Delivery of Destruction: A Severed Cinema Interview with Juval Marlon!
Juval Marlon is a filmmaker that has flown under many people’s radars. He certainly flew under mine. Before contacting him, I had the pleasure of blind buying his newest film Einöde der Peiniger (Solitude of the Tormentors). I was blown away by it. With his influences on his sleeve and both of his feature films ranging from demented fun to full-blown arthouse. His films were extremely entertaining, interesting, and right up my alley. I just knew that I had to talk to him. I was ecstatic when he agreed.
Thank you for coming on and talking with me. How have you been during these crazy times?
I experienced a lot of good and also bad things. To answer the question from a filmmaker’s perspective. I would say that most projects could be finished and that’s what counts.
Absolutely, it has definitely been a very turbulent time for everyone. Looking at your filmography, you’ve had a steady output for the past couple of years. Quite a few of them were made during covid. What got you into making films?
I value film as the highest form of art. Years ago I started to make short films with a group of filmmakers. During this period of time, not one of us was ever thinking about releasing anything. Therefore, there were no boundaries when it came to the content. These movies will never be shown anywhere. Some don’t even exist anymore because they got destroyed or have been lost. After a few years, I decided to go on by myself and shoot different short films here and there. In 2015 I decided to release some of my stuff and it went from there.
Going through your filmography I could definitely see the progression in your artistic intent. This culminated in your newest film where there were quite a few scenes in the forested area, I felt they had a deeper meaning I have been ruminating on. Could you explain a little bit about your earlier lost work and what some of it contained?
The movies or clips as you could call them, had no cinematic approach at all. The intention behind those so-called films was the making of them itself. Not the finished product. It could be described as living out things by the participants.
I could see why some of those would stay unreleased. I think that is a great thing about any form of art though. There’s a catharsis in playing out some of these acts in a fictional setting. Sometimes even just watching them occur as a viewer. That’s one thing I noticed about your newest film Einöde der Peiniger (review here). I don’t want to get into too much detail, so I don’t spoil anything. This is the first of your films to explore fetishism. Is that something you’d like to continue exploring in the future or just in this film?
Depending on which kind of fetishism we’re talking about viewers that have followed my work will recognize, that it is not the first time I am playing with such topics. In Einöde der Peiniger those aspects are not in the foreground. Feelings are more important in this movie. The scenes you are most likely referring to are necessary to underline the disturbed character image of the main characters — mostly Karla — and how they deal with intimacy and sexuality.
I totally get where you’re coming from. In this film, the feelings of the main characters were definitely in the center focus. It kind of felt like the characters had two different perspectives but were together in their depravity. The scenes with Karla are mostly what I am referring to. They did seem necessary and to an extent very artistic. One thing I am very interested in hearing about is. Both of your feature films include finding the character’s victims at care homes. Is there anything to that concept, and why you’ve decided to add that to your films?
The motivation to include those elements in both movies has been very different. Sturmgewehr (review here) is a movie with primitive nature and no deeper meaning behind it. This can also be said about the production. There was no artistic approach and the movie had been shot in a few days. The characters had to be dependent and vulnerable in order to create a sadistic setting. Einöde der Peiniger contains victims from care homes and this is not only because it is part of the story: In the movie, you can find some symbols for the circle of life. In order to create, things have to be destroyed to create new room. In certain mythologies, it is said that living in this universe means uncertainty and unsuspectingness. This is because everything might be an illusion. The destruction of this illusion is important because it means purification and regeneration to some extent. The character Titus does reflect parts of those thoughts because he does not know what is going on. He’s living his life in parts of illusion due to his mental instability. He has a certain feeling that something is wrong while being mistreated, but after it he cannot classify the experiences.
I could definitely see that in the case of Sturmgewehr. Brutality for brutalities sake. I think that it makes the tone of the film fit very well. Your characters even though they’re doing these acts for money, that’s all it really is to the buyers of their snuff tapes. I really enjoyed this one actually. Doing a pseudo-snuff film with younger actors doesn’t usually work. That said, I think you pulled it off very well. The circle of life aspect in Einöde der Peiniger is something I picked up on. Especially with the Dora-esc shot of the bugs. As well, in the scenes we were talking about earlier with Karla in the forest. You’ve definitely packed a lot into your newest film. It makes me want to watch it a third time actually. The character of Titus and his mistreatment was absolutely the hardest part of the film to watch. He did amazing and so did everyone else in the film. How did you meet the cast and get them signed onto the project? Was there any hesitation on their part due to some of the content?
In 2020 I already tried to make this movie but there were too many problems. I had shot some scenes for it with Isa Bellé Fitzgerald, and then I canceled the project. During this time when I started my first attempt to make this movie one of the producers of Pesthauch der Menschlichkeit (review here) knew that I was looking for an actor and he suggested Jörg Wischnauski to me. I agreed to talk to him, and he found the script to be interesting, but he refused to do it because he didn’t want anyone in his family to see him in a role like this. Months later, at the beginning of 2021 Jörg Wischnauski contacted me again about the script and he told me that it has lasted on his desktop for months. He went through it again and again and he changed his mind.
