Producer and director Stéphane DEMOUSTIER was guest speaker at the ESRA Thursdays on January 20, 2022 at the Jean Renoir amphitheater.
After viewing his latest feature film La fille au Bracelet, released in February 2020, the students met Stéphane DEMOUSTIER. A short-film producer in his early days at Année zéro productions, the pleasure of being a theatrical spectator inspired him to get behind the camera and make films. He learned the director's trade through short films, for reasons of feasibility and apprenticeship. He then went on to make his first feature-length film, Terre Battue, which was both personal and linked to his story.
The adaptation of the film La fille au bracelet (The Girl with the Bracelet) came up in the discussion between the director and the students. For Stéphane DEMOUSTIER, this adaptation is very special: the script was pre-existing, and he deliberately didn't want to find out about the news story that inspired the film. He wanted to tell the story without going into the girl's point of view. What interested him was showing the parents' feelings. Stéphane DEMOUSTIER likes films that leave plenty of room for the audience. During the shooting, he wanted to be on an equal footing with the audience, not knowing whether the young girl was guilty or not.
To round off the evening, Stéphane DEMOUSTIER shared his experience with the students. In his view, it's important to see films, to be in the action on set and to explore one's limits in order to grasp the tools and means to master one's art. He feels stimulated by the constraints of filming, which give him a framework and a form on which to build. The director compares a shoot to a sporting competition: you have to be there.
