Mads Baekkevold is a filmmaker based out of Canada, who is currently touring his debut feature film, “The Chef and The Daruma.” The film is showing at this year’s Seattle International FIlm Festival (SIFF), which The Observer was granted access to cover. The following is a Q&A with Baekkevold, which was conducted this past Monday.
Q: Growing up, what originally got you interested in filmmaking? Was it a gradual process, or was there an “aha” moment?
A: I was just an obsessive compulsive movie watcher from a very, very young age. And something I definitely took notice of even when I was very young, was directors … In high school, we had a book report about a book of our choosing. And me and a few friends decided to adapt said book into a movie instead of writing a report … And we made this fairly bonkers, almost “Jackass” inspired idiotic adaptation of the book with a lot of physical comedy, absurdist comedy, just totally unbridled creativity. We showed it to our quite elderly teacher, who promptly proceeded to fall asleep in the middle of it, and then he woke up and gave it an A. That was kind of like the impetus of it all.
Q: Your career has taken you all over the world, from Norway, to Canada to Singapore. How do you think your ‘nomadic’ lifestyle has affected your filmmaking style?
A: “The Chef and The Daruma” is a very human story, I would say, with what I hope is what seems to be a lot of curiosity regarding who Chef Hidekazu Tojo is, and what has made him the way he is. Something I keep returning to as a montra of sorts is that I think it’s just so important for human beings, for who they are, to be curious. I think curiosity is one of the most valuable qualities that a human being can have, because I think that when you have this curiosity, of like, well, who is this person? What makes them tick? Or what is this culture all about? I think that is what breaks down barriers, and opens your mind to different ways of thinking … People who have negative feelings towards another culture or another type of person, it usually stems from a lack of curiosity, [a] complete lack of empathy. And to refer back to your question I think that living all over the world like this is what has at least given me this curiosity for people, because you get to know people, you get you know personal friends, you get to try your food, you get invited into people’s homes. And little by little, you open up your mind to different people and different ways of thinking.
Q: The Chef and The Daruma is currently making the rounds at film festivals across the globe, while also serving as your directorial debut. What made you go with a documentary as your introduction into the feature film industry?
A: It’s funny, because if you had asked me a few years ago, I don’t think I would have said my debut feature would be a documentary, and my ultimate goal is to make not just documentaries, but scripted features as well. Don’t get me wrong, I would be eternally grateful to make more documentaries, because it is so rare that you get the chance to make anything in this world. So the reason for it being a documentary, it was just happenstance, I [had] made an ad for the Michelin guides when they came to Vancouver. One of the chefs featured in the ad that was promoting Vancouver’s local food scene was a chef, Tojo, and we really just hit it off.
We found out that we’re ‘simpatico’ on a lot of levels, that we have a lot of shared passions, be it for food or, be it for good sake and what have you. And in talking to him for an extended length of time, I just realized there is a story here. This is a guy who’s definitely got this amazing story to tell.
Q: Food is a clear focal point of this film, and as a medium it shares a similar power to film in its ability to bring people together. In the same way that Hidekazu Tojo had to adapt his recipes to fit the culinary tastes of those around him, have you found you shape your filmmaking style around the tastes of others, and if so how do you balance keeping your original artistic taste alive?
A: Chef Tojo would definitely 100% agree. He kept talking about that all the time, he has such a great love for the craft of filmmaking, and that is definitely a parallel that he would agree with as well, for this film. I wouldn’t say that I had, like carte blanche, a blank check or whatever, but we had extremely little nudging from the people financing it, which is a company called TELUS … We didn’t really have any pushback in that regard. That said, I’m not a stranger as a commercial director. I make commercials and you have to adapt and have to tweak your filmmaking style, and to have to hit these certain points and at a certain point. Sometimes you get an agency or a client who can see where you’re coming from, and we’re all working together towards a common goal. Sometimes it can be more like pulling teeth, and we’re just kind of like fighting to get our vision across. And sometimes in commercial filmmaking you just have to cut your losses and be like, ‘okay, the customer is always’ so let’s go with your vision.
Everyone surrounding “The Chef and The Daruma” added to the film, which I agreed with. For example, it was very important to have someone like my Co-Writer Natalie Morale, who is a local filmmaker here as well. She is a fourth generation Japanese Canadian, and so it was important to have a voice like hers in the mix, to have that authenticity behind the camera as well. Since we are telling a Japanese Canadian story, you need a Japanese Canadian voice in the mix, or you need several. That was something that was definitely stressed, something I agreed with 100% all the way … And yeah, knock on wood, it might be trickier on future projects to fully get that vision across.
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