5Q's w/Björn Perborg "What's Important Now Is To Feel Bad" Director

#1: Can you describe your movie and why somebody should see it?

During a compulsory information meeting for unemployed people, the truth behind unemployment is accidentally revealed.

#2: What do you want the Borrego Springs Film Festival audience to know about your film that isn’t obvious from its title?

Yes, you will find out why it is so important to feel bad.

The film is only four minutes long, but it took almost eight years to accomplish. (I cannot justify why). I got the idea ten years ago when I discovered an archive of articles about employment politics in Sweden. Initially, I did some Wallraff myself at similar meetings at the job centre. Some of the lines in the film are copied straight off from such a meeting.

Visually I was inspired by the video art of artists Annika Larsson and Johanna Billing, where a lot of close ups reveal inexplicable rituals.

Originally, I wanted the film to look the way it does, mimicking documentary camera work. However, I spent almost a year trying out different solutions for a one-shot tracking, before returning to the very first idea.

#3: What is your movie making background?  Tell us about yourself.

I was trained as a visual artist, and have been working in that field for many years, combining sculpture and moving images, sometimes animation, into video installations. My work is shown both in art contexts and at film festivals, as well as on TV.

#4: What was the biggest lesson learned in getting your film made?

Do not underestimate the importance of a good cast.

#5: What does the future hold for your film and you?

What’s Important Now Is To Feel Bad is currently screening at festivals around the globe. It recently won the prize for best direction at the Linz International Film Festival in Austria. I have a list of films I want to do in the future. It currently holds 27 items.

@bjorn_perborg

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