At the beginning of the film, two important elements are mentioned: the Mongolian dance which gave inspiration to the choreography and the respect towards women. Is this Mongolian dance something related strongly to women or did you combine the two elements together?
 
In its original authentic form this dance is (was) performed by man (shaman). It was kind of the ritual dance in which shaman in spiritual way imitated movements taken from eagle, which represent-symbolize focus, strength, health, freedom and overview. Eagle has lots of special meanings in mongolian culture and in general as well. I guess the main goal of original authentic version of eagle dance is to direct spiritual energies into the physical world, for healing or some other purposes. As I mentioned before eagle dance in its original form was danced as an solo by man-shaman, who’s upper-body was half naked, all the movements he preformed were mainly created with his arms and upper body, viewers could see all the strength and power of concentration and literally every muscle while moving. I was deeply touched and inspired by this dance form and its meaning's when I saw it for the first time and I was sure, that once I will use it in my own way. This moment happened in period when my mother died. I did transform all of my feelings and pain to this new form in which I was looking for everything what my mother meant to me. I did realize how strong, beautiful and important women really are, what all they have to sacrifice while bringing new life to this world, to protect it an so on… So I just changed half naked shaman with all of his muscles and focus to women version, who are often much stronger that any other man…. As you did say I kind of combine two elements mentioned into the whole new form which is just inspired by its original form with gently different meaning, mainly - motherhood.
 
 
It's amazing how people can transform into eagles through dance. What is the point of this metamorphosing choreography?
 
I think this question is already partly answered in my first answer. This new version of eagle dance was originally created for stage but later on, because of its success we did decide to give it "eternal life” in movie version which you know as well. This movie version needed some upgrade from its stage version so together with director Andrea Sudorova we developed a little bit changed concept. We created kind of story in which small eagle is born. On his journey small eagle sees older eagles as they are preparing for a flight. This small eagle is trying to imitate their movements and start to dreaming about flying by its own. at the end when eagle is already full of strength joins them in full power and beauty flying much higher than any other eagle around. Idea is still deeply connected to everything I mentioned in my first answer.
 
 
There seem to be two worlds in the film. One is the plains and the other is a large indoor space with a void like a swimming pool. What do these two worlds represent?
 
Actually there are three worlds in the film. First world is shot on black horizont with first appearance's of detailed dancer body represents pregnancy or kind of prenatal eagle stadium before being born. Second world (old swimming pool) where the eagle is born has many different meanings but main idea is to represent kind of “ nest" or "safe house" from where small eagle can observe whole new world around from. Third world - beautiful open scenery of yellow sand, blue sky and magnificent clouds represents freedom and life with all its majestic beauty. This two worlds we also used due color inversion - blue swimming pool and yellow walls  above it turns into blue skies and yellow sands below it. In the last sequence of the movie with all three eagles together we are again in the swimming pool area but this time colors are gone. Image is almost monochromatic to create almost monumental, cathedral like effect with three kind of goddesses  in its full power and beauty.
 
 
The song used in the film sounds quite mysterious. What language is it in and what does it say?
 
Actually I don’t know what language is that precisely. But I know it’s translation. Song name is: “Song of Sophia” and it is created and performed by Dead Can Dance…. I think, it fits perfectly.
 
"With one wish
 We wake the will within wisdom
 With one will
 We wish the wisdom within waking
 Woken, wishing, willing”
 

Andrea Sudorová
 
Although I was born into a family of lawyers, even as a child I was more inclined towards arts (performing as well as fine arts). During my upbringing, I did not receive much support from my family in this area. As a result, my academic path lead me to the Faculty of Arts at the Comenius University in Bratislava, where I studied the French language and literature and History. Nevertheless, my interest in art prevailed and after receiving my Bachelor degree from the Faculty of Arts, I decided not to continue at the Comenius University and applied to the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, where, in 2015, I received a Master´s degree in Cinematography and Photography from the Faculty of Film and Television.  
Today, my job description does not only include cinematography. Because the craft of a cinematographer comes, in large part, from the lighting, I participated in many professional commercial projects, as part of the lighting team, since the beginning of my studies. I gained a lot of experience while setting up lighting for large advertising campaigns which I applied to my own projects and was able to move the limits of student films to a professional level. 
As part of my personal filmmaking, I am also involved in directing and scriptwriting, as well as artistic photography which is dominated by several long-term projects. My biggest success, so far, is my bachelor degree project, a film entitled Adelaars.
 
www.andreasudorova.com

Please tell us about you, and what kind of films you have made in the past.
 
