*How did you get into making films?
I started making films late. Not having been immersed in any artistic environment, I was first a sports teacher. Then, I started a thesis in Urban Anthropology on migration and underground economy issues. I couldn't find what I was looking for, and I came across "Moi un noir" by Jean Rouch. That was in 2005. From that moment on, I knew it was films I had to make.
*What inspired you to make your movie?
I think they were films that inspired me. Because I didn't go to school or film school, I learned by watching films and doing it by myself. Jean Rouch inspired me, Pedro Costa too and many others... I had no more money, free time and a camera. And when I saw that friend I was in college with on his bench again, I sat next to him. Without any idea of a movie, just to pass the time. I think it was here, on this bench, that I learned to make films, to make my own cinema. Looking at life unfolded....
*How has your style evolved?
My style evolves according to me. How I evolve in life and in the world. The encounters I make, the internal and external movements I live. The cinema I make is linked to my life, and my life is linked to my cinema. I live situations, moments, encounters... I take time and then I give a cinematographic expression. It's quite simple, that's how I learned. Little by little, by trial and error. I find the story, then the form that will allow me to express it through different emotions, sensations.
*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film?
This question is a delicate one... I am so much and at the same time none... Living 1 year on a bench, on the street in a public square leads us to realize how irrational life is. Beautiful and so hard... Once it snowed immensely in the square. Boureima remained fixed on her bench. Everyone left the square to take shelter because the snow was falling so much. He didn't move. After a while, it was covered with snow. All white. Only a small black spot appeared where one could see his face, his mouth and his deep look. It was so beautiful this image... So beautiful that I didn't film it, as if to keep it for myself!
*The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind?
I find the manifesto very accurate and relevant. I fully support it... and I am happy to know that my film will be presented in this event because in its manufacture and its desire/folk it is very close to the manifesto.
*What can we expect from your next film?
In my next film, I'm learning boxing. My coach is a disabled person. It's a road movie about two fragile and marginal beings who want to realize a dream, a madness. The one to prepare for a professional boxing match. At 44 years old, for the past 2 years I have been learning boxing intensely for this fight. I'm filming this learning. Dany comes from a poor family, I come from a rich family...we are single and our madness (cinema for me and boxing for him) is our love.
