Producer François KRAUS spoke to ESRA students at the Jeudis de l'ESRA event on March 18, 2021.
From an early age, François KRAUS knew that his love of cinema and his curiosity about filmmakers would lead him to become a producer. Working in the shadows while giving birth to films, directors and actors suits him both professionally and humanely. The producer's job is a very comprehensive one, enabling him to grasp the script, choose the actors, and have a presence on the set, in post-production and marketing.
At the end of 1994, at the end of his studies and at the start of his professional life, he set up his production company Les Films du Kiosque with Denis PINEAU-VALENCIENNE. The two men quickly embarked on a number of projects, notably short films, which they produced thanks to subsidies and a grant from the Lagardère Foundation. Then they made their first feature film, which launched them. François KRAUS knows what he doesn't want to produce, and his genre is more contemporary and realistic. Les films du Kiosque receive a lot of projects, which they make sure to study. Sometimes, on the other hand, it's a crush on an adaptation project that prompts him to seek out a screenwriter, whom he accompanies during the writing process.
As a producer of many first films, for him, selling a first film is a real promise. A producer's level of involvement is greater on a first film, there's more commitment. The students also discussed the film Les Chatouilles , based on a play he discovered at the Avignon Festival. François KRAUS saw the play and decided to adapt it into a film with the original directors Andréa BESCOND and Eric METAYER. Together they sealed a kind of agreement for a first film. For him, it was one of his greatest adventures in cinema, with daring scriptwriting and directing. Les Chatouilles received rave reviews at Cannes, from the public and at the César Awards. It went beyond the cinema object and provoked strong reactions, contributing to a liberation of speech.
The producer also spoke to the students about the covid period and his optimistic view of the future of French cinema. He sees the cinema experience as unique and entirely compatible with platforms and the industry's desire to get platforms to invest in French cinema.
