THE ETERNITY.

Zeuxis, n° 11, 3 juillet 2003.

« A day will come when a quarter of an hour will seem laudable and more desirable hanthe fortunes in the world ».

Fénelon

I would rather have been someone unknown. A faceless man. Without glory. Without dreams. Without identity. An invisble man. With no past. With no present.

The shadow of Howard Hughes.

A hper–regional amateur film–maker.

I don’t much like talking about myself. What interest can there be when I’m totally present in my films ? Everything that is chit–chat is just a front.

Just one thing counts : what is dancing on the screen.

I’m a camera–man.

I’m Mr Nizo, Mr Canon, Mr Beaulieu and Mr Bauer all rolled into one.

I observe. I record. I look. I’m an attentive spectator of everything happening around my camera.

Whenever I’m questioned, I try to come up with different answers. Why should I turn myself into a parrot and always repeat the same things ? I’m different today from the way I am now. Each day is a new day.

I’m a chamaleon.

I’m an artist and, as a result, I’m not accountable to anyone. Just myself. I always pay my bills.

I don’t think I’ve got any special message a deliver. I’ve got ideas, but I keep them for me and my friends.

Professional people are paid for their opinions. Why compete with them ? Every (wo)man to their job*.

From the outset, Cinematon has been a fashionable film.

As far as my other films are concerned, they WERE fashionable in the earky 1980s. But times have changed. People have changed. Tastes have changes. Those films are outmoded today.

I’ve always refused to follow the mood ot the times. Above all, I don’t want to lose my soul, or the pleasure filming gives me.

Days and ages pass, and artists remain.

You have to hang on in there when you’re out of fashion, because if the charm and the elegance are still there, the public will come back and you’ll be in fashion once again.

You’ll shine as never before and the public will look at your works with a new eye. You’ll be a time–honoured artist.

I’m not influenced by any film–maker in particular. They’ve all influenced me in varying doses. My favourites are August and Louis Lumière. They were geniuses. Everything influences me : advertising, photos, magazines, TV, politics, sport, journeys, celebrities, stars.

People boggle my mind. They always think they’re right. If we listened to them the world would be topsy turvy. And it would also be a lot more exciting !

I’m well aware that not all the people I film are famous. But if they’re not famous yet, maybe they will be one day. Celebrities fascinate me. They’re so fragile that the tiniest thing makes them human. I find them moving, but I don’t in any envy their fate : they’re too alone. Their balancing act on the slopes of reality is too precarious. And when they break their moorings, when they leap into the void of our imagination, they become sublime.

I don’t have any fixed ideas about stars.

You don’t become a star : you’re born a star.

Who could deny as much ? Fools ? A few afficials in the art world ? retarded adveristing people ?

To my knowledge, people have never bothered to use the outtakes of one film to make another one. As a rule, film–makers choose the shots which they find most successful. All the others end up the cutting room floor. Couldn’t you ask another film–maker (a beginner, a hack, a jobber, a has been* or — why not ? — somebody gifted) to use those outtakes and make a film with the sequences tant don’t work, the actor’s booboos, technical mistakes, and so on. The result would be particulary funny and very favourable for the producer : he would have two films for the price of one.

Some films overwhelm you and give you the unpleasant impression of being like a dwarf next to them. This has happened to me several times. I’ve been very scared because I said to myself : « I’ll never reach that level », and at the same time it toughened me up, and encouraged me at times to work up to 24 hours a day to get a bit closer to their aura, if only for a fraction of a second.

When I film masterpiece after film masterpiece, one after the other, relentlessly, I end up by getting used to genius. I start to get bored. To such a degree that if I then see o dog or a rubbishy film, I’ll find all sorts of qualities in it, possibly imaginary ones, because it interrupts the monotony ot the masterpieces.

In the press I think people reckon I’m crazy or mad. That’s quite normal, when you don’t to things like evryone else, journalists have trouble pigeonholing you. They have to talk about you wittily. It’s quite flaterring because it helps you not to take youself too seriously.

Who am I ? An artist ? An artisan ? More of a researcher. Tne National Centre for Scientific Research should have employed me ages ago, because everything I do stems and issues from research.

I never pose myself film problems. I leave such problems for other film–makers. During that time gained, I prefer to either focus on my shoots, or film. I don’t use the word « work » because shoots are much more like games and fun. Pleasure and spectacle. A very pleasant way of passing the time.

Film isn’t on the wane. People still go movies and they watch films on TV in the cosy comfort of their apartments. Why would they be wrong ?

My philosophy is : « Every film is a new film ».

My only aim in life is not to do anything any more... Will I ever manage such a thing ? I’ve got off to a bad star, because one shoot follows another... I’m filming more and more... It’s probably cowardice on my part, the way I get weighed down by film. It’s my way of loving life : doing the opposite to what I want. It’s not intentional. It’s just how it happen. What can I do about it ? Should I feel worried, doctor ?

It didn’t take me logn to get people interested in Cinématon. It worked right away.

Everybody likes being filmed : celebrities so that people see more of them, people who are still nobodies so that they’ll be discovered, and journalists so that they can talk about in the media.

That’s what the Cinématon family is.

A fantastic game of mirrors reflecting ad infinitum.

To the stars.

 


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