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Rolf de Heer: Looks to the past for the present
Australian filmmaker Rolf de Heer still fondly remembers the two years he spent during his childhood living in Padang, West Sumatra
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Australian filmmaker Rolf de Heer still fondly remembers the two years he spent during his childhood living in Padang, West Sumatra.
The award-winning director recalled the time as adventurous. As a child, he had an unusual playground ' Sumatra's tropical forest.
'My childhood in Indonesia was fantastic, fantastic,' he says. 'We played in the jungle a lot ' it was safe enough. There were tigers there. I saw orangutans ' there were, three, four, 50 of them ' just right there in front of me,' De Heer says.
In 1959, he moved to a village called Indarung in Padang.
'But because there was a bit of civil war that took place in 1959, we were stuck there.'
One of the most frightening moments that took place during war time was an incident in which he got caught up in a clash at school.
'Camouflaged tanks were set up at my school. One day teachers started screaming, everybody was under their desks, there were shots fired and a bomb went off.
'Suddenly it got very quiet and all of us rushed out to the bush. We never went back to the school again,' he says.
After that incident, his school closed down and De Heer was homeschooled until his family left Indonesia to return to the Netherlands.
Despite having experienced such a frightening incident, De Heer said his childhood in Indonesia was far from traumatic. For him, it felt more like a wonderful adventure that has played an important role in shaping his life.
'We were right in the middle of it [the war], but I never felt particularly threatened,' said the Dutch-born filmmaker who was recently in Bali to give a scriptwriting lesson at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival.
Ten months later, De Heer and his family left the Netherlands and arrived in Australia when he was 8 years old as refugees.
De Heer barely spoke English at the time and was often mistreated by schoolmates due to the language barrier.
Growing up in Sydney, he successfully landed a job at ABC TV when he was 18 and stayed with the company for eight years.
But his filmmaking career did not start until he enrolled at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School.
'I had worked with ABC since I was young, it was a job I didn't like and I thought, 'I have assessed other people's films, I have edited other's people's films, maybe I should think about making some of my own.'
'The only thing I knew, and the only way I knew, to get out of the ABC was to get into film school.'
Since graduating, De Heer has produced 14 feature films, mostly low-budget, but they have earned him awards and international recognition.
In 2006, his film Ten Canoes won the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard category at the Cannes Film Festival, a section of the festival's main competition that recognizes young talents and encourages innovative works.
In May last year, renowned Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil, who had a role in De Heer's Charlie's Country, was named Best Actor in the Cannes' Un Certain Regard category.
The film centers on culture clash involving the continent's two inhabitants ' the indigenous people and Westerners. Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney praised the collaboration between De Heer and Gulpilil in the movie, saying, 'It's a testament to what De Heer and Gulpilil have achieved here ' with simplicity and infinite nuance ' that through all the highs and devastating lows we witness in this brief chapter of Charlie's life, the character's identity remains etched into every aspect of the performance.'
Charlie was not De Heer's first project with Gulpilil that touches on Aboriginal culture. Their first project together was The Tracker (2002) and later Ten Canoes.
De Heer regarded The Tracker as true example of their most exceptional collaboration. The film was specially produced for Gulpilil and was created based on the actor's life story.
Despite being renowned for his brilliant acting and exceptional dance skills, Gulpilil has a dark past, having battled alcohol addiction and reportedly faced several charges, including domestic violence.
To the 63-year-old director, Gulpilil is more than just a film-producing partner. Their relationship is strong in a strange way.
When De Heer heard Gulpilil was jailed, he took a 4,000-kilometer trip from his home in Tasmania ' the southernmost point in Australia ' to visit him in a Darwin jail in the Northern Territory.
'I learned that David was in jail and I thought 'what is going to happen to him if he's out of jail?' He will experience the same problems,' De Heer said.
'We talked for hours. By the end of our conversation, I asked to him, 'What are you going to do when you get out?' He said, 'Maybe make a film, I want to make more films with you.''
His long talk with Gulpilil led to the making of Charlie's Country.
At the time, De Heer hoped the film project could help Gulpili move forward.
'So many Aboriginal people get so depressed when in jail. A lot commit suicide. I wanted to give him his self-esteem back, it all made sense,' De Heer said.
De Heer said Charlie's Country was the most difficult film in his 30-year career. The film was filmed in some difficult locations, mostly in Ramingining and Darwin in the Northern Territory where Gulpilil hails from.
Now, months after the film hit screens, De Heer still has some administrative and financial issues to work out for the coming months.
'Then I want to take a break for at least a few months and just do nothing ' to repair things, to work on the land, work around the house, a normal life,' he says.
