Is the Klezmer Project a failed movie? Because, in essence, it doesn’t feature a lot of klezmer (Yiddish music) bands. And it is definitely not a straightforward documentary on music or musicians. It is sometimes confusing, generally fascinating but also a humorous search for the origins of the musical form. What’s more, it tells not just one but two, love stories.
Co-filmmaker Leandro Koch plays himself in this documentary, in which different storylines and styles come together. In the film he is Leandro, an Argentinian cameraman who makes his living filming weddings. We see him setting up his equipment and doing his thing routinely at anything but glamorous locations. But we also see him acting out the story, told in voice-over: how he falls in love with Paloma, who plays in a band at the wedding. Did this happen in reality? Maybe, we don’t know, and it doesn’t really matter.
Because this story parallels another one, told by an older, Jewish woman, to a group that Paloma is part of. It is the Yiddish story of Taibele, a young woman who secretly studies the Torah, against the strict orders of her father. She meets the young man Yankl, who pretends to know everything about the holy book, and manages to impress her with a theory borrowed from Spinoza, who is hated by the Orthodox Jews. Just like the mediocre cameraman who impresses Paloma by pretending he’s not just a wedding filmer but a serious documentary maker who is doing a project on Klezmer bands.
As the two stories play out in chapters, Leandro meanwhile finds himself really becoming interested in the story of Klezmer music, as the culture that produced it seems to have disappeared. He and partner Paloma therefore plunge into an investigation, looking for that vanished culture, hoping to find the origin of the last Klezmer melodies.
The filmmakers moves nimbly between the stories – although the interactions between Leandro and Paloma sometimes feel a bit scripted, which they are – and also between the personal development he goes through. Because Leandro’s own Jewish background is also increasingly imposing, in the form of his grandmother, who keeps popping up as a kind of conscience, causing him mental discomfort.
The Klezmer Project truly takes you on a journey to the roots of the music and the culture, following its traces, to the people who still play the music and tell the accompanying anecdotes. It travels from Buenos Aires to the borders of Ukraine, Romania and Moldavia, finding music in small villages, at parties, on the streets and in pubs. Meanwhile, the makers share the concerns that come with the production of a documentary: conversations with financiers whose expectations he seems unable to meet, discussions with his producer (who no longer seems to have faith the whole project), lack of money and logistical problems. In doing so, they do not spare himself. Delicious self-mockery is one of the main drivers of this original visual vehicle.
The film certainly doesn’t excel in extraordinary camera work – indeed, Leandro seems to be truly a mediocre cameraman – but that is of no big concern to this project. The music, as it pervades the entire film, is played with passion and pleasure by its countless performers, lending warmth and depth to the documentary. The Klezmer Project is a smart, funny, personal and at the same time universal document of an almost erased culture, an honest, analytical self-reflection on identity and traditions and a tragic love story (or two love stories combined). And it offers a metaphysical view on making documentaries, which makes you wonder what Koch and Scachmann will come up with next.
Austria/Argentina, 2023, 117 mins
Languages: Spanish, Yiddish, Ukrainian, Romanian, English, German, Subtitles: English
Directors: Leandro Koch, Paloma Schachmann
Screenplay: Leandro Koch, Paloma Schachmann
Cinematography: Leandro Koch, Roman Kasseroller
Editing: Leandro Koch, Javier Favot
Sound Design: Nahuel Palenque
Producers: Andrew Sala, Lukas Rinner, Sebastián Muro, Yael Svoboda, Leandro Koch, Paloma Schachmann
Executive Producers: Andrew Sala, Lukas Rinner, Sebastián Muro, Yael Svoboda
Produced by: Nabis Filmgroup, Salzburg, Austria: Nevada Cine, Buenos Aires, Argentina
World Sales: Films Boutique
