Three young students from the ISPRA audiovisual school in Ramonvillle saw their first short film, Colonia, a film about the restitution of works of art to Africa, awarded in New York, Rome and Budapest. They are looking for a producer.
How does it feel to receive an award in New York for your first short film?
It is a great honor to have been awarded the New York International Film Award for this project which mobilized us for several months. Especially since it is just the pilot of a series, Colonia, that we imagined. And it’s not over, the festival adventure continues and we have already been awarded five other prizes around the world. From the Rome Movie Award to the Paradise Film Festival in Budapest, the film seems to be popular and is gaining more and more visibility. This pays us for our efforts and gives us credibility with the public and professionals in the field.
How did you get there?
After finalizing the post-production of our pilot, Thibault, the director, and myself, registered Colonia on an international festival platform: FilmFreeway. And we also applied in various film events all over the world, from Russia to India, via Australia or Argentina… One fine day, we received a message from the New York International Film Awards (NYIFA) telling us that we were selected in the final stages of the festival where the competition is played like matches. Starting from the round of 16, until the final. To finish where we ended up: at the top of the podium!
Describe to us the universe of your film… The film plunges us into the early 2000s in the midst of the ceremony of restitution of an African work of art. A statuette which must be returned to its country of origin, is stolen live on television, under the eyes of a journalist who will decide to clarify the mystery. The film alternates rhythmic sequences in the museum gallery, and the beginnings of the theft investigation within the editorial staff. We wanted, thanks to period sets and costumes, to immerse the viewer in a realistic universe rooted in those years. The basic subject of the project is decolonization and cultural appropriation. Our film helps to launch the debate on all these questions.
The goal now is to shoot the series?
Yes, that would be fantastic, we hope that the festivals will open doors for us and allow us to find a producer. We have already written five episodes, we just have to direct them …
Do you have any favorite movies?
Our three main influences are The Post by Steven Spielberg, Spotlight by Tom McCarthy and President’s Men by Alan J. Pakula.
Do you make the images, but also the music?
Indeed, I composed the original soundtrack of Colonia. I mainly compose symphonic pieces using the BBC Symphony Orchestra Core, a British virtual soundbank. Currently I am working with the OUT Toulouse orchestra, directed by the conductor Jean-Guy Olive, with whom we will play and record my scores. The recording will be done by the sound students of the ISPRA school in Toulouse.
You also set up your production structure …
Just out of school, with most of the members of my class, we have just created an associative audiovisual production structure: Delta Shot. We offer different types of services, such as corporate film, fiction, advertising, storytelling and event recording. Currently, we are prospecting our customers.
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