Breakfast with Derrière le nuage (Behind the Cloud)

An interview with Baer Xiao, director of Derrière le nuage (Behind the Cloud)

 Just like Xinquan, we end up being interested in the thief’s life and family! Did you envision a sequel?
That’s a good question. The ending is open. And since the connection between the Algerian woman and Xinquan comes up at the end of the film, we don’t know what the two say to each other. For Xinquan, Algeria is a brand new country. I imagine that the sequel would take place in Algeria. Xinquan really does find his iPhone and he meets the true characters that live forever in his imagination.

 What where you hoping to explore by showing all those screens and technology (telephones, Skype, etc.), and what do they tell us about our relationship to others?
Nowadays, we get most of the information on our mobile phones through social media (Facebook, Skype, WhatsApp, WeChat, and so on). The film contains different forms of images for transcribing reality. For a Chinese person or an Algerian living in France, mobile phones and all communication apps are indispensable. But because of the time difference and bad connections, exchanges cannot be the same as in real life. Apps create a new language. And I’m interested in showing that in the film.

 I found the virtual tie that develops between Xinquan and the thief’s family to be quite touching at first. But could we not also perceive that as an unhealthier form of voyeurism?
No, I don’t think so because the photos and videos he receives were automatically downloaded by the system in his account. So he very naturally looks at his photos. Xinquan’s life is very solitary. Without his iPhone, his life becomes even harder, he loses all the memories stored on his phone. The thief’s pictures easily attract his attention. He lives vicariously thanks to the thief.

 Was there a specific event that inspired the film’s plot?
Actually, the story comes from my own life. In 2012, my iPhone was stolen in Paris and I regularly received pictures from an unknown Algerian person on my iCloud. By using the phone’s location device, I realized to my astonishment that my phone was in Algeria…

 What sort of freedom would you say the short format allows? 
I like the short film form. A good idea can be expressed in less than thirty minutes, whereas in a feature film it might get boring. The short form makes it possible to keep the story’s idea fresh.

 If you’ve already been to Clermont-Ferrand, could you share with us an anecdote or story from the festival? If not, what are your expectations for this year?
I came to the Festival in 2015. Like everyone in the audience, I went to as many sessions as I could. By chance I bumped into a Chinese director whom I’d met in Beijing. She and I never thought we’d meet again in Clermont-Ferrand!

Derrière le nuage is being shown in National Competition F11.