THE INTERVIEW

January, 2025

RALPH WINEDT

DIRECTORS OF MEMORIA DERÁ

BEST HONORABLE MENTION

Ralph, tell us a little more about yourself. Where did your desire to be a director come from?

I grew up around griot’s. My parents always had an appreciation for the arts, culture and language. Storytelling and performance are a part of Curaçaon culture and day to day life. So the seeds were planted early on. After finding my artistic voice in poetry, I experimented with text and image. And found Cinema to be the ultimate medium. A discipline that requires synergy and collective collaboration from all departments. I saw how my favorite directors used this medium to the fullest, with a visual literacy that communicated with symbolism, as well as plot and narrative, as well as the abstract and. There my desire was sparked, to ruminate on an idea, philosophy in such a layered way. And take the viewer by the hand in such a holistic artistic journey.

What is your background?

I’m born, raised and based in Curaçao. I come from a literary family. At my fourteenth I fell in love with the art of writing. Poetry became my first love in the arts. Performing at literary festivals across the Caribbean and in Holland. Giving poetry workshops and organizing poetry nights as an organizer and curator. Together with Anna Arjun and Vesuhely Americaan, we founded the literary platform and artistic collective, Carrying Narratives – Kargando Narativa. For almost four years we’ve been organizing literary initiatives on the island of Curaçao, with a grass roots modus operandi. Organizing open mic’s, writing sessions, curated poetry nights and town halls with a focus on accessibility and open forum for the new artist with lesser experience. As a multidisciplinary artist I made a multilingual theatre play with Luan Buleshkaj called “Distanshá”, a story of distance between culture and lived experience and the humanity that crossed that border. With satirical humor and levity we explored othering and xenophobia. As my urgency for cinema grew I worked on numerous film sets in all kinds of roles. From commercials, shorts and feature films and as a bridge to from the literary world to Cinema a conceptualized and wrote story and script for commercials and brand films.

What were your references for Buried Memory?

My references were Django Unchained, The Underground Railroad and work from the Vivé Le cinema exhibition I saw in Eye Museum,specifically the works from Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese. Spike Lee’s: The Five Bloods. The spirit and tone of Do the Right thing. As well as being inspired by slow cinema.

You won the Best Honorable Mention at the RED MOVIE AWARDS what does that symbolize?

You make art out of urgency, a necessity. An extension of yourself. And as an honest offering to the collective. So applause or not, isn’t the motivator. But as a young independant artist adn filmaker these steps means that your film will have more continuity, and will help you to make the next one. Being nominated as best first time director is an encouragement. To trust my vision, instincts and artistic process. I am grateful.

Through your film and more generally do you think it is important for cinema to do a work of memory?

Cinema has a way of reviving or re-interpreting memories that I think is fascinating. This medium and specifically in narrative fiction you can get closer to reality, closer to the lived experience than an actual documentation of real life. Cinema at its best is our reality and is our subconscious colliding and in dialogue. It can be a way to rewrite history. But also restore what has been lost. Even more so Cinema might be a channel through which the temporality of the present , the past and future can be explored and flesh out. A medium apt for such exploration.
Your film is a Microfilm of less than 5 minutes, how do you manage to bring the viewer into your universe while making him feel emotions in this time gap?
Short films are always a challenge, to find a balance between the sensorial, symbolic or avant garde abstract and plot, narrative and the development of characters within a limited amount of time. I tried to sculpt the film to its necessary dramatic bones. Leaving out exposition, and creating a blend so that the metaphorical imagery also has a significant role in the plot. And not separate chunks.
What was the biggest challenge for this film?
Poetic and realism, space for the image to breathe as well as the plot to get enough place to develop naturally. Shooting in one day in a guerilla filmmaking style takes a toll on the actors.

Do you have an anecdote to share with us in particular?

As many of my mentors and inspiration have taught me, you make the film in preparation. In its conceptualization. And from script to pre production. But if you prepare well hopefully you can be in a state where you aren’t too dogmatically following the planning but are also open to what the muses, the ancestors and the story want to communicate. In the film Memoria Derá (Buried Memory), there is a recorunning ritual of passing of the torch. A lit torch that first the mother uses to communicate telepathically and then is passed on in an act of empowerment and endowment. That specific motion, how simple it might be, only came to me that morning. I had a completely different image in mind. With comlex camera movement and logistic coordination. But felt that the simplicity of that stance and motion, the joy and at the same time firmness it can represent was more apt. SO sometime the preparation makes space more the inspiration that can only come to you and in that moment in space and time.

What is your next project?

My next film is ‘Wow’i Asombro’, translated as “Eyes of Wonder”, a film currently in development. The film is a 20 minute short film currently in development and explores the theme of childlike wonder and amazement.