Frameline 42 - Noodle
It’s hard to get hard when you’re cheating on your girlfriend with a lesbian woman who wants to take revenge…
Interview with Writer/Director Benoit Masocco
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
"Love has to be reinvented, that’s certain." I love this quote from Arthur Rimbaud and I think it's the best way to summarize the story of this film and the entire collection. Two years ago, I decided to write a dozen short films in which characters and stories would be linked. A main theme: love and relationships. I should say, rather, that the theme is the complexity of love and the difficulty of bonding with someone! The relations in the 2010s were extremely complicated, we broke the frame, we have no borders. Everything is possible, but everything is possible! This collection is not a manual but a capture of some of these relationships. "Noodle" is the third film of the collection to be completed.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
In three words? Love, sex and humor! You can not get bored because it only lasts 6 minutes and you will see two wonderful actors, and a lot of skin! And it is also a nod to the new French wave, and especially to "Breathless" by Jean-Paul Godard.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
The origin of these short films comes from one of the most shocking days of my life and the lives of many of us: the attacks of Paris in 2015. After the terror, after the sorrow, we, the Parisians, questioned our identity. Were we still the city of love? What does it really mean? Is it only a romantic cliché or do we, Parisians, have a specificity?
For more personal reasons, I have been a TV journalist and director of documentaries for ten years and I really missed cinema. I wanted to make films (at that time, the last short film I had made was years old) but I did not want to spend months and months looking for money ... so I asked several friends, actors, editors, producers to join me and they all said yes in an instant! It really makes a difference on the set, everyone was so nice and so enthusiastic!
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
The script is essentially based on dialogues (I love to write dialogues!) so it mostly evolved during the rehearsals with the actors. But the completed version is not so different from the original scenario.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
We received two types of reactions: most of the time very good feedback from many festival directors and spectators. It has been broadcasted almost everywhere in the world and it makes me so happy. And since our selection at Frameline, the most important LGBT festival in the world, I receive messages from festivals almost every day!
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
We are of course very happy ... it's a little surprising that a 6-minute film shot with a small team can generate so many good reactions in one day! But, to be honest, I also had a strange reaction from some festival directors who feared that their audience would not like a movie in which a lesbian sleeps with a straight guy ... But when you watch the movie you understand why she does that. And when you look at the whole story in the feature film we're working on, you'll see it's even more complicated than that!
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Even though festivals do an incredible and indispensable job of showing short films, it is still difficult to reach many viewers, especially those who do not go to the movies or live in small towns. A committed website like yours is very important for connecting artists with their audience.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
All of those! We are working on a feature film based on all these short films (an 80 minute film with the characters and some of the stories from this collection) so we are looking for buyers, distributors, festival directors and patrons who could help us produce but also distribute this film ... especially outside France. The goal is to shoot in the next six months!
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I like it when I watch a movie that amuses me as much as it makes me think. It's the same for the films I write. To write these films, I met a lot of people and I made them talk about love and sex to write these films: from the meeting to the Snap! And it really opened my eyes to love. I hope it will be the same for the people who will watch these films. In terms of love, people are much more open and innovative than we think!
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
I would say, "Are you really happy in your relationship?" But no one will watch the movie after that! One word could define this film (and the whole collection): rebirth. This sounds very serious but in reality it's positive: how can you survive after a trauma such as a break-up, a grief or a mourning? How is it going to be a chance to evolve to who you really are?
Would you like to add anything else?
This film is very short and it may sound "only" funny (even if "only funny" would be a good start!) But when you watch the feature film, you will see the whole picture and the complexity of the feelings. Let's say that "Noodle" is an amuse-bouche ... In fact, "amuse-bouche" would have been a good title too! But do we have the double meaning in English?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I have just finished my third play which, I hope, should be performed in Paris in a few months ... and this is a break, again! And of course we we plan to shoot as soon as possible the feature film based on these short films, with the same small but great team: Jeremy Fertelle for production, Simon Viguié for photography, Delphine Genest editing, Christophe Millet for sound mixing, Melanie Rouget, our makeup artist, Ella Cohen and Josh Ockert for the English translation and finally, above all, our great actors in "Noodle", Alexandra Cismondi and Laurent Delbecque. For this collection, we started to build a troupe, as in the theater, and the good connection between them is capital.
Interview: June 2018
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. 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
NOODLE
It’s hard to get hard when you’re cheating on your girlfriend with a lesbian woman who wants to take revenge…
Length: 6’
Director: Benoit Masocco
Producer: Jeremy Fertelle
Writer: Benoit Masocco
About the writer, director and producer:
BENOIT MASOCCO is a French author and director. He has directed 6 short movies, 3 documentaries and written 3 plays.
JEREMY FERTELLE is a young French producer. He has worked for many years for TV shows, documentaries and short films.
Key cast: Alexandra Cismondi, Laurent Delbecque
Twitter: @benmasocco AND @jeremfrtl
Instagram: @benmasocco, @simon.vig, @melanie.rouget, @jeremyfrtl, @ellouschka, @delphine_genest, @acismondi, @delb3ck AND @gwendo_line12
Other: benoitmasocco.com
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? At Frameline in San Francisco on june 17th at Roxie theater.