09/12/2024 - The director and star of the French film share their views on making a movie with those who feel like family and relating to marginalised social perspectives in their own ways

(© HakounArt/FIFM24)

The newest feature by Toulouse-born filmmaker Baya Kasmi tells the story of a family – in this case a mother, father, teenage daughter and young son – living an “alternative” lifestyle with their children undocumented within the French state system. Mikado [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Baya Kasmi, Félix Moati
film profile] graced the big screen at Marrakech as part of the festival’s Special Screenings section, marking its international premiere in the Moroccan city. Cineuropa sat down with Kasmi and Félix Moati, who plays the titular father, Mikado, to discuss the film, which also comes to French cinemas next year on 5 February, courtesy of Memento Distribution.

Cineuropa: Your film tells a different story about undocumented individuals living in France – those marginalised and undocumented not because they are asylum seekers, for instance, but because of their very difficult childhoods within the French system. Why was this story important for you to tell?
Baya Kasmi: I have met a lot of people who had an awful childhood and who went to foster homes. I think it’s different when you’re in a society where the system [has a very domineering hand], where you have to do lots of things all the way to the grave – it’s really common to feel out of place. I wanted to tell this story without adopting a romantic viewpoint. I had a strong image of this film I liked when I was a teenager, the US movie Running on Empty by Sidney Lumet. I think US cinema knows how to tell a story – it seems very simple, and it seems like an adventure, but these films are talking about people who are not in society and who are different.

Félix Moati: I think Baya has a particular sensitivity to margins. It's a movie with two, three, four or five different points of view. It's difficult to tell a story like that because telling stories is about understanding the way other people think. It was great to begin exploring this family with Mikado and to understand how Vincent [Ramzy Bedia] sees them. But I needed to be really close to one character, and for me, it was Mikado because it's his life. He always holds his childhood within him, and all the decisions he’s making are based on that.

How do you find your performance within this character of Mikado? Do you relate to him in certain ways?
FM: It's always a difficult question because when I work as an actor, I don't try to relate [completely] to the character. I don't have to look like a character to understand him, just like in real life – it’s called empathy. But the thing that really spoke to me was Mikado’s strong love for his children because I'm a father, and I could understand this very deeply. I also like characters that look apathetic because they are trapped in their own fears. I can understand him. He doesn't know how to be loved or what to do to be loved, but he needs to be loved in a certain way.

You worked on this film with several actors with whom you've collaborated on previous projects. How did that come about? Did you write the parts with them in mind?
BK: Yes, that's my passion. I try to tell stories that are very intimate. I've met some people that I love who are actors and some who are from the technical crew, too. It's a special thing to get old together, to work together year after year and to try to give them different things to play with. I use things I know about them in real life and put them in the film, and they let me do it. That’s a joy for me.

FM: I think Baya needs affection to work. It makes her sharper – it’s the way she works. Some people work better when they don’t know the actors they’re working with. But she needs to have feelings, and those feelings that she projects on people, we can find them in the movie.

BK: When we are on set, I feel like I'm with my family because I know him very well. It’s like with family – you have lots of love and lots of arguments.

FM: I'm her daughter's godfather. Honestly, she can ask me anything, and I will do it blindly, really. You have to have this trust.

Was there anything you felt was unique about the production process?
BK: Initially, I was doing comedies. Everybody wanted me to continue doing comedies, but this felt like a discovery for me, a new dawn. It was as if I were doing another first film. I really enjoyed the process. It was special because it was a little movie. For my first two films, I had more money, and there was a big crew. There was a lot of intimacy in this film, and it was great for the story. But I think the script was not very sexy for some people, because the family is not one you can understand easily. I felt very early on that it would be a difficult movie to make. I knew I wanted to make a very sensitive film, but it was difficult to convince people. We kept it very free and joyful.