French documentary director Nicolas Philibet on the need to improvise

French filmmaker Nicolas Philibert He is one of the most important documentary directors in the world, but he stays “humble”, he said on Saturday at an audience at The Saloniki Documentary Festivalwho had presented to him the Honorary Alexander Honorary Award from the previous evening.

Among other honors, Philibert won the European Film Award and was nominated for Bafta for “To be and to have“And won the gold bear of Berlin for”On the Adamant. ”

In a discussion on Saturday, Philibert said he did not like to be described as “observational filmmaker”. He does not only record reality, but “re-writing,” he said. Philibert, who publishes his own films, added that the most important thing was to build a narrative. He said Variety Later, that his films could be considered a form of fiction, because they are his version of reality, and if five producers were filming at the same time, they would produce five different films. “It’s my gaze. I decide where to place the camera and what to film. It is the reality as being rewritten by me. It is not an observation, “he said during the discussion, which was described as Masterclass, although it was not comfortable with the term.

He does not like to prepare excessively for his films and remains open for spontaneous incidents and emphasizes the need to improvise. “I plan something that is accidental,” he said, smiling. “It is nice to be open to disturbances. You meet people who bother you or scare you or give you food for thinking and make you see things in a different way and stimulate you. “

He added: “I need a starting point, but I don’t know where it will take me. I’m not even sure I will make the movie. I need an idea that is promising. What is important is not the subject. There are no good or bad topics. We can make a good movie on a small topic or bad movie on a big topic. The beauty of the film is not proportional to the importance of the subject. “

He added: “I do not have a specific intention. The beauty of the film is often related to something that is not predictable. The moments of grace are unexpected. I don’t want to make a movie based on an idea, about something. I have a humble approach because I try to understand. I am looking to collect something that helps me understand why I wanted to make the movie. ”

For Philibert, the relationship with the people present in the film is essential and, therefore, must create “a climate based on trust.” He added: “I must be sure that I will establish a relationship there, so that people give me something and spectators. I will use the room to give voice to these people and give me something I want. I can’t know what people will offer me beforehand. I don’t try to learn people with my movies. I try to understand what these people can learn. “

Its documentaries tend to be focused on specific locations – such as a psychiatric school or clinic – and a community. “To be and to have” was established in an elementary school in a village in France. He said the children did not take a lot of time to accept the room in the school room. He allowed them to play with the filming equipment first and on the same day he started shooting.

Speaking of “on the Adamant”, which is established at The Adamant, a day care center in the Central Adult Paris with a variety of mental disorders, explained: “It is a film about human beings; It is not a psychiatric clinic. “He said that the psychiatrists were very open to the idea of ​​filming the film and helped him to film” Averroès & Rosa Parks “, which was shot at two psychiatric units at the Esquirol Hospital in Paris, and” the typewriter and other headaches “, which takes us to the houses of some of the” adamant ” Parks ”during their visits. “On the Adamant” is “very popular among psychiatrists and has been examined for many of them. Served as a passport. Their doors are wide open because they trust me. They know I will be very careful and I will not do anything stupid. I would not film someone who suffers a lot. I don’t film people without them knowing. “

He kept in touch with the people who presented in “On the Adamant” and continues to go to the clinic. “I was there a few weeks ago. The adventure continues beyond the movie. There is a relationship that continues, ”he said.

At the beginning of his career, he filmed a movie about a climber for a TV series called “Les Cartes de L’eventure”, and the experience remained with him. “Filming someone who risks their lives in front of the room cannot be taken by themselves. It was difficult, ”he said. “I wanted to be sure that the room would not push him to exaggerate what he was doing. The room affects reality. It becomes a filmed reality. Becomes a different thing. I could push him to do more than he is able to do and endanger him because of the room. Would it be able to resist pressure? Making a documentary implies a responsibility towards those we film. ”

He added: “We pushes people who are in the shadow in the light. Some things will never be the same for them. Will never be viewed in the same way. Will react in different ways. We need to know that and consider that. We have a certain responsibility for the people we film. “

Asked about when he knew he shot enough, he said, “I could continue forever, but there is a moment when editing becomes a greater desire for me. Now I want to see how everything I collected meets. “