- How did the draft WELCOME?
- Mostly because I really wanted to make a film on the subject. I mean people who flee countries ill prepared to do anything to get to El Dorado called England and, after of unimaginable journeys, end up trapped in Calais, humiliated, battered and humiliated a few miles from the English coast you see in the distance.
One night we talked about it with Adam Olivier and I thought this place was a bit of our border "Mexican," which was enough to dig to find a formidable dramatic thread.
- How was the process?
- Emmanuel and I got in contact with associations working to help these people and we went to Calais. For several days in a frigid winter, volunteers live with trying to alleviate the refugees' living hell "jungle" in which they take refuge, the business of the pins, the continued police harassment - in fact, devotes an entire garrison - detention centers, truck checks, in hiding to board ships and where they risk their lives to avoid be noticed by CO2 detectors, heartbeat, scanners, etc.. But perhaps what most surprised us was the age of these refugees. The older ones have not turned 25 years. There are kids of 15 who travel the road alone terrible. Talking with Sylvie Copyans, Salam Association, we learned that several of desperation, even tried to swim across the channel ... After a few days we returned to Paris with this information, without exchanging a word in the road.
- How did the plot of the script?
- I could not get his head the idea of \u200b\u200bthe boy who wanted to cross the English Channel swim. Emmanuel was the first to say: "And going to the swimming pool to train for Calais." And I said: "There she meets a swimming instructor." In two sentences we have summarized the plot and characters, knowing that it would be a "superescenificación" and does not betray the lives of refugees. On a subject so strong, so today, honesty had to go first.
- So was born the character of Simon?
- had to get away from the documentary aspect and focus on the personal history of the characters, the relationships that determine the lives of each and how often are behind everything that happens. Noting
volunteers, I thought that probably some would live with a partner who might not be so generous and was so committed.
Simon has flaws, and like all of us, is not perfect. At first, like almost all the inhabitants of Calais, not interested in the problem of migrants, simply ignored. "Lower your gaze and returns home," says Marion, his former wife. As a young man had the opportunity to have a large career, but did not be and is bitter. Act like you give swimming lessons out all his life. His only real problem is that he has left Marion. Meet Bilal and decides to help him for the wrong reasons. Offers home to Bilal and his friend Zoran to impress Marion, to show that it is not as individualistic as she thinks, thinking that will win her back. But nothing goes as planned, the law punishes those who support an illegal.
- Bilal wants to go to England to meet Mina. The movie could be summarized as follows: A man loses a wife and unhinged, another, younger, loves a woman and can do anything to meet her.
- The two destinations are crossed and face the absurd order that rules the world.
The film shows how a chance meeting can make you more than himself. I think we've done this long because we want to believe in the feelings and intelligence, instead of cynicism and interest.
- The situation is reminiscent of an era ungrateful Occupation.
- Yes, could be in 1943, be someone who hides Jews in her home and who end up catching. But it happens today, 200 km from Paris.
- wrote the script thinking of Vincent Lindon?
- often thought it to previous movies. First, because it seems a great actor, and also because I have the feeling that unites us something. Normally when I write, I try not to think about the actors and focus on the characters. This time it was not. We ate together and told him the story. He said he would work in the film without reading the script. Vincent is a man of heart, I think that besides the character of Simon, I liked the idea of \u200b\u200bgetting into this story. I wrote the character thinking of him, and nothing has come between us ever since. However, people who know us feared that sparks flew on the set. But as we were both in the same direction, film, chemistry between the two was exceptional.
- What kind of actor is?
- is able to convey feelings with a simple gesture or attitude, thus avoiding a phrase or a word. It is an engaged man, a perfectionist. As an actor, is always outstanding, and shuns any effective detail, allowing you to perfectly embody the Simon. I know that after shooting looks good when it is released worldwide flowers, but knowing it was great, both the arts and in humans. We talk daily and see often. We will make other movies together.
- And Audrey Dana?
- Audrey is what whites call "the girl next door "(the girl next door) is the opposite of a star. I soon find it. I needed a credible woman school teacher who, by mere human efforts, takes money to the refugees. Neither wanted a militant suffragette. Only a girl would be comfortable with herself with a generosity that is not invented. And Audrey is. Marion scared him a little, but he liked the story. Besides, I was convinced he could with the character. He is a very full, which takes things seriously without taking itself seriously.
- Bilal And how do you find?
- literally like a needle in a haystack. It was a very important deal. The character is 17, speaks only Kurdish and English, and must hold the film with Vincent. Every time I thought, I came sweats. Did not even know if there was the actor to interpret. Casting director Tatiana Vialle and I traveled for weeks between Berlin and Istanbul, via London and Sweden, where a significant Kurdish community settled. Finally, we find Firat in France. Not a professional actor and the first trials were very ... special. But he had a truth and intensity inside that made the difference.
- You wanted to be an actor?
- for nothing. Wine to try a little joke and it was necessary to convince and their parents. Then I thought of working with him in rehearsing a lot, but ultimately chose not to destroy its spontaneity. As the filming date approached, my fears increased. A Firat it was the same. Once on set, it took about three hours to find your site and the extent of the paper.
