create virtually, especially since there are absolutely no limits to fantasy. Everything is possible, everything is feasible. I wanted to be able to do that too, so I studied to become a 3D designer alongside my job. I was immediately fascinated by the boundlessness but also overwhelmed by the incredible complexity.

So you never worked professionally as a 3D artist, did you create the film on your own, and how long did it take you?

That‘s right. It‘s difficult to say how long it took me because I realised very quickly that I still had to learn many things. The animation of people‘s movements, for example, which are so incredibly complex, especially facial expressions and gestures. In addition, there were extreme difficulties because some things just didn‘t work as they should. Sometimes it was really exasperating. All in all, I worked on it for more than 15 months, however 7 days a week and sometimes 20 hours a day.

Your film is called „Isabelle“, what is it about, and what is the idea behind it?

It‘s about me romantically inviting Isabelle out for coffee with the help of a little hummingbird. 

This is indeed one of the most elaborate invitations we have ever seen.

I would agree to that, but if it works, it was worth it.

So you made this animation hoping Isabelle would view it some day. 

Yes, but  I had to come up with something extraordinary to even get noticed and I asked myself, „what can you do, that can‘t everyone do ?“ And there was the answer. I had the limitlessness of my imagination at my disposal, what more could you ask for? And barely 15 months later my little animation was ready.

What about your interest in providing this interview to us? 

I appreciate your festival a lot,and I‘m really grateful for this opportunity. 

Our interviews section is open to everyone, so from our end we had no reason to deny this interview regardless the fact you don't consider yourself a filmmaker, nevertheless 'Isabelle" is still a film, ofcourse we don't have the option to know if you will finally have a response, it's not up to us, but  "Isabelle" is still a lovely animation, we enjoyed viewing it.  

We would like to thank you as well for this interview, and as a famous quote suggests life is a journey, not a destination, we believe that same occurs with all we do, so our suggestion would be to consider this film as a journey, like you said you are not a filmmaker, but Isabelle put you on the move to create this film, so who knows what other beautiful things are out there waiting for you to discover.

I agree, and thank you once more for providing the opportunity to present my film to your audience, and talk about it. 

Interview with Filmmaker Gerald Krell 

Dear Friends,

We would like to bring to your attention “Guru Nanak" a wonderful documentary film participated to 2020 edition of the Mediterranean Film Festival Cannes, that was nominated “Official Selection " We interviewed the director of the film Gerald Krell, to ask him about the idea behind, and his motivation to create this film. 

Gerald Krell:

"When we were pitched on the idea of producing the first feature-length English-language documentary on the founder of the Sikh faith, my son (producer Adam Krell) and I knew this was a unique opportunity and challenge that we needed to take on. Even though we had produced a number of films on religion, including a documentary about Asian religions in the United States (The Asian & Abrahamic Religions: A Divine Encounter in America), we were still very much unaware of Guru Nanak’s story.

We like most people in the United States did knew very little about the founder of the world’s fifth largest religion. How is this possible? Most people know Jesus, Mohamad, and Buddha, but very few people in the West know about Guru Nanak. As we started developing this project, we were fascinated to discover that even though Guru Nanak was delivering his message over 500 years ago, his ideas were so modern: equality, environmentalism, women’s empowerment.

We realized that it was important, not only to tell the historic story of Guru Nanak’s life, but to show how the legacy of his teachings live on today in Sikh men and women in the United States. There is much misunderstanding and fear in the United States regarding the Sikhs. Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, they are mistakenly viewed as Muslims extremists because of their turbans.

We wanted this documentary to help dispel these misunderstandings and show Sikhism as a faith of peace, selfless service and devotion to God. We are forever grateful to the Sikh community for entrusting us with telling the story of Guru Nanak. Production of this documentary took us to locations the Punjab region in India, and locations throughout the United States. We were welcomed at the gurdwaras (Sikh temples), shared delicious vegetarian food at langars (free communal meals), and were captivated by the beauty of Sikh music and ceremony. We wanted to capture all of this and share it with audiences around the world. It was our pleasure and honor to produce this documentary."