Tea time with Kymco

Interview with Marine Feuillade and Maxence Stamatiadis, directors of Kymco

 Your trio of characters are under 18 years of age. What interested you about that time in one’s life?
We wanted melancholy and the way one feels the weight of one’s environment, and that it  not be a question of age or maturity. Our characters spend their time doing any and all kinds of screwing around and they give the impression of it all being inconsequential. But in fact, it’s a way to compensate for boredom and fear of the future. When they have run out of games, they come face to face with the anxiety of one day ending up forgotten like the landscape’s ruins. Having young characters allowed us to create this constrast.

 And where are the adults in Kymco?
For our heroes, the future is worrysome and empty. No future, no adults. Those that we see are at different degrees of deterioration, as is the backdrop itself. A bit like monsters. Like the mother at the end who stays put at home rather than going out. As if they all had one foot in the grave already.

 What interests you in their relationship with the void that is in all of the spaces in which they move?
Marine: The intent was to create a contrast with the overflowing energy of the kids. For them, this rotten place amounts to a bunch of playgrounds where they can try to fight boredom. But in the end, it catches up to them, because the place is so ugly and broken down. By the end of the day, they’ve seen all there is to see.  It’s all there is for them on the horizon.
Maxence: Also, it undoubtedly says something about Greece today. For example, the water park where they hang out at the end: when I was little, that place just opened. It was the main attraction of the island. Today, it’s been closed and broken down for over a decade. This landscape is stuck. Everything ends up abandoned, not destroyed, just abandoned. But people come to accept it and live with it. There’s sunshine, the sea, and the café is cheap. It’s a bizarre contrast and even more so with keyed-up children.

 Were you more interested in the question of the « older brother » model (and the social relation between these three kids of varying ages) or by the ambitions of the characters (mainly to leave this familiar environment)?
In fact, it’s not really ambitions, but more like faraway dreams. For the kids, there is an urgency to get out, but we actually think they will never leave. It’s not the kind of place where you feel that dreams can come true. It exists outside of time, like an infinite summer.
Regarding the « older brother » model, it would seem that the youngest of them all is also the wisest. The two older boys do all kinds of crazy things and tell a lot of made-up stories. But the little one says nothing, and it’s as if he has access to a much deeper truth, and that he better perceives the surrounding melancholy. The little guy is actually the older brother.

 Are there some real images in Kymco or only in the end credits?
Yes, especially for Chikla, the little boy. When we shoot, we always film what happens between the scenes. We usually don’t stop the shooting. As he was often so excited, he always did so many things, and we filmed the whole time. So some of the images come from there. Like at the end, when he plays with the pistol.

 Finally, how did you work on the behavior of the brothers?
It was really not that hard. The two “actors”, who are not actors are friends in real life, were always a little bit stoned and drunk. So it came to them pretty easily. One of them was naturally more reserved than the other. Initially we tried to change him and make him more active, but after ten minutes, we realized it would not work, so we just accepted that one of them would be more calm than the other.

 Any cinematic coups de cœur in the past year you’d like to tell us about?
Marine: the series The OA, otherwise, I didn’t have any.
Maxence: Not so much. Last Train to Busan was good. On the other had, I saw a lot of garbage from Marvel and DC and Arrival and Mademoiselle. It was a busy year.

 If you’ve already been to Clermont-Ferrand, could you share with us an anecdote from the festival? If not, what are your expectations for this year?
Marine: I came once when I was at Arts Déco in animation class. I didn’t leave my room, I just smoked joints and had episodes of bulimia. I didn’t see any films.

Kymco is being shown in National Competition F4.