Cinema for me is…

Sweden – Elijah Debot from Europa Cinemas on Vimeo.

Elijah in 23 Frames

1. Describe yourself in ten words.
Ambitious, communicative, stubborn, empathetic, queer, extroverted, androgynous, pragmatic, versatile, quick-witted, creative.

2. Your best quality? Your worst habit?
I’m a workaholic, I think that answers both questions.

3. Your dream job?
Director.

4. What do you like most about your country?
That I, and other LGBTQ+ people, can feel safer than we can in most other countries.

5. Your favorite dish in your country?
Senapssill (mustard herring).

6. Which word or phrase in your native language do you like the most and what does it mean?
The only word we really have that other languages don’t is lagom which means not too much and not too little, just the right amount.

7. What European capital have you visited lately?
Paris.

8. Other than your own, which European country would you love to live in?
Belgium.

9. What does Europe mean to you? 3 values.
Openness, community and individuality.

10. What film made you fall in love with cinema?
My dad raised me on cinema so I can’t really say which movie it was. I have always loved cinema.

11. Your favorite film theatre? What do you like about it?
My favorite film theatre is a small theatre in a small town in Bordeaux, France. I love that it has a few missing armrests and that the only candy it sells are my favorite lollipops.

12. Who is your movie hero?
Probably my dad. He introduced me to both cinema and the industry behind it.

13. Which movie director would you like to be?
Mai Zetterling or Robert Rodriguez.

14. Briefly describe your favorite scene.
Renton jumps of a wall and lands back at the crack house where he proceeds directly to the injection of hard drugs. As he shoots up he overdoses and start sinking through the floor. He sees everything through a frame of red carpet and gets transported to the hospital while Perfect Day by Lou Reed is playing. Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 1996, GB).

15. What are the 3 best European films you have seen in the last year?
U 22 july (Eric Poppe, 2018, NO)
Climax (Gaspar Noe, 2018, FR)
Love me not (Alexandros Avranas, 2017, GR).

16. Which film character do you most identify with?
P. T. Barnum from The Greatest Showman (Michael Gracey, 2017, US).

17. Your favorite soundtrack or song?
Trouble Everyday by Tindersticks.

18. If you had to live in a movie, which one would you like it to be?
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (Angela Robinson, 2017, US) because I would also like to have a happy polyamorous family.

19. Your life becomes a bio-pic. Who plays the role of you?
Not a cis person.

20. Which talent would you most like to have?
I’d like to speak a lot of languages.

21. What is your most treasured possession?
My diaries.

22. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Writing and directing my first feature film.

23. What is your motto?
Both is good.

Elijah Debot is the Ambassador of Zita and Biografcentralen. Find out more about the Cinemas.