Ann SIROT et Raphaël BALBONI
Film makers

Ann and Raphaël received a grant to help them write their next feature film.

What is your artistic background ?
We began working together on fiction projects in 2007. From the start, despite occasionally working in a traditional way, we have always tried to experiment with methods to combine the writing of the project with the reality of the stage. By setting our sights on chosen performers and settings very early, we try to have our scenes performed in situ by the actors/actresses straight away. This allows us to integrate into the story material things that appear to us while experiencing the rehearsals, by observing the way the performers behave together, and by inhabiting the places of the story. We have made eight short films. Une Vie Démente is our first feature film. We are currently working on our second feature film, a romantic comedy called Le Syndrome des Amours Passées.

How do you view your profession today ?
Our business has all sorts of challenges to face these days. We try in our own way to work on this, for example by setting up shooting parameters to reduce travel, in order to limit both the film's carbon footprint and crew fatigue. We also try to introduce the public to new faces and new energies to support the diversity of performers, the variety of ways to develop a film, to offer viewers a cinema rich in mood, pace and different approaches.

How do you see yourself in 5 years ? In 10 years ?
We love what we do so we want to keep going. We have a feature film that we are about to shoot, and another one in development that is still in the writing lab. If these two projects exist in 5 years, it would be wonderful !

Interview conducted in 2022
Photography credit: Julie Glassberg