As Hakim is waiting for the bus after class, he is caught in a vendetta between teenagers. He is not exactly keen to get into a fight, but how can he possibly avoid an awaited confrontation?

Interview with Writer/Director Benoit Martin

Watch The Geneva Convention on Vimeo on demand

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

Thanks! This short was for me the opportunity to talk about adolescence – a highly cinematographic period of life. The characters are almost grown-ups but the childhood is still here. The balance of power, money problems are grown-ups issues, not children’s. Hakim discovers a new violence that supplies all the relations. This violence is often restrained. But there is no Manichaeism. The situation is absurd. By trying to avoid the violence or to make it explode, the characters attempt to express their personality in a group.

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

Because you might have experienced a similar situation when you were a kid. Because it’s funny (I hope). And most of all because the young actresses and actors of the film are killing it!

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

The story is based on my own adolescence and a situation I encountered when I was the age of the characters. And I drew my inspiration to write the characters from my friends and people who surrounded me at that time. Then this situation, the issues that surface might be something that talks to everyone’s adolescence. Also the question of how to find a peaceful solution in such a conflict might be universal too. And because it is a choral film, anyone can probably identify with one of the characters.

How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?

The script has evolved a lot during and after the casting. I was looking for young people who could bring themselves to the characters. During the casting we did a lot of improvisations. And most of the time the situation for impros that we built up were not related to the one in the script so they could build characters themselves from zero. After I found the young actresses and actors (the kids you see in the film), we spent one week together before shooting the film and we talked a lot about their own lives, their tastes of cinema and many other topics that were not directly related to the film. Then when everybody got to know each other better, we started to talk about the film and what we could improve in the script. We changed some of the dialogue because I was recalling things from my adolescence and the way the kids speak now is no longer the same, for example. And they did impros too because they were really good at this.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

I have essentially good feedback but we all know how it works. The people who don’t like the film don’t come to you to say it. So it’s hard to really know.

Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?

I know that some people think that it’s not totally realistic and I can understand that. With the young actresses and actors, we tried to do everything the most realistic way but we admitted that some of the characters are not ‘common’ and that it might move the film to a tale or fable layer. But also with those characters the actresses and actors tried to play them in a realistic way, they tried to become them.

What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?

I hope it will make people who read this want to watch the film.

Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?

Buyers, film festival directors and journalists are always welcome!

What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?

I hope that the people who watch the film enjoy seeing new faces on the screen. I hope they can recognize something from their own adolescence.

I tried to tell a story about how an individual defines herself or himself in a group, how the experience of the collective - the solidarity - helps her or him reveal herself or himself. How it is to think not only for yourself but for others, too… The teenage years are the first moment when you have to make decisions, nobody does it for you like when you are a child. And it’s also the first moment in your life when you spend time without your parents but with friends and those decisions you have to make involve others. And I hope this interests people.

Though the actresses and actors of the film are still young, to act is their main occupation. They are really dedicated to the craft. But it’s still really difficult for them to get roles. Because it is a comedy, sometimes people think that it is easy or that they don’t really play a part but they really worked hard on the film and their characters. So I hope they will get recognized for their work and that they will get more opportunities.

What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?

I am sorry, I don’t really know. Every question is a good start for a conversation.

What are the key creatives developing or working on now?

I am trying to write a feature film and I have some projects I’d like to develop. But it’s really the beginning. I also work as an editor and make some commissioned films for museums and institutions too.

I know I want to continue to write on youth and on characters in daily life, antiheroes who struggle, sometimes with clumsiness, against a society that is always more individualist. They open being in contact with others and realize progressively the role they can play in a less and less humanist world.

Interview: January 2017

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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela

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The Geneva Convention (original title in french : La Convention de Genève)

As Hakim is waiting for the bus after class, he is caught in a vendetta between teenagers. He is not exactly keen to get into a fight, but how can he possibly avoid an awaited confrontation?

Length:

14mn 58s

Director:

Benoit Martin

Producer:

Année Zéro

Writer:

Benoit Martin

About the writer, director and producer:

Benoît Martin studied editing, experimental cinema, and documentary. In 2007, he founded the production company Année Zéro with Stéphane Demoustier. Martin has largely worked in editing for documentaries. The Geneva Convention is his third narrative short film.

Key cast:

Azzedine Bouabba, Soumaye Bocoum, Alison Valence, Titouan Labbe, Jhoe-My Derilus, Andrew Kamande, Zola Junior Nzuzi, Yannis Amouroux, Mohamed Seddiki, Adil Dehbi

Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists):

Film Festival directors, buyers and journalists

Funders:

France Televisions (French TV), La région Lorraine, Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC), Association Beaumarchais

Made in association with:
Where can I see it in the next month?

Sundance

http://www.myfrenchfilmfestival.com/en/

until February 13th.