Marine FRANCEN
Film director

Marine received a writing grant for her next feature film. 

What is your artistic background ?
Assistant director on feature films for 12 years, I also directed my short films (three fiction films and a documentary). I learnt by working on other people's films and gradually taking my own steps. Then I started writing a feature film, Histoire de Pierre & Pierrot, for which I received financial assistance for a rewrite, from the Centre National de la Cinématographie in 2012. With this help, I became fully involved in writing and was then able to direct my first feature film, Le Semeur, released in November 2017. 

How do you see your profession today ?
Making a film today is in some ways more difficult than before, because there is a lot of competition. On the other hand, I am happy that more and more women directors are managing to get their work produced, which was not the case a few years ago. I've always worked in film and that's where my life is, but it's a difficult path. Nevertheless, I love this job, all its stages fascinate me (writing, shooting, editing) and call upon very varied aspects of artistic creation. The meetings with the collaborators at all these stages are also a real enricher of life for me. 

How do you see yourself in 5 years ? In 10 years ?
I find it difficult to predict so long term. An artistic path is not a career plan. It's full of unexpected events, moments of hollowness during which you can produce high-quality work that is unfortunately not recognised. In the long term, I hope to maintain the high standards of my artistic ambition, to be able to shoot very simple films with low budgets and to alternate with more major productions with an international cast. To remain free, never to be trapped in a financial cage that would force me to betray my intimate desire for cinema. This is what is most important to me.

This interview was conducted in 2017
Photo credit: Céline Anaya Gautier