I am Sugano, a screen film artist. In the past I have created documentary, fiction, photo animation, short films and more.
 
 
I believe this film was produced in Cambodia, but I noticed that the director is Japanese. How did he become a part of the team?
 
Me and my family have been living in Cambodia from 2011 to 2015. I myself have studied in America from 1990 and lived there since then. There was a friend of mine in Cambodia that runs a traditional dance company, so we were talking of collaborations. And so we became to create this film.
 
 
About the choreograph. The dance seems to be quite traditional but it was credited ”Season of Migration”. Is it a newly choreographed piece?
 
The dance is extracted from a series of choreographic pieces, where the creative director of a traditional dance company, Sophiline Cheam Shapiro a female Cambodian created from the harsh memories of her migration in America. The title “Seasons of Migration” comes from here.
 
 
There are people dressed in modern clothing and do not seem to recognize the dancing goddess. Who are they?
 
The story is based on a Cambodian legend called Neang Neak, where a serpent goddess appears to experience sorrowful moments but lead to a discovery.
Neak was curious enough to come down to the human world, but finds out that her body is different from others, so she feels left out and miserable. She finally thinks of cutting off the serpent half of her body. At that moment, she remembers the beauty and the strength of herself. Neak starts to love herself, all different from the humans. She stops to care about the gazes and words she receives from others, and regain her pride as a goddess.
 
 
Colours in the screen keep on changing throughout the film. What does the colours represent?
 
There are 2 worlds in this film. Upper world and our world. The vivid colouring represents the ideal world of the gods. Other colours, more dull and dim represents sadness and doubt.
 
 
You told us in our last interview that the loneliness in a foreign land underlies in your work. I also understand as the title suggests, that the main character is a snake goddess. How is the snake as an animal, and the snake goddess perceived by the Cambodian people?
 
Cambodia and many other Southeast Asian countries have a very important relationship with the snake-humans based on the myth of the "Naga". Legend tells that the Cambodian people are descendants of their first king and the Naga princess who blessed him. In other words, Cambodians are kins of the sacred snake blood. Many classical stories, shadow plays and dances have Nagas in them, both troubling and protecting the people. The Nagas seems to have a particularly strong relationship with the water. If you have been to Cambodia, you will probably know that most of the bridges close to temples and palaces are decorated with seven-headed Nagas. It’s was the wonderful insight of Master Sophiline, the choreographer, in contrasting the loneliness of the Naga princess when she descends to this world with the snake's tail, and the social isolation of modern people.
 
 
WEBサイト
http://studio-revolt.com/

Please tell us about the dancer. What kind of background does she have? 
 
Maroussia Vossen was born in Paris. She started dancing at the age of 5 and did 9 years of classical training under the direction of Lucien LEGRAND (Paris Opera) . At the age of 15, she turns to contemporary dance and takes classes with Linda DIAMOND. She has a long collaboration with the Japanese dancer Hideyuki YANO. Soloist, she has collaborated with many artists, choreographers, visual artists, musicians, poets, fashion designers, photographers (Yano, Henri Texier, Siegfried Kessler, Tony Soulié, Brigitte Fontaine, Roger Tessier, Jacques Laccarière, Edouard Boubat, Henri Michaux, Gaston F Bergeret, Sylvain Kassap...). From New York to Hamburg, via Paris and Amsterdam, her dance is at the crossroads of arts and influences. Improvisation remains her favorite mode of expression, indoors or outdoors, in the street, in gardens, museum galleries and of course on stage, she dialogues with the space, in a style both hieratic and graceful. The "pedestrian dancer" writes words and emotions with her body, her swaying step and her always free spirit. She leads a choreographic workshop and regularly offers workshops in Paris.

https://maroussiavossen.wordpress.com
 
 
When you see a dancer dancing a cat-inspired choreography and an actual cat at the same time, you can see of course, that the cat and the dance is totally different. What do you have to do to translate the motifs into choreography? 
 
The film was built on the rigor of the choreography but also on the difficulty of directing an animal, in order to put into shape this improbable dream: to dance with a cat and not like a cat. It was above all for Maroussia to find a form that would allow her to dialogue with the cat. It is therefore essentially a work of improvisation fueled by a game of mutual seduction. 
 
  
At the start of the film, the dancer is dancing alone in a snowing street, she is placed into a white blank space. Where has she wandered into?
 
The film is a tribute to Chris Marker, who lived for a long time in the same house as Simone Signoret at Place Dauphine in Paris. These first images shot there on a winter's day are a wink and reinforce the magical side we were looking for. 

Please tell us about you, and what kind of films you have made in the past.
 
