“I think that’s the basis for everything: to treat the text as material which plays a role exactly similar to the other materials in the film: the actors’ faces, their gestures, the photographic texture.” – Jacques Rivette, 1973.
But:
“The essay films now look amazingly similar [...] to a zapping spree with a voiceover, or maybe just to a Sunday afternoon remix contest on YouTube.” – Hito Steyerl, 2011.
I think that the space between these two quotations contains all the problems we have regarding the use of voiceover in the cinema of today. I cannot add anything more, I don't know what else to add, I prefer to let you reflect on them. (And if anyone feels this is not enough, they can just imagine I added 4'33" by John Cage to the text instead of my voiceover.)
Radu Jude, born in Bucharest, Romania in 1977. His feature film debut CEA MAI FERICITĂ FATĂ DIN LUME (The Happiest Girl in the World, 2009) and several other films screened at the Berlinale Forum, most recently TIPOGRAFIC MAJUSCUL (Uppercase Print) and IEŞIREA TRENURILOR DIN GARĂ (Exit of the Trains) in 2020. Jude won the Golden Bear with BABARDEALĂ CU BUCLUC SAU PORNO BALAMUC (Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn) in 2021 and is part of the International Jury in 2023.
