Jean-Baptiste Durand: “This year reconciles French cinema and the public”

Le film de Jean-Baptiste Durand a décroché deux César. MAXPPP – TERESA SUAREZ

Friday evening, the Héraultais director won the César for best first film for Chien de la Casse, filmed in Pouget and Sète. In the role of Mirales, Raphaël Quenard is Best Male Promising Actor. This Saturday morning, the Montpellier Laureate gave an interview to Midi Libre.

With Chien de la Casse, (filmed in Hérault), you collect two Caesars in a very beautiful vintage…

Yes, it’s a great year of cinema which reconciles French cinema and the public. Even cutting-edge films like Anatomy of a Fall, The Goldman Trial, I Will Always See Your Faces or The Animal Kingdom, to name only the five nominees for best film (with Junkyard Dog), have found their audience . Some have exceeded a million entries. I think it’s a pretty exceptional year. And even the conjunction between critics, audiences and the films that are coming out is pretty crazy, we've rarely seen that with French cinema. I am extremely happy and proud to be, in a year like this, surrounded by such filmmakers. For me, who comes from a popular cinema background, I find it very beautiful that great films, as sharp and fine, find their audience. We have proven that the public is not as stupid as we are sometimes led to believe…

What will this Caesar change for you?

It will definitely make it easier to move forward, making the next film I'm working on. But ease is dangerous… hellip; You have to work hard, be worthy of this recognition.

You welcome this trophy with great modesty.

I think that Junkyard Dog owes its success to its intrinsic quality but also to an alignment: to the people who distributed it well, to the people who spoke well about it, to the critics, to a whole situation…hellip; If he had been released two weeks before, or after, he would perhaps not have had the same destiny, I am aware of that. The film has qualities, something that touched people, but it also has imperfections, that's why I continue to make films.

To return to the ceremony, when Raphaël Quenard, (best male hopeful prize) took the microphone, something strong happened in the room. ;hellip;

Yes, he put all the humanity, the humor… But it’s also the role of clowns to talk about very serious things as he did when he talked about the discontent of the farmers. It’s a local, fundamental subject, there was also something very political in his speech, he spoke like an artist. There is great affection around him because he brings something nuanced, sparkling, clever, invigorating, which feels good. We're not going to analyze why he likes it, but when he came to collect the trophy, there was a real communion between him, the room…hellip; His speech reflected the man he is: funny, deep, sensitive and with real commitment.

Junkyard Dog, was mainly filmed at Pouget. He is one of the main characters of the film…

Yes, he really would have deserved the César for best village. (Laughs). He's obviously a character in the film even if I'm not a fan of the term “character” in this case, it’s a criticism thing, we’re not talking about a character for a setting. But it is the essential arena which gives birth to the characters of the film. This is fundamental. If we had shot it in Montpellier, it would not have been the same film at all.

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