final day

Before rushing off to shoot the final shot of the film in Bratislava we snuck in our cast and crew photo. It took us quite a few takes, but we finally nailed it. Perfection.

final days

It's Sunday here, 7pm. The final night. Wow. Here's a quick recap of some events of the past few days.

This weekend, Modra was beseiged by 20 years olds. Their reason for coming: MINIKVAS (mini festival), a music festival. It took place around the football field, directly behind Eleneka's house.

Following the sign to the stadium:


The festival is setting up. A red bull tent is always a bad sign of things to come:



So here we are, a day after the above setup photo. And what?! People are in a swimming pool dancing to a DJ. This would be way too dangerous for Canada. Alcohol is fully allowed on the pool deck. Aleco and Hallie both went in for some pool dancing. Wish I had photos of that, sorry


There were a good 20 bands, most of them Slovak/Czeh. This one laptop/drum machine group called MIDI LIDI kicked butt. Click here to see a great tune/video.



MINIKVAS also featured a tent city, where hundreds and hundreds of dirty teenagers camped/partied/urinated. No photos of that. Moving on...

It was Ingrid's birthday yesterday!


And Marta made her a fabulous cake, of course.

Daily Announcements

A strange remnant of communist times? The entire town is wired with speakers for daily announcements. Lost car keys, weddings, stuff like that.


Hear it here (recording by John):

tornado warning

whoah, tornadoes in southern ontario. i didn't know they had them here.

i 've gotten used to and enjoy the summer storms here in toronto. but today was different. rain, wind, thunder and lighting all appeared out of nowhere. there was constant lighting for about 5 minutes. then the sky started to turn yellowy-green which is often the case before a tornado touches down. the air got thick. luckily, the sky didn't turn black, start swirling nor was there the sound of freight train (all signs of immediate tornado action). i knew none of this beforehand and only learned about it while deciding whether to head to the basement and what to bring with me.

thank goodness (for me at least) the storm has moved on to eastern ontario without incident in my neighborhood. phew.

indulged

After an afternoon of editing I walked over to Modra's best cafe for my now daily espresso (see earlier post for photo). While sipping, I read a terrific short story about a man whose marriage is disintegrating. There's also a reflective ceiling way up in the sky that starts off as just a speck, but day after day gets closer and larger. Eventually he's pressed flat on his back, the town he lives in is completely flattened. Excellent. I sat for a while and fantasized about optioning (paying the author for rights to make a movie based on the story) the story. Then I had a gelato: lemon and chocolate. I licked and walked up to Elenka's house to see when the crew was going to break for dinner. I was quickly offered a huge slab of Tiramisu. I ate.

Saturated

In between scenes the half of the crew stopped (at the cafe I was enjoying my espresso) and had themselves some gelato. The colour 'treatment' is just for fun. Ian was not actually wearing lipstick.

Freaky

This evening at dinner, Aleco starting talking about a bracelet that he keeps in his bag. It's cursed he said. Hallie suggest he throw it off a bridge to make sure it doesn't cause any problems.

We then noticed something strange on my head.

More from the concert

The other night at Devin castle we actually saw Jon Anderson (thanks John, sorry Jon). Ian shot these two cool photos.

classy

Here in Slovakia an Espresso costs 1 Euro. It comes all nice, complete with a little biscuit, milk and sugar and a small glass of sparkling mineral water. Mmmm.

Yes!

We went to Devin Castle on the weekend to see the 'tribute to freedom' concert. The headliner was Paul Anderson, former frontman of Yes, famous for songs such as 'owner of a lonely heart'. The setting was better than the music. Devin castle is perched atop a rocky formation directly beside the danube - perfect to blast ships from.




There were a few other acts, the coolest/loudest/worst was a Slovakian metal band

chocolate spaghetti

Pan fried in butter, covered in chocolate, it's chocolate spaghetti for dessert!

Aleco

Here's our co-star Aleco, in between takes two nights ago. In this scene a girl tries to give him a blowjob.

Back to Bratislava

I was planning on going to Budapest today. But after a long week of editing I was lazy and scared of the travel time. Back to Bratislava!

Classic Bratislava


Self Portrait


'Bar OK'



This blue church is a fairly new addition to Bratislava. Built in 1910.



I had a nice time, walking around the city all day with nothing particular to accomplish. I ended up getting a haircut at some strange hole in the wall (4 Euro) and some new sunglasses at a strange mall. I also bought a nectarine and some almonds... and a gelato. And to top it off, I found an amazing vegetarian restaurant. It's a fact: vegetables are really good.

Wow, what a cheesy shot

Marta requested a photo a couple nights ago. Nothing really else to say.

A Retro Party

A little while ago, Martin, Marta's son invited us to a Retro Party that he was helping to organize. He found us some 'retro' shirts for the event. (photos below courtesy of Aleco)


It wasn't exactly as I'd imagined, which was good. There was a lot of folk dancing.

Name Day

Here in Slovakia, people have Name Days, where one day of the year is associated by your given name. I have no idea how it works beyond that. There are so many questions about this. Firstly, there must be more than 365 different names in this country, no?

We sang Marta a terrible song on her name day. Here's a video of that, courtesy of Aleco.

Name Day Song from aren hansen on Vimeo.

Bukasovy Masiv

Yesterday we filmed what might be the last scene of the movie. Lina and Leco, our co-stars have one day left in Modra. They go over to Lina's uncle Imi's place to see his band perform out in the backyard. The family is all there and everyone dances and drinks vino. This is Imi:


Like everyone in this town, Imi has a little vinyard out back. The grapes are very sweet.


This is the youngest/newest member of the family, Imi's 3 year old son Samko:


Here is Elenka, Ingrid's Aunt. She teaches English in a classroom on the top floor of her house. She and the classroom feature in the film.


Here's Janko. He has a ranch in the hills above Modra. I'm told that if you visit the ranch he insists that you constantly drink. He has beer on tap. Ok.


Here's Eva, partner to Branko, Elenka's son. Her hair is always shining like this:


Imi is in a somewhat famous Slovak band called Bukasovy Masiv. They've been playing together since they were in their teens and have put out a dozen or so albums. Ingrid described Imi as Slovakia's Neil Young.

Later that night, we went to see Imi play a free concert in a neighbouring village to 500 adoring fans who knew the lyrics well enough to sing along. It was a bit of a scene.

Vienna and the Sachertorte

Yesterday four of us travelled to magnificent Vienna, a city obscene in its splendor. Palace after palace revealed themselves around every corner. Monolithic gothic cathedrals and golden churches popped up at the end of every medieval cobblestone road. It was a little bit ridiculous, yet breathtaking. We just wandered around, following a Lonely Planet walking tour. Vienna, Austria, a home to Mozart among others, is just an hour train ride from Bratislava.

The last thing to do before setting back would be to sample the world's most famous cake, the Sachertorte. I knew Bonnie would be very happy if I did so.




The famous cake was delicious. It was an adult cake to be sure, not overly sweet. Yum.

folk party

In the movie the main characters go to visit an aunt and are are surprised by a dozen costumed singers waiting for them in the backyard. They sing old songs and feast. Their outfits are very old they told me. Marta's headpiece was worn by her great great great grandmother at her wedding.

Here's Martin, Marta's son. He enjoys a little wine now and then.


Hallie stirs an enormous pot of goulash.