Cinema for me is…
Belgium – Tamar Cachet from Europa Cinemas on Vimeo.
Tamar in 25 frames
1. Describe yourself in ten words
Belgian public historian with a passion for the moving image.
2. What are your 3 best qualities and your 3 worst habits?
3 best qualities: social, being a go-getter and always hungry for knowledge.
3 worst habits: being impatient, overthinking and eating too much peanut butter.
3. What is your dream job?
Screenwriter.
4. What do you like most about your country?
The fact that all cities are so close by each other and easy to reach.
5. What is your favorite dish in your country?
Flemish stew with fries.
6. What is the word or the expression in your native language that you like the most and what does it mean?
There are so many words and expressions going through my mind that I’m unable to choose one at this very moment.
7. What European capital have you visited lately?
Dublin.
8. Other than your own, which European country would you love to live in?
Either a capital city in a different European country (preferably London or Berlin) or one of the Scandinavian countries.
9. What does Europe mean to you?
A continent characterized by a complete openness of borders while saving a diversity of cultures that continue to enrich each other.
10. What are the European values that you share?
I believe I share most if not all of the European values. The ones that particularly stand out to me are equal rights and dignity for every individual, openness, social responsibility and peaceful resolution of conflict.
11. What film made you fall in love with cinema?
Whale Rider by Niki Caro, 2002.
12. What is your favorite cinema theatre and what do you like about it?
Lumière Cinema in Bruges because of its homey atmosphere and familiarity.
13. Where do you like to watch movies and on which platform (DVD, online, cinema, mobile phone, etc.)?
In the cinema theatre preferably.
14. Who is your movie hero?
Poppy Cross, the main character in Happy-Go-Lucky by Mike Leigh.
15. If you were a movie director which one would you like to be?
The one that is able to make people question their own perspective and empathize with different ones from their own.
16. Briefly describe your favorite scene
In The Pianist by Roman Polanski, Szpilman has been lucky so many times already. Suddenly and unexpectedly a German officer catches him in an abandoned house. The first time I saw this scene I was hardly able to breathe. Will the officer rat him out? During the entire piano sonata Szpilman has to play, the viewer is torn between enjoying the overwhelming beauty of the music and the anticipation of what is going to happen next. Cinema at its best.
17. What are the 5 best European films you have seen in the last year?
Land of Mine (Martin Zandvliet, 2015) DK
The Red Turtle (Michael Dudok de Wit, 2016) FR
Son of Saul (László Nemes, 2015) HU
Youth (Paolo Sorrentino, 2015) IT
Being 17 (André Téchiné, 2016) FR
18. Which is the film character that you most identify with?
I know that Mad Men by Matthew Weiner is television and not cinema, but I’ll go with Peggy Olson anyway.
19. What is your favorite soundtrack or song?
The soundtrack of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind by Michel Gondry.
20. If you had to live in a movie, which one would you like it to be?
The Harry Potter franchise… because who didn’t wait for that letter from Hogwarts hoping they got in?
21. Your life becomes a bio-pic. Who plays the role of you?
Sally Hawkins, although she does not look anything like me…
22. Which talent would you most like to have?
That kind of breathtaking singing voice that makes a whole crowd go silent.
23. What is your most treasured possession?
My memory.
24. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
I’ll go with going to Canada for a graduate degree in Public History.
25. What is your motto?
Never stop asking questions.