HFF 2015 Interview: The Way of Tea Director/Writer Marc Fouchard

2015 Heartland Film Festival Award Winner, Narrative Short The Way of Tea is about Alex, a young skinhead, who enters Malik’s grocery store in a small town in Northern France.

We spoke with Director/Writer Marc Fouchard about his film:

HF: What is your film about, and how did the project come to be?

MF: It’s about Alex, a young skinhead who enters Malik’s grocery store in a small town in Northern France. This film started with a great meeting, my actor Hassam Ghancy. He was so charismatic, I tought immediately I have to write a script for him. And and a few months later, two important events inspired the story:

On Sunday May 26th 2013, The English Defense League (EDL) -a British extreme right-wing political movement- gathered outside a mosque in York, Northern England. The faithful met the demonstrators in front of the building and offered them to share a cup of tea. The tension cooled down after a long dialogue. The demonstrators eventually agreed to enter the mosque. Everyone ended up playing football.
Two weeks later, June 5th 2013, in Paris, France, an activist anti-extremist (anti-skinhead especially) young guy named “Clément Méric” was murdered by a punch from a young skinhead named “Esteban Morillo”.
After that, in june 2013, I wrote my short film script in three weeks and Malik was Hassam…

HF: What was your role in the production?

MF: I was the writer and the director.

HF: Why did you submit to the Heartland Film Festival? Have you been to the Festival before?

MF: I saw an ad for Heartland FF on withoutabox and the name of the festival speaks to me, it’s totally what my film is about: the heart. I have never been before.

HF: This year’s tagline is “Movies That Stay with You” – what lasting effect will your film have on moviegoers?

MF: Surprises, smiles and questions I hope.

HF: What has inspired you to become a filmmaker?

MF: When I was kid, I draw a lot and I wanted to make my drawings alive. I saw Star Wars : “Are you serious ? Someone create this ? Okay, I want to do that!”

HF: What is something that you know about filmmaking now, but you weren’t told when you started your career?

MF: Precisely not listen what people tell when you start in filmmaking : “Cinema, forget, you never succeed, too many people”.
Begin. Write and make films, everything you do will sucks but persevere. A lot. Remake films and screenplays many many times. Rewrite. And one day you will make a good movie. With years of hard work.

HF: What are some of your favorite movies? What’s your favorite worst movie (you know it’s bad, but still love it)?

MF: My favorites : The Shining, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, A Clockwork Orange, Fargo, The Big Lebowsky, Taxi Driver, Un Prophete, La Haine, Bullhead.

My favorite worst movie : All the Bruce Lee (but it’s good films!), Kickboxer and Karate kids. My kid’s movies 😉

HF: How many film festivals has your film been a part of? What do you like the most about the festival experience?

MF: Just Tribeca in USA, Gulf Film Festival in Dubaï and many in France. I like the meeting with other filmmakers to learn another way to direct or write, the method of each moviemaker, it’s very exciting. I like to speak about films night and day with other moviegoers ! I love when my film is screened to see or listen the reaction on audience faces. I prefer the festival in foreign country to share different point of view on filmmaking and to see each times film haven’t borders.

HF: Heartland Film Festival moviegoers love filmmaker Q&As. Let’s say a Festival attendee wants to earn some brownie points—what is a question that you’d love to answer, but haven’t yet been asked?

MF: “Your film is a western, isn’t it?”