You are a film critic and historian, and you also teach film aesthetics at the University of Paris III. Can you tell us how cinema came into your life, which films and directors influenced your childhood and adolescence? 

Growing up in a small provincial town in the Vendée in the early 1960s, I liked the cinema because it offered me something different from the experience of the theatre that I had locally (mainly popular plays performed by inhabitants of the town, with people I knew acting, the teacher, the butcher and so on), which failed to transport me elsewhere. The experience of cinema as a child, in a cinema hall (the screen, the projector beam, the projected images) immediately seduced, captivated and fascinated me: the extension of a world to which I belonged, unknown to me, for which I had no images (no television at the time, no travel either). These images came from elsewhere and they took me elsewhere. They were projected on a screen as if they were trying to get me to go along with them, like some voluntary abduction. As a child, my desire for the cinema was like the hero of Stevenson's short story Will 'o the Mill, with the need to go and see elsewhere, to encounter new worlds and new people, like me (the human race) but different from me. From my earliest childhood experiences, I loved the cinema precisely because it was not like the theatre, because it offered me or opened my eyes to something else, different even to what stories and books could offer me. I had the feeling that I was meeting people like me from outside my reality. 

My discovery of the cinema, through film, gave me an appetite for the world, as well as broadening my horizons. Everything expanded a world that I did not yet know but which was nevertheless mine. I started to watch films, probably bad ones, but I liked them because they were films, cinema, and not anything else (theatre, books, photography, painting). These included the series of Spanish films starring Joselito and the German westerns with Winnetou as the hero based on the novels of Karl May. There are films that marked me as a child, such as Lawrence of Arabia, which I saw at the time, but the desire to make cinema the business of my life (to think about it, to write about it) came to me after seeing the films of Robert Bresson (the subject of my master's thesis) and Carl Theodor Dreyer (my doctoral thesis on Vampyr), in particular Ordet, the film that turned everything in my life upside down. These are films that opened me up to another dimension, another possibility of cinema. Before I discovered them, I didn't know that cinema could take me so far, on an inner journey, this time to the depths of myself. It was another form of experience, complementary to the first, and irreversible. 

For five years, you were President of Aide aux Cinémas du Monde, co-managed by the CNC and the Institut français. What are your recollections of this period? 

I took a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction in this role, this great responsibility, with the readers and members of the commission, trying to do the best job possible, in the interests of cinema and its future. In the teams of the CNC as well as in those of the Institut français, I met people who are highly invested in this task, whether assessing projects or setting up meetings. As chairman, during the reading committees and plenary commissions, taking time to exchange and discuss with the right state of mind, so that everyone can put forward their arguments, seems to me essential for making the best possible selection. To make a choice, of course, but also to know why. The aim of this very selective committee is to provide artistic and economic assistance, while encouraging or listening to what is happening in established filmmaking (new directions and proposals, in terms of subjects or aesthetics) or emerging from more fragile, less well-known film industries that we feel need assistance to break out onto the global stage. The choices made by the committee makes it possible to enrich the map of young world cinema, to see first-hand where things are happening and how cinema is evolving, with centres of interest that are moving and shifting, with Aide aux Cinémas being a kind of seismograph of what is making waves and changing cinema on a global scale. 

Did you have any particular favourites during these five years? What films made a lasting impression on you? 

From this year alone, the Egyptian film Feathers by Omar El Zohairy, Grand Prix of La Semaine de la Critique, was a real favourite. It is a début film project that we adore and have supported since 2017 when it was first presented. It was a gamble because the story is wildly implausible (a father transformed into a chicken by a magic trick, with no hope of changing back) while describing the reality of the country. This strong and singular proposal was very different from what we knew of Egyptian cinema, of Arab cinema, of cinema in general. Aide aux Cinémas du Monde supports already established filmmakers (the second college) but the most stimulating work is that of the first college, working on début films, identifying and highlighting the filmmakers who will shape the cinema of tomorrow. The aim of the commission, as production assistant, is to get films into cinemas in France and around the world, to show them to the public, even if the role of festivals, upstream, is crucial in giving them life. 

You are a specialist in Asian cinema, particularly the work of Abbas Kiarostami. Do you see specific cinematographic characteristics in each region of the world? 

Aide aux Cinémas du Monde is an excellent observatory for the state of world cinema and, incidentally, for the film industries that French co-producers want to invest in, because France has a large pool of minority co-producers who are keen to help world cinema develop. When I took over as Chairman in 2016, there were territories that were very well represented and supported (Eastern Europe, including Romania, Western Europe, including Italy, Latin America, specifically Argentina) and other regions that were much less well represented, such as North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia, with very few projects submitted. Latin America still produces quality cinema, with new countries asserting themselves (Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala and most recently Bolivia, with El Gran Movimiento by Kiro Russo, shown at the Venice film festival). Similarly, a whole new generation of filmmakers has emerged from North Africa (Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco) who are producing a different kind of cinema from previous generations, and Aide aux Cinémas du Monde has responded to this momentum. All of this is stimulating and very encouraging. But the most striking region is undoubtedly South-East Asia, with 22 projects supported over the last few years, from a wide range of countries (Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar and Malaysia). There is also a whole new generation emerging in sub-Saharan African cinema, working more in documentaries than in fiction at the moment, and I am convinced that it will soon be talked about. 

In a turbulent but paradoxically rich and creative era from a cinematographic point of view, what is your view of world cinema? How do you see the artistic future? 

