On Saturday, 11 November, following the screening of an innovative in eccentric Quality Time, moderator Jedrt Jež Furlan was joined by director and writer Daan Bakker for a Q&A session at the Kinodvor Cinema. Bakker explained that he had made the film to deal with his feelings of depression and anxiety – and wanted to address the difficult subject with humour. The scene featuring a man turning into a large white dot that throbs as it speaks was – according to the imaginative director, a tribute to David Lynch; he had been influenced by many filmmakers and Quality Time is interspersed with tiny references to these influences, but Lynch and Woody Allen were his major inspirations. Thus the film, made in 23 days after a lengthy preproduction process, largely pays tribute to them. Bakker wanted to become a director when he was 16, but wasn’t sure how to go about it. He eventually made an unconventional film that featured nothing but masks, and this picture ultimately helped to secure his place at a film academy. Bakker went on to explain that for his debut feature he had written a biography of sorts for every character, so that the cast and crew could identify with his characters.

On 13 November, in a talk with Damijan Vinter following the screening at Cankarjev dom’s Kosovel Hall, Bakker also revealed that the film observed, from five different angles, the coming-of-age or identity crisis of five confused males, and that one of the things that the characters had in common was different stages of arrested development. What’s surprising is that the film is partly autobiographical: thus, the final scene was set in the flat of Bakker’s actual father-in-law.

Written by Andraž Jež

Photo Iztok Dimc