Cannes: Monia Chokri denounces "violence" in the cinema world, "particularly in France"

Quebec filmmaker Monia Chokri, present at Cannes with the comedy Simple comme Sylvain, denounces “a kind of violence” in human relationships in cinema. “There is a kind of violence, particularly in France, in the reports. Everyone talks to each other with such aggressiveness … I have experienced it, ”she told AFP. "We hear a lot of people who are victims of abuse, there are few people in positions of power who say: 'We want to reach out and, OK, we hear you and we think we could change things' “, adds the 40-year-old actress-director, whose third feature film is in the Un certain regard selection.

Thursday, before the presentation of her film, she had evoked "the mythology of the famous genius, this notion of distinction between the work and the individual", pointing to "the humiliations, the denigrations, the anger that an ordinary person cannot afford» and, this, while the screening at the opening of the Festival of Jeanne du Barry was marked by a controversy. The director Maïwenn, who herself admitted having assaulted the journalist Edwy Plenel, played in her film the American Johnny Depp, banned from American film sets since the trials which opposed him to his ex-wife Amber Heard amid accusations of domestic violence.

“I spoke about the cinema because it is my job. I read Adèle's letter (Haenel, who announced that she was stopping the cinema, editor's note), there is this platform for actresses and actors. I had the impression that I had to position myself because I was challenged on this subject, ”explains Monia Chokri to AFP. “It's not at all an injunction towards the Festival because, first of all, I'm there. I agreed to go, so I wasn't against the Festival or its choices. It concerns the profession in general, ”underlines the Quebecer. “The speeches are political just like the non-speech, she insists. Silence is also political, it is to corroborate a system. It takes courage to stand up."

For Magalie Lépine-Blondeau, who plays Sophia in Simple comme Sylvain, the speech given by the director before the film “is in total symbiosis and coherence with her way of working. This film, we made it in love, thanks to her.