After premiering at Sundance Movie Competition earlier this 12 months, Magic Farm – the sophomore movie by artist and director Amalia Ulman – is launched in cinemas within the UK on 16 Might. Starring Chloë Sevigny and Alex Wolff, it follows a bunch of ‘content material curators’ from New York as they fly around the globe ‘reporting’ on loopy tendencies. The movie marks a departure for Ulman, whose debut, El Planeta [The Planet, 2021], was made on a shoestring finances and featured non-professional actors, together with herself and her mom, in central roles.
Chloe Stead Magic Farm centres on a bunch of ‘journalists’ who’re so self-absorbed that they miss the truth that the native folks within the village the place they’re filming a ‘pattern’ video are being poisoned by crop spraying. The place did this concept come from? It’s actually an attention-grabbing arrange for a comedy.
Amalia Ulman A few years in the past, my mom and I had been shocked to study that members of our household had been affected by glyphosates. After we researched extra, we discovered it’s an issue all through the International South and anyplace with corrupt governments. This was at the back of my thoughts whereas I used to be engaged on El Planeta in 2018. I do know lots of people from the hipster journalism world and, after I put the 2 issues collectively, it clicked. I felt utilizing the crew as a crutch was a good suggestion as a result of I do know that world very properly, however I didn’t really feel snug making one thing solely about Argentina as a result of, though I used to be born in Buenos Aires, I’ve by no means actually lived there.
CS Lots of the characters in your movies really feel acquainted – the Brooklyn gentle boy, the philandering producer, the insecure actress – however their traits appear exaggerated.
AU I’ve met folks like this in actual life – I didn’t have to show up the dial a lot. I feel their traits are heightened due to their state of affairs. At the start, they in all probability weren’t as dangerous, however all of them undergo a lot shit that it makes them worse, which occurs in actual life, too.
CS After working with largely untrained actors in El Planeta, you could have some well-known faces in Magic Farm, together with Chloë Sevigny. How did you persuade her to be in your movie?
AU I didn’t have to steer anyone! Having the credentials of El Planeta was very useful as a result of all of the actors concerned on this manufacturing cherished that movie. They’re a really gifted group and, as a director, it’s great to see all these skills emerge in every scene. Chloë was a pleasure to work with, however my favorite expertise was working with the Argentine actor Valeria Lois as a result of she’s theatre skilled and has so many instruments at her disposal. It was a pleasure to see her convey scenes to life – not just for her character, however for everybody else, too.
CS You’re not knowledgeable actor, though you could have labored as a efficiency artist, most notably within the Instagram challenge Excellences & Perfections [2014]. Are you able to discuss your individual course of?
AU I’m not an actor and I’ll by no means be one. Folks like my mom are naturals. Whether or not they’re skilled or not, these sorts of individuals get vitality from being in entrance of the digicam. I’m the alternative – it takes effort. Since I’m autistic, I discover it simpler to carry out by means of know-how. Earlier than filming El Planeta, I had solely carried out alone. It’s a really totally different factor to all of the sudden have folks watching you. However I’m a pure director and producer: I will be exhausted, but nonetheless discover the vitality to unravel issues behind the scenes.
CS If it’s such a tough course of, why did you select to forged your self in your movies?
AU I used to be initially going to forged actors for El Planeta, however as soon as I spotted my mother was the most suitable choice, I joined her as a result of I felt she wouldn’t do pretty much as good a job reverse a stranger. So, quite a lot of these choices come from a manufacturing and directorial standpoint. For Magic Farm, I play the most effective good friend of Joe Apollonio’s character, since we’re pals in actual life. Additionally, I used to be the one one who spoke each English and Spanish, so I translated inside scenes.
CS El Planeta opened at Sundance to very constructive critiques. Did that make filming Magic Farm simpler?
AU Sure and no. El Planeta was a beautiful expertise. It was the luckiest shoot: all the pieces went in response to plan and everybody had a good time making it. However I had by no means made a movie earlier than, so after I went knocking on doorways for funding, many individuals turned me down. On the similar time, one of many causes it was such an ideal expertise was as a result of – as with all my profitable works – I produced it fully by myself. I knew what I used to be doing and no person was there to cease me.
Magic Farm was simpler in some methods as a result of I had the assist of lots of people that already knew I might make a movie. But it surely was additionally tougher as a result of it was a extra skilled shoot, and quite a lot of my strategies are thought-about unorthodox. There was quite a lot of combating in opposition to a really stiff system of how you can make motion pictures. The larger the finances, the much less freedom the director has as a result of there are extra folks saying, ‘Effectively, I put the cash in, so I would like it this fashion or that method.’
CS Your cinematography is kind of unorthodox.
AU It was impressed by Gen X and hipster tradition: the extremely saturated skateboard movies – and Spanish movies – of the Nineteen Nineties. I used to be additionally trying to modern tradition: TikTok movies made by attaching GoPro cameras to animals, for example, and Albert Serra’s bullfighting documentary, Afternoons of Solitude [2024], which might solely be made as a result of the know-how existed for him to connect tiny microphones to bulls that might function for hours on finish. I’m enthusiastic about bizarre methods of approaching storytelling, which is one thing that has been uncared for lately. Every little thing has turn into very stiff, however that was not the case on the flip of the century.
CS Did your background as an artist assist or hinder in making Magic Farm?
AU The identical points come up throughout disciplines. How are you going to show one thing that’s by no means been executed earlier than? I feel that’s an issue for anyone attempting to do one thing new. That’s why no person supported Excellence and Perfections at first. You’ll be able to put a doc collectively, you may strive your finest to clarify it, however lots of people want a strong instance of one thing comparable that was commercially profitable. My background in tremendous arts has helped as a result of it has given me the liberty to do no matter I would like. In movie faculty, you study issues a sure method. I’m very pleased I don’t come from that world as a result of it might restrict me.
CS What do you see as the key variations between the 2 worlds?
AU My begin within the artwork world was very traumatizing, particularly for somebody as younger as I used to be. I used to be overexposed with no safety, no steering, nothing. I needed to alter issues when it got here to filmmaking. Within the very early levels of constructing El Planeta, I used to be very supported by pretty, critical folks within the movie world who’ve been my mentors, and I’ve been far more cautious.
CS What are you able to inform me concerning the subsequent movie you’re engaged on?
AU It’s based mostly on a brief story I wrote, The German Instructor [2024]. It’s set in Spain, the place I grew up, and I’m excited to return. It’s going again my very deep curiosity in workplace tradition and structure, that are recurring themes in my follow. Every little thing I’ve executed in video, set up and efficiency connects to my movies.
Amalia Ulman’s Magic Farm is launched in cinemas within the UK on 16 Might 2025.
