00:00:00: Hello, Alice Wienochur!

00:00:01: You're here at Cannes to give a conversation.

00:00:04: It's an completely new thing in Cannes and I'm very happy to talk

00:00:08: with you too.

00:00:09: How does

00:00:10: it feel for you being part of the Cannes Film Festival?

00:00:13: It is always exciting to be here as well as moving on because there are many memories here.

00:00:18: I came from several films each time.

00:00:20: that was a strong experience And also it has been really intense to come here since this film is also a market for new projects where all the people of cinema meet, it's a very special place.

00:00:32: You work

00:00:33: mainly as director and screenwriter also co-screenwriting many works.

00:00:38: how would you say has your career progressed in the last five years from your own perspective?

00:00:44: I come from script writing.

00:00:45: i studied script writing at Lafimis.

00:00:47: At first i only wanted to write but i found no one who wanted to direct stories.

00:00:54: so was riding school.

00:00:56: I took place in a psychiatric hospital, Augustine.

00:01:01: Kind of strange love story between the patient and doctor kind of gothic love story.

00:01:07: At first i didn't want at all to direct it but because couldn't find a director Okay!

00:01:12: And one who was gonna directed.

00:01:13: then when found myself on a set... ...I thought yes It's this place where feel good.

00:01:18: so its really like.

00:01:19: the two thing writing.. ..i think is not same part that brain you know?

00:01:23: Writing for yourself or writing others Its very different But I think it's very interesting.

00:01:30: and also to write with directors coming from other countries, something that i feel is very interesting.

00:01:38: Would

00:01:38: you say you prefer work by yourself or in a team of other writers and co-directors?

00:01:45: You know cinema is collective work!

00:01:47: That the beauty of it like your alone but also with all crew as director... Those people, they are like very close friends.

00:01:56: Even closer than your best friend's.

00:01:59: it is a special relationship that you share with them.

00:02:03: and yes I also like to write for my own script so i collaborate on other scriptwriters.

00:02:10: but I like writing myself And having discussions about others Female

00:02:16: writers & directors still underrepresented at Cannes, much more than at other festivals.

00:02:22: So how do you feel about this under-representation of female directors and writers that Cannes?

00:02:28: Cannes is an image of the cinema in the world which represents really what the cinema on the world is.

00:02:34: I think i belong to a generation where there are many more female director then they used be especially in France but still we're like...I don't know..i'm very bad at numbers But it's twenty percent.

00:02:48: when were in school It's like fifty-fifty, so I don't really understand what happens.

00:02:54: between school and then the world when you start to do a movie.

00:02:58: I think women also have to deal with other questions about their family, some of them think there are obstacles but they're also inner obstacles.

00:03:09: like she thinks that you choose between your family or new work The more there is a woman director it can be an inspiration for others.

00:03:23: exciting, exhilarating in the cinema world right now is that there are voices coming also from different countries.

00:03:31: From the South, from Africa.

00:03:36: I think we have definitely to support it and try for it.

00:03:39: Definitely.

00:03:40: i think there are less represented but It has changed.

00:03:44: You said just after your personal experience and perspective is more like fifty-fifty because an argument that i read from Céry Fremont was echoed by Julian Reiche who as you know he's the artistic director of Cassandre Seneas was, there are not enough female directors.

00:04:05: We just get so few movie applications from female directors and that's why they're underrepresented.

00:04:12: but from your perspective it is different?

00:04:14: I

00:04:14: don't know!

00:04:15: It's difficult.

00:04:16: of course movies are the most important things like if their good movies or as a woman director you also want to be considered for your work.

00:04:26: So i think some women maybe are afraid to get in the world of cinema.

00:04:32: I think women have to fight is also this kind of self-censorship.

00:04:38: you don't dare go and write your story.

00:04:42: what's happening right now, it that more and more women are writing stories.

00:04:47: It's a process And we have to fights for those voices to be heard.

00:04:52: I think its self censorship Is something i think Women has to fight.

00:04:56: In France We're very lucky French female directors.

00:05:01: because also of the system of founding you

00:05:04: moved in your career from smaller independent Productions to your first real big productions with international stars like Angelina Jolie Couture.

00:05:13: How did you perceive that shift?

00:05:15: From smaller Productions, too such a big prestigious film.

00:05:19: You're

00:05:19: really right if you films with your unconscious and it's Really what I do.

00:05:23: so sometimes people ask me So why have you done this?

00:05:26: and every thumb is a kind of prototype.

00:05:29: It has its own rules, it has his own stories and what he's needed.

00:05:35: What I thought was very interesting in couture... ...it was like portraits of women coming from different worlds And i thought that it would be cool to have someone who had never played in the movie The South Sudanese Girl To have a big star like Angelina Jolie Probably one of biggest stars on the planet at same level to speak about this woman solidarity, crossing borders and crossing worlds.

00:06:01: so it was more specific about the subject I wanted to talk about for that movie.

00:06:07: To see this struggle of women around the globe and around the world and women supporting each other.

00:06:12: from my first film Augustine i had a work also with Vincent Landon who is very big star in France.

00:06:20: at that time people were asking me why you're a star?

00:06:23: Of course For projects, it's a reality.

00:06:28: So its always like related to the story you tell.

00:06:32: Interestingly

00:06:33: many of your films also have multiple protagonists just like Couture.

00:06:38: Is that a challenge to write so many different characters?