- There are many non-professional actors in the film.
- All young Kurds Bilal known in Calais find them while searching for the actor to embody him. Most come from Istanbul, Berlin ... I learned a lot from them. You have to shoot fast, not try too and let them evolve without imposing too limits on the set. There
wonderful discoveries, like the young Derya, for example, who plays Mina. Emerged as an exceptional actress and now wants to pursue a career as an actress. We shot a very complicated scene in one take, without prior testing, Trusting your instincts. It's incredible.
Other actors, who had been in my previous movies, I like a lot, as Emmanuel Courcol, my co-writer, Blandine Pelissier, Eric Herson-mackerel, Gilles Masson ... And Tatiana was able to find great people like Olivier Rabourdin, who plays Lt. police, a very complicated and that leaves an average of 45 cops on TV every day, but this should not be conventional Ligarde Patrick, the neighbor informant.
- The scenery, as it often does in his films, are real characters.
- Of course, the swimming pool serves as a catalyst, not only evokes the truncated race champion Simon could have been, it is also where Bilal learns to swim across the English Channel.
wanted to shoot in natural settings where the action. Include stories better when shooting in a real location: the streets of Calais, as the giant trans-Mancha, beach Blériot and continuous flow of ferries ... These sites provide greater accuracy to the film. Producer Christophe Rossignon and I decided not to run in the Czech Republic and Romania, as is often done for economic reasons. And it shows in the film.
- The stage is omnipresent, but the camera is very discreet, almost invisible.
- No 40 sites where to place the camera to shoot a scene, and we need to find it. I'm always asking the players to seek the right tone, but the camera can also speak in their own way. If you do notice much in a scene, if the movements are free or purely decorative, the viewer unconsciously, think: "Sure, it's a movie." When that happens, I get the impression that is lost something. As a viewer, when I like a movie, it's as if someone had made a gift.
- During the first 15 minutes of the film gives the feeling that we are discovering an unknown world.
- But very close. Not bad that a film allows us to discover an unknown facet of the country in which we live.
On the problem of migrants, refugees, undocumented immigrants, the multiplicity of television programs on the subject are lost in the huge media cacophony. After all, many debates, many legitimate rebellions are useless because no one hears anything. I prefer to make a movie, count on the big screen the story of two men to two women, facing his affection in the midst of all this mess. I just hope to move the viewer sitting in the dark and help you get an idea of \u200b\u200byour own on the subject. And I hope that some of the film will stay with him.
- Mostly because I really wanted to make a film on the subject. I mean people who flee countries ill prepared to do anything to get to El Dorado called England and, after of unimaginable journeys, end up trapped in Calais, humiliated, battered and humiliated a few miles from the English coast you see in the distance.
One night we talked about it with Adam Olivier and I thought this place was a bit of our border "Mexican," which was enough to dig to find a formidable dramatic thread.
- How was the process? - Emmanuel and I got in contact with associations working to help these people and we went to Calais. For several days in a frigid winter, volunteers live with trying to alleviate the refugees' living hell "jungle" in which they take refuge, the business of the pins, the continued police harassment - in fact, devotes an entire garrison - detention centers, truck checks, in hiding to board ships and where they risk their lives to avoid be noticed by CO2 detectors, heartbeat, scanners, etc.. But perhaps what most surprised us was the age of these refugees. The older ones have not turned 25 years. There are kids of 15 who travel the road alone terrible. Talking with Sylvie Copyans, Salam Association, we learned that several of desperation, even tried to swim across the channel ... After a few days we returned to Paris with this information, without exchanging a word in the road.
- How did the plot of the script?
- I could not get his head the idea of \u200b\u200bthe boy who wanted to cross the English Channel swim. Emmanuel was the first to say: "And going to the swimming pool to train for Calais." And I said: "There she meets a swimming instructor." In two sentences we have summarized the plot and characters, knowing that it would be a "superescenificación" and does not betray the lives of refugees. On a subject so strong, so today, honesty had to go first.
- So was born the character of Simon?
- had to get away from the documentary aspect and focus on the personal history of the characters, the relationships that determine the lives of each and how often are behind everything that happens. Noting
volunteers, I thought that probably some would live with a partner who might not be so generous and was so committed.
Simon has flaws, and like all of us, is not perfect. At first, like almost all the inhabitants of Calais, not interested in the problem of migrants, simply ignored. "Lower your gaze and returns home," says Marion, his former wife. As a young man had the opportunity to have a large career, but did not be and is bitter. Act like you give swimming lessons out all his life. His only real problem is that he has left Marion. Meet Bilal and decides to help him for the wrong reasons. Offers home to Bilal and his friend Zoran to impress Marion, to show that it is not as individualistic as she thinks, thinking that will win her back. But nothing goes as planned, the law punishes those who support an illegal.
- Bilal wants to go to England to meet Mina. The movie could be summarized as follows: A man loses a wife and unhinged, another, younger, loves a woman and can do anything to meet her.
