Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 

Original American director Alan Rudolph, who rejects mainstream filmmaking and doesn't mind that his movies don't attract mass audiences, presented his work at yesterday's Master Class, where he fielded dozens of questions from the public.

"For me to be part of the mainstream, the river would have to be pretty wide. I'd like to shoot popular films, I even tried it, but I could never figure out what was popular. I don't understand the public at large. Individuals understand my films. When the lights go on in the theater, 90% of the people can't wait to get out of there. But the film moved the rest and that's why it's worth it," said the director.

In addition to Hollywood, Rudolph also rejected film school. He is self-taught, primarily through his work assisting director Robert Altman. "About 15 years ago I was invited to speak at New York University, probably the most famous film school in the world, where for example Scorsese studied. There were 60 or 70 people there. I asked them how many wanted to make movies so they could have a drink with Spielberg and become famous. All of them raised their hands. Then I asked if anyone there couldn't sleep at night, and if film was like oxygen for them. One raised his hand, the oddest one. I advised him to leave because he would learn nothing there. If you're interested in your own DNA and your own insanity, you have to investigate it yourself."

Despite this independent approach to the industry, Rudolph has shot three studio films during his discrete career. "I'd like to have the time back, but then again it helped me pay for my house. Money is always Faustian," says the filmmaker, who makes a difference between filmmaking and moviemaking. "A Hollywood movie can't tell the truth because then it would be ambivalent and uncommercial, and no one would come watch it. Filmmaking these days is a lot about technology. Hollywood spends millions on destroying things and blowing things sky-high. They don't know much about behavior or about people, but they’re great at destroying things on screen."

Rudolph came to Karlovy Vary to present a retrospective of five of his features, some of which he hasn’t seen in a long time. "I haven't seen Remember My Name for 30 years. The film was virtually unshown, and I was a little nervous that after seeing it again I’d understand why it wasn't successful. But I found out that it's still pretty good. I don't know why it wasn't a success and I'm not even interested."

At his Master Class held at Hotel Thermal, he paid tribute to those actors he considers the biggest artists in film. "For me actors are key; they amaze me. When they have freedom and the little inspiration, they can do things which astonish even themselves," claims the director, who enjoys working with actors. "I know how to write a script that actors will like. Those are usually the scripts which producers hate."

Rudolph's films are usually very inexpensive. Thanks to his experience assistant directing, he watches the budget and doesn't shoot things he can’t pay for. "That's why, for example, in Remember My Name no one walks down the street because we couldn't afford extras. And then people said, what an interesting style!"Works by the director, who considers film the most perfect human invention, may be seen for the last time today at 1 PM: The Secret Lives of Dentists at the Congress Hall Cinema, and Love at Large at Panasonic Cinema

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