{"id":13825,"date":"2024-12-06T17:12:07","date_gmt":"2024-12-06T17:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/?p=13825"},"modified":"2024-12-06T17:13:58","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T17:13:58","slug":"charlie-speeckaert-on-the-doc-the-last-jewish-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/?p=13825","title":{"rendered":"Charlie\u00a0Speeckaert\u00a0on The Last Jewish Summer\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

During the summer of 1942, Antwerp authorities collaborated with the German occupiers to round up and deport more than 10,000 Jews. Tragically, only 500 of them would return after the war. This dark chapter in Antwerp’s history is now being brought to the fore. Directed by Thom Vander Beken, The Last Jewish Summer<\/em> follows students in a secondary school in Antwerp, researching about the fate of Jewish students expelled in 1942 from the same school by the Nazis. They are confronted with family members of both Jewish Holocaust victims and Nazi accomplices. The documentary was captured by DOP Charlie Speeckaert. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe director initially contacted me for another documentary, but because of circumstances this one was shot first,\u201d begins Speeckaert. \u201cIt’s the first time I\u2019ve workedwith the director and the production company. The story is strong and relevant and I’m glad they contacted me because I’m very happy that I got the opportunity to be part of it, especially as a young woman.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story of the family members depicted in the documentary connect with the school in Antwerp and students at the school engage with the dark history. \u201cThere is a big connection point, and Thom wanted to make it relevant. He did lots of interviews and he chose students who interacted really well. It sounds like a casting, but it was students who gave different insights. It’s a really diverse school as well and that helps makes a story more interesting for today because that’s more the reality.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the documentary interviewees reenact the stories they tell, confronting the past. \u201cThe director had this envisioned in his mind for a long time,\u201d explains Speeckaert. \u201cThey are real stories of the people, but he didn’t want to hide that there is a hand and that there are decisions made. He wanted to make it meta and build a set with lights and also place them in the decors and go back in time and make their stories come alive. The interviewees knew up front that would be the method. Thom had been researching the project for years. While in the archives he realised that some of the families\u2019 stories are connected and so he connected the puzzles. I think he really wanted to also not hide that it was a film. You still place a camera at that moment and that’s what you show at the time. I think it was really interesting to approach it like that.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In one emotional scene, two interviewees both look towards a door that\u2019s ajar as they reveal the connection between their families. \u201cIt was emotionally too difficult for the Jewish character to be on set at the same time as the son of the accomplice who wasresponsible for the arrest of her family. So, we used the magic you can use withcinema,\u201d says Speeckaert. \u201cThey were never there together and it was shot on different days. Thom really wanted them to have that powerful moment together. He knew he wanted to do something with it. You never actually see them together, although it almost feels like they’re looking at it together. It worked well. You do the classic shotset-up to make it appear as if they are facing toward one another. They both knew that the director wanted to go there and their emotions are real.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it came to capturing the different memories, the team carefully constructed a vintage aesthetic that fit each individual memory. Speeckaert looked at the 2022 film Argentina<\/em>, <\/em>1985<\/em> as a grading and lighting reference. The set, framing and static style was influenced by De <\/em>nieuwe<\/em> Orde<\/em>. \u201cI’m so happy that Thom sent a lot of references to me,\u201d admits Speeckaert. \u201cOur research was based on one of the Maurice De Wilde\u2019sinterviews which never aired. It is a real video of a Jew hunter (Jodenjager). He\u2019s just sitting his living room and talking about it, which was so intriguing. It\u2019s so powerful and real. It was during that period when interviews were a static 4:3. That\u2019s why we adopted the 4:3 framing style. It\u2019s a documentary, but we also wanted a cinematic aesthetic.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The director also took inspiration from daily life. \u201cSometimes he was walking in the streets and he\u2019d send pictures of windows and everything that interested him,\u201d adds Speeckaert. \u201cHe also went to museums and took pictures of sculptures. So, that was amazing for me. For me, it was about finding a certain look and feel and how to place a light, for example. A lot of interviews are just talking heads and we only had nine days to shoot this. There are lots of interviewees, including the students and so you don\u2019t have a lot of time with each person. I\u2019m so happy because this documentary is different than other documentaries I shot because it’s almost like fiction, but with real characters.Everything was so well planned, because in nine shooting days, you have to be very strict with timing.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speeckaert frequently works on documentaries and enjoys the process. \u201cI like working in documentary and this is a bit hybrid and meta. Sometimes other documentaries can be very run and gun and fly on the wall style. They’re all different, but I think we could be very creative for this. We really show it in a way that it’s meta, and we don’t hide that it’s something constructed in style, but not in story. I think it’s very magical with documentary as a whole and it\u2019s really about going to the essence. If you miss a moment you have to be creative in the moment to solve it. Sometimes the magic happens that you even didn’t plan.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Working on a documentary such as this one with its subject matter can have a very emotional impact. \u201cI think Thom approached it really well and prepared the interviewees,\u201d says Speeckaert. \u201cThere was a safe space. It could be difficult, of course even if you know where you\u2019re headed towards. I think it’s also the style of the movie to not hide that they’re just people placed in front of a camera and being captured.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speeckaert captured the documentary with the ARRI Amira and Zeiss lenses during the summer of 2023. \u201cIt was also a good call on the director\u2019s part to use a mirror box placed in front of the camera. So, the people talking look directly into the camera, but because of the mirror they are really talking with the director. There is eye contact all the time and they talk and do the interview. It\u2019s really safe because they just tell the director their stories, as they did already many times before, but then it was again in that safe bubble. That helped technically, as they looked in the camera, but it didn’t feel like an alien or something abstract. We didn’t have that box all the time and that was only with the interview parts.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although archival footage is used throughout, though it\u2019s used sparingly. \u201cThom didn\u2019t want an archive movie and he wanted to use as little archive footage as possible,\u201d says Speeckaert. \u201cIt\u2019s still a movie where those archives really can help to place you back in the \u201840s, but I think he’s happy that it\u2019s not all the time. It’s really about reminding us of the history because today we live in such a complex world and I think this documentary will help to keep reminding us.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI do want to also give a lot of love to the decor because documentary doesn’t have the same financial support as fiction,\u201d continues Speeckaert. \u201cThe art director, \u0160pela Tu\u0161ardid such a good job creating those worlds. I’m so happy how she approached it and itwas very helpful. Normally when I do documentary, I do my own focus and I don’t have a gaffer. It’s just the director, sound person and myself. But here it was a bit bigger with the decor. There was the art director, the director and sound person, but we also had a gaffer and a focus puller. For two days we had a dolly as well, which for a documentaryis very fancy. The lighting person was alone for the duration, so everybody worked really hard. Everybody was on the same page and it was really powerful to see it unfold and see people tell their stories in front of the camera.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, working on a film like this can be difficult to discuss. \u201cOn every project I learned so much and I love the projects where I still am learning things of the world and people and emotions. This one is the most difficult to talk about because it is so complex. The conversation about this movie should never stop,\u201d concludes Speeckaert. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Camera Crew<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gaffer: Gert-Jan Coorevits<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1st<\/sup> AC: Robbe Vandekeere<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grip: Jesse Umut <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inserts: Camera assistent + gaffer: Diren Agbaba  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Oliver Webb <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

behind the scene photos by Enzo Smits <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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