- The two destinations are crossed and face the absurd order that rules the world.
The film shows how a chance meeting can make you more than himself. I think we've done this long because we want to believe in the feelings and intelligence, instead of cynicism and interest.
- The situation is reminiscent of an era ungrateful Occupation.
- Yes, could be in 1943, be someone who hides Jews in her home and who end up catching. But it happens today, 200 km from Paris.
- wrote the script thinking of Vincent Lindon?
- often thought it to previous movies. First, because it seems a great actor, and also because I have the feeling that unites us something. Normally when I write, I try not to think about the actors and focus on the characters. This time it was not. We ate together and told him the story. He said he would work in the film without reading the script. Vincent is a man of heart, I think that besides the character of Simon, I liked the idea of \u200b\u200bgetting into this story. I wrote the character thinking of him, and nothing has come between us ever since. However, people who know us feared that sparks flew on the set. But as we were both in the same direction, film, chemistry between the two was exceptional.
- What kind of actor is?
- is able to convey feelings with a simple gesture or attitude, thus avoiding a phrase or a word. It is an engaged man, a perfectionist. As an actor, is always outstanding, and shuns any effective detail, allowing you to perfectly embody the Simon. I know that after shooting looks good when it is released worldwide flowers, but knowing it was great, both the arts and in humans. We talk daily and see often. We will make other movies together.
- And Audrey Dana?
- Audrey is what whites call "the girl next door "(the girl next door) is the opposite of a star. I soon find it. I needed a credible woman school teacher who, by mere human efforts, takes money to the refugees. Neither wanted a militant suffragette. Only a girl would be comfortable with herself with a generosity that is not invented. And Audrey is. Marion scared him a little, but he liked the story. Besides, I was convinced he could with the character. He is a very full, which takes things seriously without taking itself seriously.
- Bilal And how do you find?
- literally like a needle in a haystack. It was a very important deal. The character is 17, speaks only Kurdish and English, and must hold the film with Vincent. Every time I thought, I came sweats. Did not even know if there was the actor to interpret. Casting director Tatiana Vialle and I traveled for weeks between Berlin and Istanbul, via London and Sweden, where a significant Kurdish community settled. Finally, we find Firat in France. Not a professional actor and the first trials were very ... special. But he had a truth and intensity inside that made the difference.
- You wanted to be an actor?
- for nothing. Wine to try a little joke and it was necessary to convince and their parents. Then I thought of working with him in rehearsing a lot, but ultimately chose not to destroy its spontaneity. As the filming date approached, my fears increased. A Firat it was the same. Once on set, it took about three hours to find your site and the extent of the paper.
- There are many non-professional actors in the film.
- All young Kurds Bilal known in Calais find them while searching for the actor to embody him. Most come from Istanbul, Berlin ... I learned a lot from them. You have to shoot fast, not try too and let them evolve without imposing too limits on the set. There
wonderful discoveries, like the young Derya, for example, who plays Mina. Emerged as an exceptional actress and now wants to pursue a career as an actress. We shot a very complicated scene in one take, without prior testing, Trusting your instincts. It's incredible.
Other actors, who had been in my previous movies, I like a lot, as Emmanuel Courcol, my co-writer, Blandine Pelissier, Eric Herson-mackerel, Gilles Masson ... And Tatiana was able to find great people like Olivier Rabourdin, who plays Lt. police, a very complicated and that leaves an average of 45 cops on TV every day, but this should not be conventional Ligarde Patrick, the neighbor informant.
- The scenery, as it often does in his films, are real characters.
- Of course, the swimming pool serves as a catalyst, not only evokes the truncated race champion Simon could have been, it is also where Bilal learns to swim across the English Channel.
wanted to shoot in natural settings where the action. Include stories better when shooting in a real location: the streets of Calais, as the giant trans-Mancha, beach Blériot and continuous flow of ferries ... These sites provide greater accuracy to the film. Producer Christophe Rossignon and I decided not to run in the Czech Republic and Romania, as is often done for economic reasons. And it shows in the film.
- The stage is omnipresent, but the camera is very discreet, almost invisible.
- No 40 sites where to place the camera to shoot a scene, and we need to find it. I'm always asking the players to seek the right tone, but the camera can also speak in their own way. If you do notice much in a scene, if the movements are free or purely decorative, the viewer unconsciously, think: "Sure, it's a movie." When that happens, I get the impression that is lost something. As a viewer, when I like a movie, it's as if someone had made a gift.
- During the first 15 minutes of the film gives the feeling that we are discovering an unknown world.
- But very close. Not bad that a film allows us to discover an unknown facet of the country in which we live.
On the problem of migrants, refugees, undocumented immigrants, the multiplicity of television programs on the subject are lost in the huge media cacophony. After all, many debates, many legitimate rebellions are useless because no one hears anything. I prefer to make a movie, count on the big screen the story of two men to two women, facing his affection in the midst of all this mess. I just hope to move the viewer sitting in the dark and help you get an idea of \u200b\u200byour own on the subject. And I hope that some of the film will stay with him.
