As Above So Below
Directed by Igor Smitka and Bao Miro
As Above so Below is a “tribute to locking, funk, hip-hop culture performed by Romani dance group Bachtale Kale Phrala.” Directed by Miro Bao & Igor Smitka, the dance film feels like a spiritual journey of self-discovery and acceptance through which we get to learn about the Romani experience within the Eastern / Central European environment.
We spoke to Bao and Smitka to uncover the multiple layers of As Above so Below.
Can you tell us more about why you decided to explore this topic and what your creative approach was?
Miro: The main reason was to tell our story. As I am also a part of BKP and a dancer who focuses on locking, it was my personal ambition to express our point of view and appreciation of the culture that raised us as dancers but in the context of the culture we're coming from.
Also, after all those years of studying the Afro-American culture (that the funk and locking is coming from) one can find many synchronicities that happen in between the cultures, and we wanted to show how similar they can be. Our ambition was to do it as personal as possible. That's how the spiritual journey got into the film. We tried to see my visions with Igor's eyes and hear them by David's ears and then come back to it where everything came together.
Igor: Miro approached me to collaborate on a film which would further explore the legacy of their dance group & also tell the Romani experience in the eastern / central Europe environment. I was also interested in making the film symbolic & metaphorical - translating some of my spiritual experiences which are somehow universal. And even though universal - the film is very intimate & personal at the same time. Each of the chapters represents an important chapter in the BKP story, but also a different stage of one’s spiritual journey - and even though from my point of view this journey is endless and very individual, there is some sort of dynamic in which we can see the pivotal points happening.
We had many magical synchronicities with Miro whilst writing the film. I would be thinking how to portray an ego death experience and questioning whether I even wanted to include that in the film. Suddenly he would show me a new part of the soundtrack which very much related to the experience, fitted precisely in between two chapters where I wanted to leave it out. The process was really special and even though it’s always difficult and very energy draining to self produce films from a production point of view (we want to thank our loveliest producer Monika Kraft), it was effortless in a way that we collaborated with Miro - our vision & taste was intertwined from the start.
There’s a definite dreamlike softness and in how As Above so Below is shot and the overall color palette. How did you achieve that?
Igor: I think both of us are very sensitive to everything visual and we are very careful about every aesthetic choice regarding the film. We immediately knew that we wanted to shoot on film and the softness of 16mm worked perfectly. But I’m still learning a lot so there is definitely a huge amount of work done by our colorist Lucia Kovalova - who is by far the most talented colorist I ever worked with.
Can you tell us more about the different music styles incorporated in the film and what they represent? How are they structured in the film?
Miro: The music styles are all based on jazz and funk base but elevated into a more present time and place. From the top to the end, the songs are growing from raw, Roma-inspired acoustic rhythms to more eternal, contemporary melodies representing the clarity one can find in growth.
H0wdy (soundtrack producer): Each track was constructed to each chapter of the movie to represent the depth of the storyline. Genre-wise it’s very hard to categorize the music in the movie. It’s a melting pot of genres from jazz through funk to hip hop but all with a twist of Romani flavor both sonically and rhythmically, which also represents the freedom Romani people found many years ago in their artistic output while being oppressed by the majority.
“Each of the chapters represents an important chapter in the BKP story, but also different stage of one’s spiritual journey”
Tell us more about the choreography. Did Bachtale Kale Phrala have complete freedom or was it more of a collaborative process in line with your directorial style?
Miro: First we’ve discussed the topics that we want to tap in. Then we started to develop the soundtrack with those ideas in mind - so that it works as a narrative for our story. As the soundtrack evolved it became the base for the choreography - but both of them reacted to each other and it worked as a dialogue. In the studio, I talked to BKPs about the topics that each chapter represents, and together with Wahe and Lucas we created choreographies with those ideas on mind.
The film is a statement on how Romani culture and culture should be cherished and respected. This is particularly noticeable in the styling. Who did you work with and what was your brief? What specific cultural elements did you want to highlight?
Miro: The styling is essentially coming from the style of BKP members, which is mostly inspired by our favorite funk artists, dancers, workwear and a little bit of European high fashion influences. We asked our friend, talented designer Dominika Kozáková who has a very unique signature to add her dreamy-romantic-surreal aesthetic, so that the message of Bachtale Kale Phrala would be presented in a more abstract way. It looked like a big challenge to merge our two worlds in the beginning, but we feel that Dominika found the right edge of the traveller-magician vibe of Romani people and brought it to life.
What are you working on next?
Igor: I was working on another short film which is planned to be released in the late autumn and I’m really looking forward to it. But we are also planning to explore different mediums & formats with Miro, as we feel that this was just a start of our collaboration :)
Directed by Miro Bao & Igor Smitka
Bachtale Kale Phrala : Wahe Akopjan, Lukáš Sivák aka Luke Brown, Miro Bao aka Spxnkey BKP
Soundtrack by H0wdy
Co-producer Richard Csino
Aron Hodek - bass in “Formula”
Eugen Vizváry - Keyboards in “Essence”
Slam Poetry - Miro Bao
Cinematography - Igor Smitka
Costumes - Dominika Kozáková
Producer - Monika Kraft
Line Producer - Wanda Kaprálová
1st Ad - Janek Palovský
Set Design - Milan Plesinger
Set Photographer - Kubo Krížo
Colorist - Lucia Kovalová
Graphic Design - Andrej & Andrej studio
Sound Design - Wave Label Studio, Ivo Ďurkech
VFX - Blue Faces studio
Steadicam - Filip Rybář
1st Ac - Filip Kettner x Ludvík Otevřel
2nd Ac - Karol Pružinský x Filip Smil
Boom operator - Peter Mercel
Grip - Michal Rališ
Gaffer - Vít Morawski, Pavel Filip
Runner - Miroslav Kajzr