TORONTO '06 DISCOVERY INTERVIEW: Jean-Pascal Hattu: "The success of a filmmaker is the success of his desire."

What are your goals for the Toronto International Film Festival?

I go to the Toronto International Film Festival to show my film and listen to how people will feel it. I also go there to meet other filmmakers and see their films.

How/where did the initial idea for your film come from?

The first kind of “illumination” I had was when I went to meet a friend in jail. When I sat in the visitor room and saw him coming in, I perceived that the only outside contacts would be put to the test in this two square meters room. When he told me that his wife came two times a week to visit him, I could not understand how the intimacy of this couple could exist. I saw the wardens passing each thirty seconds at the door, keeping an eye on the room.

When I met his wife outside she told me how the intimacy could exist between them: a stolen glance, the smell of sweat, of few clothes, a hand they could hold during an hour.

The second time, a few years later, I made a documentary for the French television about a young warden women whose job was the first. She was very surprised to see that the old wardens didn’t try to speak with the prisoners. When I filmed this young girl - I felt that I had the beginning of a story. 

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in either developing the project or making and securing distribution for the movie?

When I finished the writing with Gilles Tauraud, my producer sent the script to French Television. The most difficult thing for me had been to wait for their answers and hear that my film didn’t interest them. In France nowadays if you don’t have any French television on the project, it’s quite impossible to make a feature. Nevertheless, my producer and I made up our minds to try to do the film without them. We were just waiting for somebody who could believe in the project and could also say to me: “Make the film with the actors you want!”

How did you finance the film?

When Pyramide Distribution read the script, they decided to take the risk. My meeting with Fabienne Vonier and Eric Lages has been very interesting. They liked the project very much. We talked about cinema and films. We liked each other. I was very happy since they had distributed and financed so many beautiful films. 

What are your biggest creative influences?

My influences are vast. Bergman, Dreyer, Robert Bresson, Maurice Pialat but also Orson Welles and Italian neo-realism cinema.

What is your definition of independent film?

An independent film is for me the film which has been made with an independence of spirit.

How do you define success in terms of filmmaking?

The films whom the filmmaker can say: “I made the film without being manipulated on the essential of what I wanted to say or to show.”

The success of a filmmaker is the success of his desire. A filmmaker should never give up on what he wants to say or to show. The success of the filmmaker I like,  lie in his determination in making always the same film even if he is not narrating the same story.

What are some recent films you enjoyed?

Recent?  “Wassup Rockers” by Larry Clark and “Transamerica” by Duncan Tucker.

Can you tell us a bit about your next projects?

My next project might be the story of a prison’s psychiatrist. It is a love story. The script is already written.

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