28/06/2018 - We caught up with Stijn Bouma to find out more about his short film Regained Memory, selected for the Future Frames at Karlovy Vary

Born in the Netherlands, Stijn Bouma studied film at the University of Amsterdam. Following his master’s degree, he was accepted for the Film Factory programme at Sarajevo Film Academy. His 2017 film Lejla was selected for the 2017 Cannes Cinefondation Competition. His latest film, Regained Memory, is a moving and elegant treatise on memory and time and is due to have its world premiere at European Film Promotion’s Future Frames at the 2018 edition of Karlovy Vary. Cineuropa caught up with him to find out more about the film.

Cineuropa: What inspired Regained Memory?
Stijn Bouma: As this is my graduation film, I was trying to find a way to gather the most important impressions and stories that I encountered whilst living in Sarajevo. At that time in my personal life I encountered a loss that made me reflect on the memories I had of that person. Struggling and reflecting on this, I decided this had to be the main line of the film.

Was the work of Proust an influence, given that the title echoes one of his most famous works?
It was an influence, as I started reading his work at the same that I started to develop the screenplay. As I guess with other films of mine, the spark came from being moved by an idea in literature. I was overwhelmed by the idea of involuntary memory, and the possibility of there being a whole past inside each one of us. A past consisting of memories that are hidden, only to be triggered accidentally.

Tell us about casting Salih Palo and Amna Bajric as the father and daughter.
I first met Salih Palo by accident when I was having dinner at a friend's house. We started to talk and got along quite well. I found him very interesting and then wrote the screenplay with him in mind. Though I wasn't sure yet if he would like to play the part – luckily he agreed. He has a background in acting but he is kind of under the radar, so I enjoyed showing and revealing him in some way. He also has a personal history with war, which I considered very important and insisted on sharing in the film itself. So it's not just me, the director, who comes up with everything, but also the actors sharing or recounting real-life experiences in the film. Amna Bajric is a wonderful young person who worked with other students on their films, so we met on another set. She improvised some situations with Salih and I decided that she would do well in the film. 

There are elements of the ‘slow cinema’ movement here. I’m interested to hear a little more about your influences.
I see what you mean, but I'm a bit hesitant to use the term because of its negative associations with being boring. Some 'slow films' are much more exciting and tense to me than some films that are cut a lot faster. My thinking kind of goes along these lines: there are too many cuts and too many images in general, therefore devaluating the cuts and the images themselves. So I try to oppose that a little bit. And besides that I'm not just interested in pushing forward a narrative, I'm trying to create strong impressions in the viewer's mind. 

You’ve studied at both films schools in Amsterdam and at the Film Factory in Sarajevo. Do you think studying at two schools helped broaden your approach to filmmaking?
The University of Amsterdam was much more theoretically oriented, whilst in Sarajevo I really got down to the more practical side of filmmaking. This parallels my own development I think, from a more abstract-theoretical approach to being more practical and simple. Also the latter study really made me approach cinema more from an ethical point of view.

What are your hopes for Future Frames?
I hope it will help us to distribute the film further and I'm also looking forward to expanding my international network. I also expect to watch some good, inspiring films. 

You’re working on your debut feature, correct?
It has the working title There Is No Tomorrow. It will be about a teenage couple struggling with first love set against a strong background of society with fading passions, nihilism and humiliation. Again, I'm looking for a way to reveal a vision of a world using the outline of a simple story between two human beings. Besides that, my new short film Visit – a 12-min long-taker on the solitude of an old widow – is also soon to be released.