Sophie Letourneur makes extremely personal films. This feature film debut is the third film in a row where she processes her experiences from childhood.
Elevator Pitch
'The film centres around three girls who are going to study. They have left the safety of their homes to go and live in student rooms. They are independent, but they still have the need to be part of a group. They party, drink, fall in love but are constantly confronted with the reality of being an adult and cutting loose from the group.'
Millimetre Work
'Although I use non-professional actors I still work with a fully prepared script. The result is indeed organic and documentary-like, but everything – from text to camera angle – is thoroughly worked out, discussed and timed. If a drunken girl stands up to go and dance, it seems improvised, but in fact the exact moment of movement, the camera angle and the lighting is planned in advance to the smallest detail.'
The First Time
'La Vie au Ranche' is the third film in my trilogy about growing up, friendships and group mechanisms. The stories are autobiographical, but not the characters. I find actors that can put their own stamp on the story, which means that I can take some distance from it.'
France
'Due to my background in experimental video art my stories are not classic arthouse productions. In France there's still no distribution for films like mine. Personally I don't see why not; there's a potential audience in young cinema enthusiasts that recognise themselves in the way I tell my stories. This is because they communicate with each other in the same way. I don't think that easy accessibility is necessary: it's not very respectful to the audience to only serve up obvious and simple films. Financing experimental film is also complicated. You get a subsidy on the basis of your script. I don't work with a classic scenario, but with dialogue that only gets its meaning though the actors, so this is a stumbling block. I could have handled it differently, but I was doing things in a hurry. Just at that moment I had the perfect group of actors with the right dynamic.'
Bright Future
'The next film phase will be about the discovery of loneliness and the finding of an inner voice. It's a bit like what is happening in my life, so again something very personal. The difference with this film is that it will be about something that I'm experiencing now. My previous stories were reconstructions I drew from my personal archive. How the process will go is difficult to say; because it's so close to home it will be a new way of working for me.'(MN)
La Vie au Ranch (TG) – Sophie Letourneur
Fri 5th 15.45 PA4, Sat 6th 13.30 PA3