My light weight, Super 8 camera is always there with me, encountering images and scenes which move me. I respond directly and with a single-mindedness to the fascination and charm of a place or an event, of a situation or a person. Immediately, I transpose and condense on film exactly what I see and perceive, unifying the image with the mood prevailing at the moment of perception.

My films grow in the camera, and they are edited in the camera, not afterwards at the editing table; all of my decisions are immediate and taken while I am filming. Their temporal forms, the play of takes and rhythms, are created solely by direct interaction with the filmed world thus allowing each subject to find expression in its own suitable style. For example, an event can be filmed in a documentary style, in one single, uninterrupted shot as in Pfau (Peacock), or cut into individual images, by switching the camera on and off during filming, as in Méchoui. Likewise, an immobile subject can be transformed into a moving event through a single-frame technique, making use  of 18 individual photograms per second as seen in Blaues Haus (Blue House).

Depending on artistic necessity I make use of different visual languages, which the camera allows me to voice, and focus upon the unity of image, idea and emotion at the exact moment when I seek to apply the appropriate visual form to my perception. The films then become not only an expression of its happening in front of the camera, but also a medium for what is happenng behind it. One can feel as well as see the intense interchange between interpretation and cinematic decisions. The camera is hand-held and the presence of the filmmaker behind the camera is openly reveiled , incorporated into the energy of the filming process.

Each film is created seperately and is considered as an individual work. For every screening I make a selection and compose a program. This composition of a sequence of films is an essential part of my work. Each individual film reacts uniquely in conjunction with the other films. Variations in composition emphasize different aspects and qualities of content and form so that the individual film has a specific meaning in its actual context.

Helga Fanderl