myDylarama

Q&A with Sofia Alaoui, dir. Qu'importe si les bêtes meurent [So What if the Goats Die] - Clermont 2020

Abla Kandalaft — 2020-02-14T16:00:51Z

In the heights of the Atlas mountains, Abdellah, a young shepherd, and his father are snowed in. As their animals start to starve, Abdellah goes in search of supplies in a village more than a day's walk away. With his mule, he arrives in the village and discovers that it has been deserted because of a curious event that has left all the believers baffled.

The product of a truly incredible mix of genres, this short is a mesmerising oddity shot amongst the stunning, other-worldly landscape of the Atlas mountains in what were apparently fairly difficult conditions. Kudos to Sofia Alaoui for pulling it off and giving us well-crafted short that leaves us wanting more.

Trailer

Qu'importe si les bêtes meurent / Extrait / VOSTEN from Sofia Alaoui on Vimeo.

Q&A with Noël Fuzellier, dir. Mars Colony - ClermontFF 2020

Abla Kandalaft — 2020-02-05T17:00:35Z

Logan is a sci-fi obsessed awkward teenager who often finds himself the butt of his friends' jokes. One day, he's visited by an older man who claims to be him, 39 years from now and asks him to join him on a mission to save humankind.

A sci-fi enthusiast himself, Noël Fuzellier's passion for space travel and Mars in particular shines through this optimistic, unpretentious yet ambitious short. He deftly mixes low-key family dynamics typical of French cinema with zany space travel sequences.

Watch the trailer here.

More about the film...

Where did you get the inspiration for Logan's character?

During a training course that I gave a few years ago, I met a very distracted, very noisy teenager, who was sometimes funny and often aggressive. He wouldn't listen to anyone and seemed only to be there to disrupt the class. He had an incredible violence in him that drove me mad. The kind of student/trainee that ruined the class and that you constantly had to send out in the hall to get him to calm down. Then, as the week progressed, I discovered that behind this rebellious and immature attitude was an incredibly sensitive boy who expressed his feelings through both physical and verbal violence. Like the Logan in my film, this teenage boy could only bring out his feelings in very intense moments that made him freak out. In short, beneath the surface, I discovered a broken teenager who above all needed attention. I already had the Mars Colony script in mind and I thought I needed a character like that to make the audience really buy into the story. I needed an anti-hero who changed radically and who gave himself over completely to the audience so that they might change with him.

What interest do you have in the planet Mars and space travel?

It's more the idea of journeys that intrigues me. Journeys to the unknown. There's Logan's dream of going to Mars, but there's also the CT-LT's travel through time. These are narrative elements that are present in almost all my reference films and that have one thing in common: taking the audience on extraordinary adventures where they can allow themselves to dream again. Space travel, the mysteries of the universe, alien encounters. I'm fascinated by everything that reminds us that we're just a tiny speck of sand lost in space. We don't amount to much and everything remains to be discovered. And I would like to turn all this into humanistic and generous adventure films.

What are your reference works?

Joe Dante, James Cameron, Robert Zemeckis, John Carpenter, George Miller, Steven Spielberg, Wolfgang Petersen…I discovered cinema through these directors. They made the films I grew up with. Works ranging from children's adventure to horror. But all these directors have in common this desire to make the audience experience extraordinary stories. Stories that take them out of their daily lives and allow them to escape for an hour and a half. Besides that, my second great passion are films about adolescence. John Hughes, Judd Apatow and all the authors who gravitate around them. Adolescence is the most complicated period of life and I find that these authors have managed to capture all its subtleties.

Can you tell us a little bit about your experience as a filmmaker and what led you down that path?

After four short films, I feel like I'm starting to understand how a story works. I think I'm still far from mastering the art of screenwriting, but I'm learning from film to film. And the more films I make, the closer I get to the form of stories I want to tell and the more I accept my cinematographic references. Back to the Future, Enemy Mine, Explorers, Terminator, Starman, The Thing, Mad Max… I grew up with these films, they were part of my daily life. Then, when I was eight, my parents took me to the movies to see Total Recall. And some time later, at the cinema again, Terminator 2. I had not seen anything that crazy and I knew then that I wanted to make films. And Schwarzenegger became my idol. Paul Verhoeven and James Cameron opened my eyes to the magic of cinema and science fiction and I was hooked.

