[interview] Kim Chapiron to the Night of horror

On Orange Cinema, October is the ” month of fear “, during which will take place nanars, the great classics and masterpieces hidden. Humour, or cold sweats, vampires or zombies, there will be something for all tastes. It is an opportunity to re-watch for the twelfth time A night in hell, and to discover The borders of the dawn, the secret weapon of the programming. To promote the event, Orange had invited the Blog to the Night of horror, a selection of some of the highlights of the month. The ball is opened by Sheitan, in the presence of his father, Kim Chapiron.

The guy has a background convincing enough : he has his first revelation film with The Hatred of Matthieu Kassovitz, frequent, Vincent Cassel, Oxmo Puccino and Romain Gavras, with whom he is the founder of collective worship Kourtrajmé. And if Sheitan is a film that is debatable and discussed (big shit or a masterpiece ?), Dog Pound, his second feature film, is an excellent surprise, on a road still slippery. The achievements of Kim Chapiron speak of violence and of sex, her characters are young people in the suburbs or prisoners, psychopaths, and the neglected… so, if it is not notified, we can have a shock seeing it for the first time : handsome very clean on him, Kim smiled all the time, is polite, speaks almost too well to look sincere and, above all, seems to have not much to say about his own work. Unless I have not asked the right questions. Has you to judge.

It is moving to review Sheitan on the big screen ?

Downright. I always see this film with a lot of tenderness.

The fact that it has not forgotten, 4 years after its release, it may mean that it is in the process of acquiring the status of a cult film, that he is not dead…

It is a testimony of an era and characters that reflect a moment in my life. So to see that people are receptive to it, it’s really nice.

You have said many times that for you, Sheitan was not specifically a horror film. You not find it strange, in this case, it is shown in a night dedicated to the horror ?

It makes me really weird, yeah.

Ac not pose a problem ?

I just hope that the people who come to pinball and to have sensations, as in the texas chainsaw Massacre, are aware that they will not have it.

Yes, but all the same, in Sheitan there is a real dimension glaucous closer to the horror, right ?

Of course, but it, it tickles the anguish and discomfort as well as it tickles the humor, the sexuality… it’s part of the different emotions that I wanted to trigger.

Humor, sexuality… you could say that it is a teen movie then ?

Oh I would love to ! It is beautiful, the appellation teen movie, I like it a lot.

Now that you have more experience as a professional director, there are things you’d change in Sheitan ?

Nope, nothing at all. I am happy of all, that’s how I would have wanted it to be.

It is the perfect film for you ?

It is not perfect, this is the movie that corresponds to this moment, this is. It was done as it should be. I’m not the type to regret in any case.

There are a lot of differences between Sheitan and your last film, Dog Pound… Especially in the manner in which they were made : on Sheitan, you are working with the entire team of Kourtrajme, surrounded by your friends and family, while on Dog Pound, you find yourself with a team that is 100% new. Ca is doing what to end up all alone ?

I have often been alone… It is before everything at the service of its subject, this is the rule as a director. Sheitan, the dynamic of the group and of inspiration that we had all really was to the world of the film. Dog Pound was something much more intimate and personal, and there I was with my co-writer, all two, all alone…

Ca also allows you to do your evidence-in-solo, to show what you’re by yourself, perhaps ?

It is give much importance to his person than to say something like that. I prefer to be at the service of the film. In the end it is the film that remains. The public doesn’t care much about the director, he prefers to watch the movie.

As a filmmaker, it is all the same, a look, a universe of reference… When you speak of your references to Dog Pound, you will not cites almost only american movies. Dog Pound rather, it is a French movie or an american film ?

I hope that there is still a soul that belongs to us. In european films, even if it is generalized to say such a thing, we treat a lot of human relationships, always, so it has a european sensibility. I hope that in a Dog Pound there’s this sensitivity that we feel, that belongs to us.

And yet, when you think about it, there are not that many great movies prison French who come to mind when you think about it. Yet, in less than a year, there has been A prophet, Jacques Audiard, and Dog Pound. Ca wants to say something, two French directors who are interested in the same time to this theme ?

Well, it’s the chance eh. I started my shooting virtually at the same time as the Prophet, as we it took a little more time, the release of the film was not organized the same, and it is a total random.

It was not something you wanted to say, a general atmosphere that you wanted to translate, to evoke ?

For the shot that is chance. It is a total fiction, that talks of juvenile delinquency, and it is a portrait of, some young offenders that were held in these detention centres.

The special feature of Dog Pound, you lay claim to, is that, unlike a lot of other films of prison, it does not take the issue from the angle of ethnic conflict. But at its core, however, this is K’naan, who should have the primary role ?

Of course. K’naan, who makes the BO…

But K’naan, him, is black. That would have changed many things in the film if the lead actor had been black instead of white ?

It is sure and certain. But in fact it was another movie, it was rewritten. When is come this moment where he could not shoot the film and we stumbled on this rare jewel that is Adam Butcher, we adapted. The film has changed, and I had to reshape with the writer.

And then, it would have given what to, Dog Pound, without it ?

Ca would have been more to the image of K’naan. This was a child soldier from Somalia, a survivor of Mogadishu, the civil war, who arrived in the United States… It was a bit of its history.

Your next film, on the other hand, will be something much lighter. You announced to us a romantic comedy in Rio. You spend so the United States in Brazil… You are fed up with France ?

No, it is that the project I’m currently working on, I think about since really not a lot of time and I want to start working on it. It is only after this second film I feel may be more comfortable to make a film a bit bigger.

You’ve gained confidence.

This is, exactly. It is the project that comes at this time of my life. Me the France I love, is full of things to tell about France, I have lots of ideas of films that happen in France.

Therefore it is not excluded that you might come back ? This is more of a coincidence than anything else, the fact that you chain up 2 movies which are going out of the borders ?

That’s it.

You’re still a young director, but you just passed the milestone of thirty. In Sheitan, your characters have around 20 years of age, and in Dog Pound, they are an average age of 16 years. So basically, while you got older than 4 years, they have rejuvenated many years. Ca wants to say something ?

Bah I hope to one day make a movie on the tiny …

It would make a hell of a change of tone. Between Sheitan et Dog Pound, there was already a world, and between the Dog Pound and your romantic comedy, we can expect the same thing. You accounts continue to change the registry every film ?

No, not specially, I let it go with the movie that best matches the time.

You may be afraid of you get bored, or make two times the same movie, or something like that ?

It is not also reflected.

It is also not thought ?

Nan.