Albert Serra on Anarchic Filmmaking and the Ambiguity of Images

Albert Serra discusses his filmmaking methods in an interview with Fabrice Lauterjung for artpress. His latest film, Pacifiction, premiered at Cannes and will be released on November 9, 2022. Serra was also honored at FIDMarseille with a retrospective and master class. He describes his approach of shooting with three cameras to accumulate vast amounts of footage, then editing to find the film. He emphasizes the importance of ambiguity, avoiding clichés, and creating a sense of vulnerability in actors. Serra cites influences from Andy Warhol, Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, and Jean-Luc Godard. He discusses the role of digital technology in enabling his method, noting that Pacifiction had 540 hours of rushes. Serra also touches on his art installations, such as Singularity (2015) at the Venice Biennale and The Three Little Pigs (2012) at Documenta. He argues that cinema imposes its own time on the viewer, unlike contemporary art that often prioritizes space. The interview covers his use of slowness, the physicality of time, and the ambivalence in his characters, particularly in Pacifiction where Benoît Magimel plays a high commissioner. Serra states that he avoids taking sides, instead generating ambivalence to keep films unpredictable. He describes his process as destructive yet calm, with chaos on set and analytical precision in editing.