Saturday, April 7

Saskia Boddeke: “My purpose in making this film was to leave a document to my daughter.”

Having won the festival’s Honorary Cinema Award in 1997, given master classes many times, and had his many films shown at the festival, Peter Greenaway is a guest of this year’s festival, this time with the documentary Greenaway Alphabet made about him.

Greenaway attended the film’s screening at Beyoğlu Sineması with his wife Saskia Boddeke the director of the film. After the screening of the film which is in the Documentary Time with NTV section, the artist couple answered questions:

“This film isn’t about a filmmaker; it’s about a father-daughter relationship where two people have a connection made by art. My purpose in making this film was to leave a document to my daughter; I wanted her to appreciate what a special person her father is when she grows up and understands the function of art.”

Boddeke also commented on the production process of the film:

“I had to convince Peter that this film was going to be my work and that he had no right to intervene. But because he was afraid I was going to make him look silly, he pressured me too much to show him the film during the shooting. So I had to let him watch a section of one hour and 50 minutes. Neither my daughter nor Peter said a word. Did I care if they liked it or not? No… I’m very happy with the film and it is my hope that other parents could also find something about themselves in this film.”

Photo: Benek Özmez