How did the casting go?

Philippe Rebbot had already been in two of my previous short films. He is an extraordinary person and a stunning actor. He is always funny, hard and touching. I knew he would bring to the film the tenderness and humour that Logan needed. The way he looks at him in the film is heartbreaking, full of humanity. So I wrote the role thinking about him. But of course, the real issue was finding the teenager to interpret Logan. And I knew that, for reasons of resemblance, if I had found a teenager who did not look at all like Philippe, I wouldn't be able to cast him… But with a bit of luck, and especially with the help of Sophie Lainé Diodovic, the casting director who met countless teenagers, I discovered Théo Van de Voorde. And Theo, even though he's nothing like Logan in real life, has proven to be an obvious choice. Like Philippe, he has a gentle way of looking at people and I immediately saw in him how Logan must change throughout the film. And he does it brilliantly. Theo carries the film from end to end with his energy and his teenage enthusiasm. He has the strength of will and an extraordinary work ethic that always enables him to achieve his goal. I was very lucky…

What are your future film projects?

I'm writing an adapted series of Mars Colony and a science fiction feature film. And in both cases I will still highlight an unusual “father-son” relationship against the background of an adventure film.

Would you say that the short film format has given you any particular freedom?

For once, it was the medium format that gave me freedom. The film lasts 35 minutes, which allowed me to develop a richer story. Each story has its duration and it could not be told in a shorter way. The fact that my producers, Philippe Wendling and Marine Lepaulmier (Les Films Norfolk), trusted me to make such a long film allowed me to play with the narrative, to take the viewer on this adventure and to try to express a number of emotions. Then, fortunately, there are still festivals like Clermont-Ferrand that select films of this duration to share with the public.

How To Be Human - SCI-FI LONDON

Mydylarama team — 2017-06-07T10:00:27Z

If you were forced to flee your own war-ridden country, would you sacrifice what makes you human to survive?

How To Be Human is a crowd-funded ambitious and visually impressive short recently screened at SCI-FI LONDON that follows two sisters, one human, one android, as they escape a devastated, post-apocalyptic London. According to the production team, "the film is about the current refugee crisis but in reverse and we have two British citizens leaving the UK in order to survive."

We caught up with director Bruno Centofanti to find out more about the process from funding and conception to production and casting, and if a feature version is in the pipeline.

How did the idea for the film emerge? Who first came up with it and how did the collaboration begin?

The project was initiated by Louise Salter (lead actress and producer of How to be Human). She is the one who came up with the concept of the film and then partnered up with Jeffrey Michael (costume designer and executive producer of HTBH) to create the short. Myself and Jeffrey worked together on a commercial project I was directing in Belgium, his work as a costume designer was super inspiring. One day, he told me about How to be Human and that they were looking for a director. I liked the concept and I was interested in taking part in another project with such visual effects, so he pushed me forward as a director. What drew me in is that ultimately this is a film about basic humanity.
The first step for me was to gain the trust of the team so I could bring my own vision to the project, which is always tricky when you're working with a new team. But we all bonded very quickly and the writer (Darren Rapier) is great. His TV experience meant he's used to working with notes and feedback and executing changes pretty fast. I was very lucky here again, without an experienced writer I don't think we would have been able to keep things within the given time-frame. Having a great writer willing to collaborate is essential, we need someone who can put ideas into a timeline, create a dynamic and consistency between them - it's a highly skilled job.

How to be Human | Trailer | - On the road from Bruno Centofanti on Vimeo.

The first version of the script I received was quite cold. It was a story of struggle and hunger; Kimi (Louise's character) was depressed and about to jump off a building. I received this at a time when I didn't really want to direct a story about depression, I wanted to work on something with a more positive vibe, so my first notes made the characters more engaged and lively, they explored the destroyed city of London, and created a stronger relationship between the sisters, I left it to the dystopian background -instead of the central characters - to convey a sense of sadness and loss. I wanted it to feel more like an adventure with a nostalgic feel.

