Only human a Film Directed and Produced by Lukas Vizner won Best LGBT Film award at Cinefern Film Award and Competition's March 2021.
The Film is about A short movie about a relationship of a talented pianist Christoph and an experienced porn-star Philip opens a complex topic of prejudice in society, as well as within LGBTI community.
We are the core team of EMEDI productions. Lukas is director, Miriam is a screenwriter and Ester is a producer and actress of Only human. Together we established EMEDI productions in March 2020 and we successfully produced two short movies ever since. Only human was our debut.
Interview With EMEDI team
Q: What is the basic Idea Behind the film?
EMEDI team: In the end of the day, regardless of our profession or sexual orientation we are all only human.
Q: How do you handle the Pre-Production, and Post Production?
EMEDI team: Pre-production is always harder because there are many question marks. We need to organize the team and finances to reach the result we envisioned. During the shooting of our debut film Only human we realized that filmmaking is influenced by more factors then initially expected. Even though we do our best to achieve the initial vision, the result might end up different thanplanned. Which does not mean the result is bad; on the contrary, it might end up being even better. Within the pre-production we go through multiple phases. First Lukas and Miriam prepare a detailed breakdown of Lukas’s idea for the film. We fine-tune the plot to match the screenwriting standards. Then we divide it into scenes and finally we work on the dialogues. As soon as the first usable version of the script is ready, Ester comes into the picture. We discuss any possible script adjustments and start preparing the film timeline, budget, crew, search for locations, etc. Of course, Only human’s pre-production was a bit less structured as it was our debut, but as we have been working on two more projects ever since the above process proved to work.
Post-production are basically just long hours spent in an editing room to assure that we use the best material we made during the production, and that the visual and sound of the film creates exactly the effect we want to achieve with our audience. So far, our post-production efforts have been split over multiple cities in Slovakia and Czech Republic. Usually the main driver of the visual and sound post-production is Lukas. Once we have the final cut of the film, we all start planning the premiere and further screenings around Slovakia and Czech Republic and finally Ester handles the distribution.
Q: What do you do to stay calm during Production of the film?
EMEDI team: It’salways important to plan ahead but a lot of times things don’t go the way we intended. At times like those, we try not to give in to the stress but rather give ourselves a moment to come up with the most effective solution. Communication is the key and sometimes a few minutes aside with the core team helps us stay cool headed and focused.
Q: What sort of stories excites you?
EMEDI team: Stories that can pull you into the atmosphere and make you feel like a part of its own world. Also the ones that talk about the complexity of human nature and unpredictability of one’s life turns. A lot of times life is absurd and beautiful and painful at once, and stories that capture that are inspiring, relatable and exciting.
Q: Do you think all the good stories have already been made into a movie?
EMEDI team: Definitely not. It is said that there are only a few archetypal plotlines, and they have all been done thousands of times. However, the circumstances are always different, whether historical, social or political, so even if we see some similar tropes in a story, it can be always different, because world and the ways we deal with certain problems, are ever-changing. There are definitely many undiscovered brilliant stories waiting to be made into the movie yet.
Q: While casting for your film you prefer to cast a well known face or any new face which fit the character?
EMEDI team: For Only human main characters, we went for professional actors but we also cooperated with amateur actors as supporting characters. However, our vision is to find matches that capture the envisioned character the best,regardless of whether these are more famous actors of amateurs. We usually also search multiple small or voluntary theaters around Slovakia to find the best match. Especially in such a small country like Slovakia, there is a limited number of well-known faces and they usually repeat across multiple films or TV series. If we tried to only approach these actors, we would probably capture more interest from the public. However, considering people have already seen them in multiple main roles before, it might unconsciously influence how they perceive the movie and whether they really feel for the character. The story itself might be overshined by these actors. However, if we felt that a well-known actor fits the character perfectly we would try to approach the person either way.
Q: What is the most enjoyable thing about Production of the film?
EMEDI team: The thing we love the most is seeing your ideas that have been living in your head for so long come to life. The thrill of being on the set and giving life to the individual scenes and characters is something priceless and it fills us with great energy. Seeing everyone work together and put their own creativityoutlook in the process because they see the meaning of the story is something we appreciate tremendously.
Q: What is the best possible way to promote your film when you are on a tight budget?
EMEDI team: It’s hard to define “the best way” as every film and each production company are different. What works for us might not work for the others, as well as what works for one movie might not fit another one. Each film is unique and, therefore, each one needs some analysis of target audience that might be interested in seeing it, and a bit different approach towards promotion and distribution. For Only human we, of course, first screened the film for our families and friends as itsour debut. Further, we proceeded with festivals or festival categories focused on LGBT films. Then we approached magazines connected to the community, which might have been interested in writing articles about our film to grow some audience. Later, we also approached LGBT Prides across Slovakia and Czech Republic, if they were interested in screening our film. Only recently,Only human was screened at Kosice Pride where we also had an interview and answered any questions the audience might have had. Overall, the main thing we focus on is keeping a personal approach. We write plenty of emails and make plenty of phone calls to open as many opportunities as possible.
Q: When your next film is coming and what is it about?
EMEDI team: We just had a world premiere of our second film called The last one in August 2021 and the international festival distribution will follow. We decided to try something different this time as The last one is a sci-fi drama about a woman who sells a city. Same as Only human, the story is again placed in eastern Slovakia, to show the world the beauty of the place we grew up in and help to promote our hometown Kezmarok around the world.
We are also heavily invested into pre-production of our next film called Insanely perfect. The filming is supposed to take place in March 2022 and we are currently working on the pitch materials, searching for the right locations, building a strong crew and looking for new sponsors. Insanely perfect should be the first film of EMEDI productions with a longer runtime, therefore, we are very excited about a new challenge.
Q: What advice do you want to give to the new and upcoming filmmakers?
EMEDI team: Never give up. There are always ways how to make things happen. Filmmaking requires a lot of time and effort, but if you have an interesting idea and you feel the calling, try your best and you will create amazing things.Step by step, perceive every problem as a new challenge and do not get discouraged by negative people or circumstances.
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