WEBVTT

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So, it's a film we put on.

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A lot of time to do. As always,

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short films are

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long-term projects between

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the moment they are written,

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the moment they are filmed and

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the moment they are finished. That's

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something we did as part of

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a competition, and we did it very

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quickly because we had to

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comply with the competition rules, it

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had to be done in a week, and then

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We said afterwards, no, we have to do this.

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It's worth doing it better than we did.

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did it for the competition. For the competition, it had to last 7 minutes.

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minutes, whereas this story...

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should last 15 minutes. So, we

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completely re-edited and we ended up

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making the film I wanted. So, this

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which is a kind of, it's a film

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that doesn't really belong to a genre

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well-defined, even if here it's in the

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comedy category.

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It's a kind of drama, a bit

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comic, a bit absurd, mysterious,

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a bit existential. So, it's a

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experience that I wanted to share

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with the viewer.

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It's an architect who arrives on a

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somewhat remote island, we don't know where, with

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the project of building a temple

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universal for humanity. A project

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that was commissioned from him, that a mysterious

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interlocutor with whom he exchanged

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commissioned from him. He arrives with

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the idea and the hope of building this

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temple, but no one is there to

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greet him at the landing

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and no one on the island seems to know that such a project is going to take place.

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island He

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There is no foundation that has been

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dug. So we wonder, is it

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a real project or is it

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he completely fantasized about it? In fact,

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In fact, in this film, I wanted to

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express

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a quest that every person undertakes

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in their life, a quest, their own quest, and

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try to realize our dreams.

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Sometimes our dreams are illusory.

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Sometimes we chase after

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windmills a bit like Don Quixote,

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but along the way,

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sometimes we realize that our

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dream, we can perhaps achieve it

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differently.

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And so it's a bit of a story of

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awareness, of a

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discovery of a sudden

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realization that perhaps this temple

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universal, it's something else than this

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that he thought it could be built

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otherwise. There you go. Of course, it's

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this film has as its protagonist an

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architect, but we can obviously

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think that it's a filmmaker who wants

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to make his film.

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Federico Fellini did that with 8 and

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half already. So for him, it was even more

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direct. But I think that indeed, well

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sure, there is there is aspects of my

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own quest, well, it's an idea,

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how to say it, when you make a film, me

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when I make a film, I don't want

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for the viewer to waste their time. I

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want to give them something.

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I want him to come away with

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something that helps him live.

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Uh, otherwise because our time

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is taken up by lots of things, by

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other films, by lots of activities,

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the offering is too great, so it

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really needs to bring something to the

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viewers.

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Of course, the light of cinema can

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enlighten humanity.

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In fact, artists, not only

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filmmakers, but artists

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generally sense things before

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everyone and in their works we

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give a glimpse, reveal to us

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realities that will become evident plus

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later. So I think it's the

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role and it's the instinct of artists in

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generally and filmmakers in particular

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to enlighten the world. I wish I could

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convince you that

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cinema can change the world and can

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bring peace. Unfortunately, we have

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seen examples that prove

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that this is not the case. for example the

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Renoir's "The Grand Illusion," uh, exit, I

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I believe in 1937 or 1938, which tells us about

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French prisoners who sympathize with

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German officers during the

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First World War and who together

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want to make peace and this film

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is one of the greatest paeders for

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peace and it didn't prevent a year or two

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after World War II

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breaks out. So I think we need to make

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these films, but we also shouldn't

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deceive them. They're not the ones who are going to prevent

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wars. In any case, it has allowed

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perhaps to raise awareness.

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Indeed, it helped raise awareness. It is

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a film that has enormous merit. I

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think that many, maybe some

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people have become aware and

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or maybe Chapeline's film, he the

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The Great Dictator, which came out in 1940, but

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which had been made before that. So

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it was a film that truly foreshadowed

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what was going to happen. Yes, I have

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new projects. I have many, in fact.

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I am currently finishing a

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documentary about the creation of a broom

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contemporary broom created in Kyiv, Ukraine by

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an American choreographer who worked

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with Ukrainian dancers. So,

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it's the meeting of two cultures of

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dance. North American hip-hop culture

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on the one hand, street dance culture,

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on the other hand, and the

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way in which these two dance cultures

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meet, confront each other, and

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merge. It will be a feature-length documentary

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and we're finishing the

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editing.

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I have several projects in development,

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feature films that I'm writing

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to direct, others that I

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produce with other directors, in

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particularly with Ukrainians, but

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also in Taiwan,

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in the Pyrenees, on the border with

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Spain, and perhaps Lithuania as well.

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But it's work. That's it, we need to

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do, we must constantly search,

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experiment, try to express these

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ideas through aesthetics

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cinematically.

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We need to make short films, we

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we need to try to undertake

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big projects, feature films, really

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or documentaries or series,

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but we have to do it, I think that's the

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The best advice I could give

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It's there, it's

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that way everyone finds their style,

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finds their signature and finds their

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expression.

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A huge thank you, Nicole, for the French

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The Riviera Film Festival is a superb

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event that has been running for 7 years

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and to which I always return with great

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pleasure, whether I'm a spectator or

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participant.