Director of "Desert Dancer"
Howdy Funky Film Fest Lovin' Folks!
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2015 kicked off this week and I managed to score an interview with the director of opening night film "Desert Dancer" the true story of Afshin Gaffarian, the Iranian man who defied his government and set up an underground dance company. The film stars Reece Ritchie (as Gaffarian), Freida Pinto, and Tom Cullen and is Raymond's feature directing debut. It's a beautiful film made more lovely from the choreography by Akram Khan. It will be released stateside in April by Relativity Media. We sat down for a chat at the El Encanto hotel in a private room full of wine and Dom Perignon (we didn't drink any, thanks!)
Topics discussed include: The quick Desert Dancer pitch How producing a film can also prep you for directing a film Bringing Philip Ridley back out of retirement How avoiding the British Gas Board led to a job in cinema in Pinewood Studios Richard's early homemade movies Working with Richard Attenborough and Anthony Hopkins on Shadowlands Working with Jon Croker on the script and meeting Afshin Ghaffarian How instinct works better than storyboarding and blocking His loathing for shooting on digital and how film increases the stakes Shooting in Morocco and Paris and London Getting extras from Twitter Working with Akram Khan and how Khan's own story mirrors the film's message Ideas about capturing dance on film Landing Reese Ritchie for the lead role Shooting a test film in Jordan and a tale of intolerance The Sisyphean struggle of making a film How funding came from a former Russian dancer and Florida's Youngarts.org Richard's next film, Freetown and the story of David Richards Keeping Sierra Leone on the radar after ebola
The trailer for Desert Dancer
Thanks to Andrea Sumpter and Relativity Media for helping set this up.