Being rather optimistic by nature, I see and believe in creative vitality: it exists. There is a real desire for cinema, including in countries that do not have a film industry or policy, which is something we must be attentive to, in terms of aid, both artistic and financial. This craft economy, in terms of film production (financing) and manufacturing conditions, is the guarantee of their uniqueness. Among independent producers, who pay attention to short films, there is a desire to support filmmakers, to help them make the films they want to make instead of pushing them to make the films expected of them, i.e. a somewhat restrictive "World" cinema, which can be a danger. These working environments, the frameworks (the relationship between a filmmaker and a producer) that give birth to these films, are the guarantee of their diversity and singularity, and Aide aux Cinémas du Monde must be attentive to this in its choices in order to maintain this fabric that is essential to the development of cinema and its creative freedom too, away from cinema made for platforms, other than those few exceptions dedicated to different cinematic possibilities. 

Do you think it is easier to make a film and distribute it now than it used to be? 

When I see this desire for cinema and the number of short films being made, I do think it is easier to make a film these days. It is also easier to identify film projects thanks to the extensive festival sector dedicated to professionals, with project presentations or Works in Progress. However, the most complicated thing for a filmmaker who has succeeded in making a first feature film, which can take several years, is to continue on this path, to make a second and then a third film before embarking on a lasting career. Many are called up, far fewer are chosen. The pressure of the first film and the expectation of the second can be difficult to handle. Making a first film is essential, and the commissions, including Aide aux Cinémas du Monde, pay particular attention to this, as do the festivals. But the most complex and delicate part of the process is how to move on afterwards, to make other films, taking into account the reception, both financial and artistic (recognition by the critics). Independence and craftsmanship throughout the chain, from production and financing to distribution (festivals, international sales agents, distributors, exhibitors) is essential to maintain diversity and to allow cinema to renew itself, and the curiosity of audiences. 

Artistic director of La Semaine de la Critique since 2011, this year you passed the torch to Ava Cahen. This period was marked by many discoveries, notably that of Julia Ducournau, recent recipient of the Palme d'Or. What memories do you have of your experience and the artists you discovered? 

Yes, the Palme d'Or awarded to Julia Ducournau's second feature film, having previously shown her short film Junior in 2011 and her first feature film Grave in 2016, was the best anniversary gift to celebrate our 60th edition. Other filmmakers first discovered at La Semaine de la Critique were included in the Official Selection, such as Hafsia Herzi who, after Tu mérites un amour (2019), had her second film Bonne mère selected for Un Certain Regard. Likewise Nadav Lapid, twice featured at La Semaine de la Critique, for his film L’institutrice in 2014 and his medium-length film, Journal d’un photographe de mariage in 2016, was back in competition with Le genou d’Ahed this year. 

We select very few films, on average 1 out of every 100 films viewed, but this difficult decision (it is easier to select 30 films than 10) has its virtues, notably to highlight the films and filmmakers we want to promote. From experience, every filmmaker has unforgettable memories of bringing their film to Cannes or La Semaine de la Critique for the first time. Given our rules (first and second features only), we cannot hold on to our directors, and our pride, after the second film, comes from seeing them selected at other festivals. The filmmakers, depending on their personality, all know their worth more or less, but they all remember their first time and know what they owe to those who selected their first film. 

When we select a film, we are entrusted with it, we have the responsibility to make it live. This is a very important commitment. It is always beautiful to see the emotion of the filmmakers and crews during a public screening and even more beautiful when the curtain comes down, with the shared emotion and the applause. The filmmakers realise that this is a huge opportunity in their lives and they savour it to the full. Recently, we have been lucky because several directors who have featured at La Semaine were in the official competition this year, including some veterans (Audiard, Carax, Ozon, Desplechin, Noé). All of this gives us a strong desire to continue, to discover the new talents who will be making the cinema of tomorrow. 

You wanted to take La Semaine de la Critique to Africa along with a module on image education and film criticism: the first stop of the tour was at FESPACO, held from 16 to 23 October 2021 in Ouagadougou, in partnership with the Institut français. Can you give us an overview of this programme and the challenges facing the largely unstructured critical community on the continent? 

We have a policy of taking La Semaine to several countries, notably in France, at the Cinémathèque Française, and at the Cinémathèque de Corse, or in Mexico, with the Morelia Festival. We wanted a presence on the African continent and this was made possible by the Institut français, with the coordination of Loïc Wong, as well as FESPACO and its new director, Alex Moussa Sawadogo, who has been a member of Aide aux Cinémas du Monde and set up the Ouaga Lab. 

During trips to foreign festivals, be it in Colombia or Georgia, the people in charge of national film assistance policy, equivalent to the CNC, explained to me that when films they had helped to support were shown at international festivals and then released in theatres in their country, something was missing, namely a critical culture to relay these films to the public, in order to make them want to see them. In addition to presenting films, including La Nuée from the 2020 edition, with Farah Clémentine Dramani-Issifou, short film coordinator for La Semaine de la Critique, we organised training courses for young critics as part of the FESPACO framework. Support from La Semaine de la Critique is not just about helping these films to travel. Because of our singularity (it is critics who select the films), it also consists of forming a viewpoint, learning what it is to be a critic, of understanding the staging and direction, what a film wants and expects from its audience and from the cinema, and also having the words, the thoughts, the reflection to evoke and prolong the existence of these films once they have been shown.