In 2020 I had already worked with Isa Bellé Fitzgerald on some very small short films. When I told her about the script, she didn’t need time to think about it. Vlad Petrov who played Titus was hired by Isa Bellé Fitzgerald. Until the first day of shooting, I hadn’t seen him before. Two days before the shooting she told me that he had a nervous breakdown. He thought he couldn’t please me while acting because he never played a role before. This was the first time I ever spoke to him, and I convinced him on the phone that he would be able to do it. During this time in summer, Germany suffered from heavy flooding in many parts of the country. Because of that, they arrived much later than expected and we had even less time than expected. So, we had to shoot the first rape scene on the first day to save time. Vlad Petrov told me that he didn’t read the script carefully and was not aware of this scene. He didn’t want to do it, but I told him that there is no turning back at this point. With the other actors, there were no problems to my knowledge. Isa Bellé Fitzgerald was a bit hesitant to kiss the skull. But after we talked about the fact that it’s actually just connected atoms, she was able to reduce her fear.
It sounds like it was meant to be. Jörg Wischnauski did amazing in the role. I don’t think anyone could’ve done it better. While some of the content is extreme in his case, it fits the character for an honest portrayal of a sick demented man. I felt like there was some hatred built in him very early. Possibly from his religious upbringing. That’s just what I picked up from a few scenes though. Isa Bellé Fitzgerald was amazing as well. It seemed like she came on and was down for anything. I felt her anger in the film. This was especially apparent with one of her extremely rude and annoying victims. With Vlad Petrov’s case, I think the nervousness about the whole thing really helped bring the character to life. You brought up one of the producers on Marian Dora’s newer films. Are you friends with Dora? While Einöde der Peiniger is a very original film, I did pick up on some Dora elements to it. Is it accurate to say that Marian Dora greatly influences your work?
A friend of his told me that he sent him one of my movies. I am not sure which one it was. I believe it was Sturmgewehr. I received a hand-written message via detours from him in which he told me to “continue on my path of madness and truth.” Marian Dora and a few other directors were an influence for this movie. Mostly in technical aspects. The biggest influence for this movie was feelings. Feelings of the deepest loneliness.
That’s really cool that you could get that support from someone so big in the scene. This film really does have an isolating feeling flowing throughout with our main characters. I see it shown pretty openly with Titus’s character. Even though he’s not psychically alone, he’s alone in his misery. The person that’s supposed to care for him is tormenting him for his own sick desires. In that, it’s isolating but in a blind way. Makes a lot of sense for the film. The feelings behind it are very well represented. You had a pretty big name in the underground attached to your first feature-length film. How did you meet and eventually cast Thomas Goersch for the role of Brand in Sturmgewehr?
Thomas Goersch and I started to talk online when I already finished 50% of the movie. His role was not in the script. There were no plans at first to show the snuff-ring leader. I just wanted to integrate a voice on the other end of the phone. He asked me why he hadn’t acted in one of my films yet. Because I liked his role in Reise Nach Agatis (review here). I told him that we can arrange a role for him. That’s when his character Brand was created.
He was amazing in Voyage to Agatis. That has to be my all-time favorite Dora film. It’s great he wanted to be a part of it. I think making the character a bigger part of the story helped quite a bit with the pacing as well. Also, without him, I don’t think the ending would have packed the punch that it does. Sturmgewehr had some pretty great special effects throughout. Do you do your own effects for your films, or do you work with someone?
I try to avoid too many special effects except when they’re necessary and they have to be done for the story. Most of the effects were from my concepts. For some I had other people assisting. For example, in the molding process of prosthetics.
They’re definitely a lot of work, time, and a decent size chunk of the budget. So, I don’t blame you for trying to not be so effects heavy. So, Einöde der Peiniger just got released through Europe’s best underground label Black Lava Entertainment. It’s already sold out! How’d you get in touch with them to release it and were they your first choice?
I wanted the movie to be released somewhere in Europe. I heard about the great service and reputation of Black Lava Entertainment. Me and Thomas Binder started talking about a possible release. Then we agreed on a collaboration. He is a hard-working man and does a great job.
I totally agree, Black Lava does an amazing job with every one of their releases. I am glad I picked up my copy when I did because they sold pretty fast! So, I just have one last question for you. What can we expect next from you? Is there anything you have in the works that you could give us a little info on?
I have a small script for a new movie and the time will tell when it’s best to start working on it. At the moment I have not had a lot of time. This can change and I am sure Einöde der Peiniger will not be my last movie.
That’s great to hear. I am super excited to see what your next project brings to the table. I really enjoyed your films so far, so I am sure you won’t disappoint. I really appreciate you letting me pick your brain!
Thanks, Brock, for your interest in my work!
I strongly recommend hunting down your own copy of Einöde der Peiniger. There’s a ton of extra goodies on the release such as a slew of Juval’s short films and his first feature Sturmgewehr. Also, you can’t forget about the amazing cover art done by the underground’s favorite artist Martin Trafford.
