An interview with Stefan Chernev, noted down by Werner Busch.

Could or would you like to tell us what the title-constituting piece of the rainbow is?

The movie is shot as an observation of real life; there’s little interference, subjectiveness. This story can be happening right now, somewhere in the world, and this event would be like everything that happens in our lives. Just an occurrence. If every color of the rainbow is such an event from our lives, then this story is just one piece of it. For me, the core of the story is not what happens to the characters, but what unifies them. It’s the theme, the main motif that drives everything else. And it is the simple need of every human being to communicate with other individuals.

The movie is based on a short story by Kolyo Nikolov, called “The Boy”. A German translation of the story can be found in an anthology of Bulgarian children’s stories, but: Is it really a children’s story? How did you discover the text and why did you choose it for your movie?

No. For me, it never was a children’s story. The text was recommended to me by a friend of mine, a director who later became my tutor at film school. I thought it is a great story, with simple narrative and not logistically difficult to be shot. Good preconditions for your first student film.

Could you tell us about the production of the film?

All of the actors were somehow connected with my tutor; the boy for example is his nephew. So we talked about it, met everyone, and for me everything seemed great. Keep in mind that Stoyan Aleksiev is a famous name in Bulgaria, and I was extremely flattered that he agreed to participate. It was almost surreal to me. I created a very precise shooting script. So precise, that it had exactly the double amount of shots compared to the final version of the film. That was a lesson for me. The film did cost only 350 Euros, many things were for granted. For example the cast – except the cow. I paid for her. The film was shot in the middle of October 2007 in two days in a row. The weather was against us, and I find that as a baptism for my future career. If I have any, of course.

It’s easy to recognize the split weather conditions you had, but they would even make sense in a dramaturgical way. For example, we see the sun for the first time when the two protagonists are together in one frame for the first time.

The first day, the rainy one, we shot about ten shots concerning the crane, which sometimes imitated a dolly. On the second, the sunny day, we did about 80 shots. When I saw the sun in the second day’s morning, I reacted to the weather and we immediately shot the sequence when the conductor says goodbye and continues on foot, while he’s chased by the woman. I wanted the low sun to shine on the conductor and to have the feeling of bliss and catharsis. Everything else is coincidence.

You edited the film by yourself?

Unfortunately, when you graduate directing for film in Bulgaria, the best thing that you can get as a job, is as a video editor. So, editing is my job in the postproduction studio where I work for a living. This is where I met the quite gifted people, who helped me with the color grading, the titles, the ADR, the sound design and the really great music. That, of course, was for free, too.

Many short movies are aiming towards a turning point at the very end of the film, there are build up to it. And you can feel that during the movie. But I never expected the final twist in your movie. Although I really like it, I was unsure if the movie really needs it?

That question was very often asked. Yes, the movie needs it. You didn’t expect it, because you have the conclusion of the conductor character. But the film is not for him. So, otherwise there would be no ending for the boy and the movie would have a lesser narrative end, if the titles showed after the conductor’s departure. The boy’s ending concludes it all and marks the final beat the movie needs.

Links

• PIECE OF THE RAINBOW (BG 2008. Stefan Chernev)
• The other possibility – Werner Busch about PIECE OF THE RAINBOW
• From the Ruins Risen Newly – Tamar Noort about the Bulgarian film market