Interview with Olivier Assayas

The French director, Olivier Assayas, a Cannes regular, whose film Carlos was Out of Competition in 2010, is making the most of some respite before shooting his next film, After May, to sit on the feature film Jury of the 64th Festival presided by Robert de Niro. Interview.

This year you are on the Jury of the films In Competition presided by Robert de Niro, have you ever met him before? What does he evoke for you?
No, we never met before, but obviously he means a lot of things. Of course, I immediately think of all the films he made with Martin Scorsese, be it Raging Bull, Taxi Driver or The King of Comedy, which are all for me masterpieces and films which shaped me in the way I approach cinema.

What about the other jury members? What does this meeting of international cinema personalities mean to you?
There are several who I know and have great respect for. I was on a jury with Uma Thurman at Venice a few years ago and we got on very well. I've the greatest respect for the work of Mahamat Saleh Haroun and Johnnie To. Nansun Shi and I have known each other since I was writing about Asian cinema in the early 80's, which doesn't make you feel any younger! I'm also very friendly with Martina Gusman whose work I like, particularly in Pablo Trapero's films.

You will be representing French taste in this Jury, how might that be different or complementary to the others?
I think that specifically when it comes to the French films, I'll have to listen to what the international Jury members say. French films are immediately posited in pigeonholes, belonging to certain strata or clans within cinema… How we watch them lacks the same innocence or lack of judgementality as we might have with international films. That's what I'd like to get away from, forget my knowledge of French cinema and manage to watch these films as if they were foreign, with the same lack of local culture.

You've presented many films in the Official Selection yourself, including 5 In Competition. What memories or anecdotes do you have? What does the Festival symbolise for you?
I've the impression of having seen Cannes every which way: as a film-mad teenager, short film maker, film critic, screenwriter, director… The fact that this time around I'm staying for the whole Festival and I'm going to be able to see all the films and like them, doesn't remind me of the period when I used to come as a director, when you stay 3 days, doing a lot of official engagements and press, you can't see anything and you go home extremely frustrated. This time, I'm seeing everything, a little bit like when I was a journalist, and, from this point of view, there's something that reminds me of how it used to be.

And so how are you approaching this position of Jury membership?
By taste, I always prefer being judged to judging others. It's simple, when you're an artist, that's really what it's about. Basically, this Jury is very interesting and well balanced in a stimulating way, it's not just a question of judgement but of discussion with people all of whom will have very well articulated views… There's a real pleasure in this. I hope the best will come out on top.

Are you expecting anything from the films you're going to see in advance?
To be surprised, of course, that's all you can hope for!

What must a film be like to affect you? And how would you argue for it?
I have very eclectic tastes which aren't necessarily aesthetic or moral about cinema. I can be equally enthused in different but comparable ways by the most personal type of film, or on the other hand, a complete genre film. We like films intuitively, you feel interest or other qualities. During a debate, in my opinion, it's necessary to listen to what others might not have understood quite well enough and respond to that, pointing out the qualities which we ourselves have been receptive to.

We know your long-time attatchment to Asian cinema, is there another region of cinema which you are attracted to at the moment?
What has mainly emerged in the last few years is a Latin American cinema which used to be poorly represented in the international festivals. Now there's a really fascinating Argentinian cinema and a Mexican cinema with a similar vitality to that of Asian cinema at the time it was making itself felt on the world stage. Today Asian cinema is recognised, mapped out, it's no longer a terra incognita to be explored for the first time, so its films have full rights on the contemporary cinema circuit.

What do you take your inspiration from at the moment?
The world, experience, life, art, whether that be cinema, literature… What's more, the world is changing in extremely surprising ways today, so it's something that already nourishes the imagination.

What are the latest films that have made an impression on you and why?
I want to say Road to Nowhere by Monte Hellman and Essential Killing by Jerzy Skolimovski… Two very major filmmakers who, late on, who have made great modern films that are ambitious and bold… It's stimulating.

What are you going to do after the Festival?
At the end of June I start shooting my next film: After May.

V.V.E.