I think Sci-Fi often gets the tech details right whilst the humanity of the characters is neglected. We are very adaptable to environments but our core emotions are still the same. So I decided to experiment a little with this, in terms of acting direction and shooting style. It's a Sci-Fi film that goes again all the usual clichés of the genre, such as lens flares, tracking shots, cranes or big setups, it was really shot as a documentary, with a warm colour palette instead of the cold one used in most futuristic films. I needed someone curious, flexible, energetic and with a great eye as a director of photography.

In terms of performance my approach was very minimalist, I gave the actors a lot of freedom and space to explore their characters. We would rehearse the scene as a whole and then the camera and sound would capture the story without locking the frames, it was just like capturing a scene in a documentary. It allowed us to make How to be Human a very compelling, intimate and bold story to tell - I wanted the audience to get the sense that the film could be set a few years from now, not in some very distant future.

How did you constitute your team? (Cast & Crew)

I was more involved in putting the post-production team together. In terms of production I chose our director of photography, I wanted someone that could understand my approach to the shoot and Lorenzo Levrini fit the bill. He really threw himself into the project and added his own touch.

When it comes to our cast, I was insanely lucky to work with Frances Ruffelle (Les Miserables), Sophie Kennedy Clark (Philomena, Nymphomaniac) and Louise Salter, Annabel Bates, Brian Bovell (Love Actually), Michael Winder (Misfits), Katrina Ward, Ari Phillips and the young actresses that were involved.

Neto Jones edited the film, he is an old friend of mine I met in the industry, he edited my 2nd short film, Speechless (2013) and then I'm Zombie (2014), and a lot of commercial work.

For our VFX we had Marc Hutchings (Guardians of Galaxy) as our Visual Effects supervisor. Marc and I go way back and are good friends. He was able to bring his team on board, which really made for a fantastic collaborative shoot.

Our colourist was Theresa Crooks at Molinare. We were very lucky to be introduced to her as she really understood the feel that I wanted to achieve with the grade.

In terms of sound we had some problems with our first team and ended up working with a fantastically ambitious group of students at the SAE London and Graeme, one of the teachers there, was particularly involved in the end project.

On the music front, Debbie Wiseman was on board originally as our composer but she was super busy with features and TV shows, so we couldn't match our schedules. I've known Debbie for a long time, she is amazing and I love her work, she is probably one of the most influential female music composers for film and TV. However, this led us to meet Mim, our composer, who is based in Iran and brought a lot of Middle Eastern culture to the film. We overcame the distance by communicating via emails and Skype calls. His work is really impressive. I was actually a lead singer myself and had a contract with MTV around 2005, so I love collaborating with sound and music artists.

Can you tell us a bit more about how you financed this project? Was crowdfunding your very first step or did you begin producing early footage and then reach out for more funding?

I think everyone tried hard to bring investors on board, many promises were made and then dropped closer to the time of filming, but Louise managed to raise the money required for the four-day shoot. In post-production, we created a crowdfunding campaign, it was really hard work, Louise worked so hard on this with her team and I helped by creating all the content for the campaign, including the main pitch. Our target was £10K and we raised 21% on top of this, so £12,080 overall. With that extra money, we managed to get our VFX team and colourist on board.

Can you tell us a bit more about the post-production process and the impressive special effects?

Yes, I love the VFX of the film, we can always improve things with budget and time but what we achieved with all limits we had is frankly impressive. This was due to the great work of Marc Hutchings, his team and some help from Territory Studio as well. I've known Marc for many years and he has a strong passion for storytelling and a sharp, critical eye. VFX teams are made up of extremely talented artists, it needs honed skills and experience to make the scenery believable. I'm super excited to work with VFX again.

Once you had the final cut, what did you do with it? How did you end up hosting a screening at the BFI?

We finished the film on Sunday (23 April 17), on Tuesday (25 April 17) it was screening at the BFI and Thursday (27 April 17) premiering during the opening night of SCI-FI-LONDON Film Festival. We had it all planned. The hard part was to meet the deadline, but we did it! Now we will start submitting it to festivals and it will hopefully screen as part of various film programmes.

What are the next steps, what are you hoping to do with it? Any plans for a feature film?

