Neda Morfova, director: For me the series is not a compromise but an opportunity
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For « Diary », Neda Morfova answered questions by email about the series, about the cinema, which he likes to watch and the stories he wants to tell behind the camera.
After completing directing, you have been making mostly commercials and movies for many years. How did the proposal come to the director’s place of the new BNT mini series « TE, the waves » and was this first proposal for a series?
– It was not the first suggestion, but it was the first I accepted. I’m used to working in a short shape, in rhythm, in 30 seconds. And here we had to build a world, develop characters, leave a breath between the replicas. When Koyna Ruseva and Theodora Duhovnikova told me about their idea, there was something in her that did not give me peace. I felt I could tell this story as my own. And I accepted.
Is it easier when directors can work with such experienced actresses as Maria Kavardzhikova, Teodora Duhovnikova, Koyna Ruseva and Radina Kardzhilova, who play the lead roles in the series?
– It’s easier because they bring with them years of experience, ease and ability to get into the scene as if they had lived in it all their lives. The actresses in this series are not just professionals, they are worlds with their own atmospheric conditions. Sometimes it rains. Sometimes there are earthquakes. And sometimes – just a complete solar eclipse, which is exactly what the scene needs. It’s harder because you have to follow them carefully – not to guide them, but to give them space to breathe.
And most importantly – not to try to explain in words something that they have already caught intuitively. At such times, you just keep quiet and watch magic in front of you.
Did you have difficulties during the shooting process? What were the biggest challenges in it?
– Everything was difficult – but beautifully difficult. We shot with children, underwater, with cascades, in night scenes, in cold, with diseases and constantly changing locations. The camera sometimes refused to go, someone was losing a voice, another costume. Nothing went according to plan. And that turned out to be great. Many of the scenes were born that way – from necessity, not from concept. A sudden rain. A pause that no one had planned. A replica spoken differently.
Cinema is often most honest when it is in the corner pressed against the wall. Then it starts to breathe differently.
And what were the moments you would come back with with a smile?
“When something goes wrong and gets better. When fatigue becomes ease. Or when the whole group burst into laughter at a time when we are all on the edge. Those little absurdities that do not go into installation, but remind you why you do it.
The series focuses on the female images and the strong female presence is felt in the first episode. Is it important when they can be presented through the look of a woman director?
– I can’t know. All I know is that we all entered – men and women – with energy that was unpredictable, chaotic, gentle and strong at the same time. We wanted to catch that. And the men in the team – both in front of the camera – were not just a supporting voice, but an engine. Part of the pulse of this story and the way it looks.
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Men directors are still dominated by the cinema, and you have shot in different places around the world along advertising projects. Are women still underestimated in this profession?
– Bulgaria proved to be extremely advanced in this regard. We have a long tradition of strong women directors – from Binka Zhelyazkova and Ivanka Grubcheva to Ralitsa Petrova, Svetla Tsotsorkova, Kristina Grozeva and many more. This has never been a topic in the environment I grew up in – because women just make cinema without asking if they are entitled to it.
The truth is that the camera does not distinguish gender. It distinguishes truth from fake.
And in this sense, the field is open to anyone who has something to say and how to say it.
Are the series and streaming the future in cinema?
– They are not the future – they are the present. The audience is already thinking in the rhythm of episodes. This is neither good nor bad. It’s just a fact. The question is not « whether » but « how ».
| For me, the series is not a compromise, but an opportunity – for more layers, more time and less explanations. And most importantly – the series gives something that cinema does not always: a chance to get to a general public. And this is a privilege. And responsibility. |
Is there anything you would change in Bulgarian cinema? Or something you miss in it?
– I miss the courage and imagination. And the confidence that the audience will bear them.
In world cinema, who influenced you the most? What do you like to watch?
– I like the quiet movies. Those in whom the characters are silent more than they act, and this silence speaks the most. Wim Wenders, Sofia Coppola, Jim Jarmush. Movies with no final speech but there is a light that falls in a specific way on the floor. And when my silence comes more, I start Batman.
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Recently, director Danis Tanovic said he did not like to convey messages through his films, that cinema should make viewers ask themselves questions, feel emotions. Is there anything you want viewers to take or feel, watching « they, the waves »?
– I don’t want to give answers. I want the viewer to recognize himself. To feel less alone. To say, « I feel so, but I never said it out loud. » If the series made him think about himself, without morals and lessons, then we have done the job.
What reactions after the first episode broadcast you impressed you? And was there criticism or self -criticism?
– The reactions were so diverse that I couldn’t help but rejoice. We have extremely positive from people who see things deeper, and not so positive than those who prefer easier explanations. After all, this is great – it means that we have caused real feelings. I don’t think cinema should be unanimous. When we like it, then we didn’t do our job. Each reaction – positive or negative – shows us that we provoke and that is the goal.
You grew up in a family of director and actress, but what is the directing to choose this time, not the actress, for example?
– The stage fever.
Do you sometimes consult your parents about your work?
« Yes, but only when I’m really ready to hear the truth. »
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Your childhood has gone to the National Theater. Would you ever direct a theatrical performance?
– Theater is my childhood – the dust of the scenes, rotating decors and suits from different eras. And the voice of the assistant director, who announces Third Gong. But I’m not sure if I could tell the whole story with just one common plan. I will still want some close frame.
What is the story or stories that you currently excite the most and would you like to tell as a director?
– The stories in which people diverge as they try to meet. Stories without big events, but with fine shifts. Stories of love that is not on display. What we haven’t said, but you can see. And yes, I would also be happy to make a cash boxing movie like Rocky.