00:06:41: Normally, I always writes more portraits of women or portraits of men as i did in Disorder.

00:06:47: It's normally like one story...I wanted to try and write the kind of round dance between women jumping from one another.

00:06:56: Yes it was difficult because they had to be really subtle And also work editing to find like the right rhythm.

00:07:03: and also more than that I wanted to write a poetic song.

00:07:06: poetry is uh, The thing i liked most in cinema.

00:07:09: And because of series now all those incredible stories you see on a platform you can find.

00:07:19: to go back to poetry.

00:07:21: What the essence of cinema is, images coming from your unconscious and this poetry... To me it's something I really wanted to excel in the movie!

00:07:33: So many things are difficult to make a movie And there're lots of obstacles that have to be done.

00:07:39: You've got to have this in your guts for, so it has to be something really important.

00:07:50: Sometimes I'm inspired by an image.

00:07:53: sometimes its...I don't know the sound and i always write like very personal story coming from my own experience that I tried to project the distant world, a world i don't know and I like to discover this and those worlds.

00:08:09: It's also way to discover the world.

00:08:11: what kind of projects would you like still realize?

00:08:15: Is there some specific direction that you'd like go into ?

00:08:18: I

00:08:19: really love doing an action movie!

00:08:21: I think it is so cool that women are not only supposed deal with subjects as love stuff stories, families.

00:08:30: I'm very fond of Catherine Bigelow who there are not so many women that are breaking the rules trying to do different kind of projects...I really like to destroy things in films and it's something very exhilarating for me also cinema in general when i see films..i would love an action movie.

00:08:55: Speaking of directors!

00:08:57: Are they specific ones?

00:08:58: That inspire you or that?

00:08:59: You look up to like Catherine bigelow.

00:09:01: Yeah, Catherine Bigelow and yes Vada.

00:09:03: of course I come in so many women director But no i'm a big fan.

00:09:09: James Cameron from the abyss.

00:09:11: I think it's a beautiful love story behind all The action things their beautiful story of a couple.

00:09:17: you know I'm a kind of cinema geek.

00:09:19: for my childhood I've always watched a lot of movies And I have.

00:09:23: I'm quite obsessional as a person.

00:09:25: So has I keep watching this same movie all the time.

00:09:28: The brisky points, the Antonioni movie... there are several movies like that.

00:09:33: I could go on and on but they're many films i live with which is part of my life

00:09:38: here at Cannes.

00:09:39: do you have even the time to watch some movies for yourself?

00:09:42: Yes!

00:09:43: Of course it's a bit of a brand.

00:09:45: But uh..I was able to see the Eigenstaff film, a Modovar movie.

00:09:50: It's so interesting to see all those films very, very intense as you have to be seated for hours and hour in cinema.

00:10:01: It's a way also to have global image of cinema because cinema is also language so it evolves series.

00:10:12: there.

00:10:12: they had influence on the ways stories are told.

00:10:16: So its interesting.

00:10:18: see that from this perspective.

00:10:20: what is the language right now?

00:10:23: I always loved to come here and watch the more movie I can.

00:10:27: What

00:10:27: is interesting, that many film festivals among them also are opening up to serial productions And also more immersive productions.

00:10:37: You just mentioned a language of cinema.

00:10:39: How it changes.

00:10:40: Could you see yourself doing something like

00:10:46: this?

00:10:53: room of writers.

00:10:55: and it's like very, very hard for the brain.

00:10:57: You have a lot of brains working together.

00:11:00: It is really to me something else Very different from cinema.

00:11:03: I feel more comfortable in this cinema world.

00:11:06: You know Chekov said stories you write as the story starts at the end.

00:11:10: In a series there are no ends.

00:11:12: They can go over and over with cliffhangers and cliffhanger And to me its less natural than the story with an end.

00:11:20: Let us look into your future.

00:11:21: Where do we see yourself?

00:11:23: in maybe five or ten years from now.

00:11:36: I go for something and then... ...I live in that world, one or two years.

00:11:58: Do you have anything to do with cinematic work?

00:12:01: Yes!

00:12:01: I'm writing a horror movie.

00:12:03: A body-horror.

00:12:04: Actually i've been working on this film for five years.

00:12:07: I thought it was going to be directed before Souture because.. ..i had the experience of having a disease.

00:12:13: Before i had to make a movie about this experience.

00:12:17: I haven't planned it but its how it happened.

00:12:21: And now I'm back in the writing of this horror movie.

00:12:23: So

00:12:24: it's a body horror that is very, very timely!

00:12:26: Just like...I've always been interested in bodies and trauma.

00:12:30: Body horror has also something important to me as kind-of characters who are looking at their bodies as threats?

00:12:40: I thought so was interesting going into that genre.

00:12:45: Like a space movie or thriller…so i wanted explore that genre.

00:12:50: It

00:12:50: sounds very, very exciting.

00:12:52: So when are we gonna see it?

00:12:53: Do you already have an idea as

00:12:55: a

00:12:55: director?".

00:12:56: When you say I'm going to shoot at that time never happened...it's like in the life scene!

00:13:00: It never happens when i am really superstitious.

00:13:03: so..I don't want to say a date or whatever because it never happens the way you say it.

00:13:09: We will look on

00:13:10: out for it.

00:13:10: Thanks so much for this interview Alice Vinokour.

00:13:12: Yeah

00:13:12: thankyou very much.