We have many plans for the future. It's easy for your mind to run wild with the possibilities but we are very down to earth and understand the process; things take time and a lot of dedication. We are starting to hold talks with some major players in the industry interested in working with us and investing in the project. So our mindset is: work hard and let's make it happen.

On the festival side, I've recently said in a podcast (Tesselate - Geeks) that I don't like the traditional festival route, I think it can be very old-fashioned. They pretty much lock your film from online distribution for 1-2 years, which is a shame because you want your film to be seen across platforms without restrictions. The point is to engage audiences, share the story, listen to their thoughts, build up a profile and a following. Saying that, we decided that we would push for festivals as it can benefit the project in other ways. Don't get me wrong, we are of course excited to go to festivals, we love them, but we wish we could also share it online, even if only through the festival's app or website. We experimented with this through SCI-FI-LONDON and had it online for 24 hours on the app; it was very cool; we had people from different parts of the world watching and sharing their thoughts!

Can you tell us a bit more about your individual plans for the coming year?

My plans are to keep the momentum going with my career development and branch out into longer formats, features or series, but also keep pushing my business. I'm launching a content agency, through which I hope to work with some cool brands and online channels to create engaging content.

More info on the film can be found on the official website and the Facebook page.

Le dernier rivage (1959) vo : On the beach de Stanley Kramer

Stéphane MATCHEUMADJEU — 2011-09-18T02:30:38Z

Premier film de science-fiction qui ne montre aucun mort, aucun cadavre en décomposition malgré la menace radioactive. Premier film de science-fiction où les destins des personnages sont scellés sans pour autant voir la mort s'abattre sur eux. Le dernier rivage cultive l'espoir prôné à chacun de ses plans non sans traiter la dure réalité d'un pays condamné par les dérives du nucléaire sur le point de se manifester. Le film entame déjà la survie suite à la guerre atomique qui engendre un compte rebours assez fatal pour les personnes amoureuses de la vie. A la recherche d'un endroit non contaminé par les radiations, le capitaine Dwight Towers du sous-marin le Sawfish parcourt ce qu'il reste du monde pour conjurer le sort qui les attend en compagnie du scientifique Julian Osborn et du lieutenant Peter Holmes.

Pour une fois, les Américains ne seront pas les cartes maitresses d'une possible délivrance, le pays parti en fumée, il en revient à l'Australie de mettre au point des solutions pour ne pas disparaitre du planisphère. A la froideur des villes fantômes réparties sur plusieurs plans d'ensemble large se confrontent les gros plans de bonheur non feint de Moira Davidson en quête d'amour qui se perdure. De la froideur à la chaleur, l'être humain semble s'être oublié pour aboutir à une impasse révélée à chaque parcelle d'un bâtiment vide ou de rues désertées. Une mort froide. Les corps irradiés ne laissent aucune trace, juste une évaporation du plan, une non-existence évacuée avant la première seconde du film. Désormais, la distribution doit se débattre avec leurs propres tourments pour reculer l'inéluctable et jouir d'un moment fort que rien ne pourra enlever.

Si Dwight Towers prend la tête d'affiche, il n'a rien d'un héros, juste un homme réfléchi avec ses fêlures du passé dans lequel il navigue, un homme abandonné à ses fantômes sans pouvoir se raccrocher au présent. Moira Davidson brille par sa dépendance à l'alcool qui la rend si impertinente et libérée. Ava Gardner lui offre tellement de sa personne qu'il serait bien tenter de croire si l‘actrice n'a pas connu des moments similaires de son personnage. La caméra collée à son visage, adopte aussi son comportement tout en ébriété par des plans obliques qui accroît les battements du cœur entre deux personnes qui n'ont plus rien à perdre. Holmes lui pense au futur noir et prévoit des pilules suicide pour abréger ses souffrances mais il est contrecarré par l'optimisme sans faille de sa femme, mère de sa petite fille.

A l'heure où les rumeurs circulent sur la possible apocalypse de notre humanité prévue en 2012 et meurtrie par des catastrophes naturelles comme celles d'Haïti, le cinéma démontre aussi sa capacité à propager le désespoir avec l'économie de ses effets somme toutes remarquables.

Dir : Stanley Kramer, 1959