Xabier Iriondo: I have always shooted low budget films, usually documentaries or non narrative and non fiction little films, like Field, with Min Tanaka (the most special project I`ve ever done).
Homing is my first fiction film, the most comercial project. It`s the first time I have worked with a producer, Iñaki Sagastume from Filmotive, and it would have been impossible to make it with out his great work.
All my projects are very different. There is not a formal connection from one to another. Maybe my interest in the relationship between nature and city.
 
 
I was impressed by the costumes. The moves weren't that of every day life, but I thought some costumes the performers wore gave a casual impression. How do you plan the costumes?
 
Xabier Iriondo: I talked with Marina Mascarell, the choreographer, and, since we didn´t have a costume designer, we made a practical decision. We needed confortable clothings for dancing and also colors that you could find in the woods and landscape of Navarra. However, for the main character, I wanted a blue dress. She does't belong to those woods. She also wears different shoes.
 
 
I could feel the smell of the air or the breaths of the performers inside the film strongly. Is there anything you do to have those effects?
 
Xabier Iriondo: We wanted natural light and sound. We didn`t use any sound or visual effects. The locations were very important and we got lucky. We needed fog for the beginning and we found it, we wanted fine drizzle for the solo and we also found it… work and luck. Iñaki knows the area better than anybody.
The idea for the sound was to register it always from the camera´s point of view. It was important to listen to the dancers as they were getting closer to the camera. The great silence of the locations helped Fernando Aguirre to get a natural sound. Iñigo Ugarteburu`s soundtrack and Iosu Gonzalez`s final mixes respected this direct natural sound.
 
 
There are some scenes that the dancers touch each other and move like they are playful animals. Are those moves a total improvisation? How much takes did you do in those scenes?
 
Xabier Iriondo: There was not improvisation. Except for the sequence were they run through the woods, where we tried to get his strength and speed, we did`t improvise. Marina worked a lot with the dancers at the studio before the shooting. We made one or two takes for each dancing scene, maybe three.
We made more takes for the non dancing scenes, the transitions between choreographys. Carolina and the camera needed to understand each other. Little by little we made it and I think she looks natural and pretty.
 
 
The title 'Homing', stirs our imagination. Does the word mean home as in the word home-town? What kind of place was the land you grew up in?
 
Xabier Iriondo: My girlfriend Andrea came up with the title. I told her that I wanted to shoot a girl moving from the woods to the city. She told me about a word describing the instinct that some animals have to come back to their birthplace, the homing instinct. I grew up in Zarautz, a town surrounded by the ocean and mountains but I live in Madrid, a big noisy city full of pollution. I don`t know yet where I belong.
 
 
It has been 6 years since this film was created in 2014. Has your perspective on this work changed in any way?
 
I watched Homing last year in Paris and it brought me great memories of the experience I lived surrounded by friends. I couldn´t pay attention to the technical details or think about any other possible approach to the film. I always try to focus on the next project.

Xabier Iriondo
 
2014年には振付家マリーナ・マスカレルMarina Mascarellと音楽家のイアニゴ・ウガルテブルÍñigo UgarteburuとのコラボレーションによるフィルモーティブFilmotive製作の『Homing』を発表した。
 
After receiving a degree in Advertising and Public Relations from the University of Navarra, Xabier Iriondo (Basque Country, Spain 1978) did film studies in Madrid, where he got a Diploma in Cinematography. 
 
He has spent time in various countries such as Chile and the Dominican Republic, where he has worked as a director and cinematographer on many documentary and fiction projects. He has also worked on various sound projects such as Café Teatro and Carcáscara, which have been in festivals such as Sónar or Ertz. Thanks to these previous experiences he directed a film called “Sonar Ciudades”, based on Llorenç Barber’s work, where sound has particular relevance.
 
In 2008 he went to live in Tokyo, Japan, where he started to develop the kind of work, which he continues to be immersed in today. He focuses on the reflexion of the temporary image and the dense and corporeal of film format. In his different pieces of work, Iriondo uses long and still shots where time models and creates the images. Many of these reflections are to do with urban experiences in Tokyo and general everyday life. He also works with the city, and its time and space coordinates (“Memento Mori”, “Wellcome To Tokyo, Please Don’t Touch Me”) as well as having an interest in dance and performance. You can see this in Field, his Project with Min Tanaka, where he uses interesting readings about the complex relations between time, nature and movement.
 
In 2014 he directed “Homing”, produced by Filmotive, in collaboration with the choreographer Marina Mascarell and the musician Íñigo Ugarteburu.