logo_white_hd
logo_white_cube_hd
Contact Press
logo_white_hd
  • La Jetée

    Clermont-Ferrand

    • Documentation Center
    • Regular Events
    • Short film screenings
    • Training
    • Seminars
    • All Shorts
  • Short Film 2 > 10 FEB

    Festival

    • Overview
    • Participate
      • Submit a film
      • Become a volunteer
      • Survival guide for newcomers
      • Professionals
      • Ticket OfficeCLOSED
    • Discover more
      • La Brasserie du court
      • Le Trombino
      • Catalogues
      • Shop
      • Our commitments
    • Useful information
      • Coming to Clermont-Ferrand
      • Accomodation
      • Restaurants
      • Festival Locations
    • Archives
  • Short Film 5 > 8 FEB.

    Market

    • Overview
    • MEDIA Rendez-vous
    • Euro Connection
    • Shortfilmwire+
    • Participate
      • On site
      • Remotely
    • Pro Reception Desk
    • Prepare my visit
  • Short Film

    Circulation
    • Circuit Court
    • Screen festival programs
    • Plein Champ Network
    • Shortfilmdepot
  • Education and

    Training
    • Upcoming events
    • Actions
      • Young audience screenings
      • Educational workshops
      • Anatomies
      • L’Atelier
      • Young critics competition
        • Young critics competition 2018
        • Young critics competition 2017
      • Ciné en herbe
      • 16th Educational Encounters
    • Devices
      • Culture at the hospital
      • Culture in prison
      • Kindergarten at the cinema
      • High school at the cinema
      • Cinema sections
    • Training
      • Short Film Festival
      • Teaching cinema
      • School and cinema
      • Middle school at the cinema
      • High school at the cinema
      • Cinema sections
      • PREAC cinema
      • University
      • MIRE / ESPE
    • Resources
      • Educational tools
      • Transmission impossible
      • Le fil des images
      • Transmettre le cinéma
      • Ressources by film
      • Côté Court – LDVTV
        • Côté Court 2019
        • Côté Court 2018
        • Vu en court 2017
        • Vu en court 2016
        • Vu en court 2015
        • Vu en court 2014
        • Vu en court 2013
        • Vu en court 2012
  • Auvergne

    Film Commission
    • Film desk
      • Missions and operations
      • Films shot in Auvergne
      • Auvergne in numbers
    • Your locations in Auvergne
      • Photo gallery
      • Search a location
      • Host a location
    • Creation funds
      • Residences
      • Production funds
      • Development funds
    • Pro Area
  • News
  • Archives
  • About us
  • Team
  • Partners
  • Advertisement

© Sauve qui peut le court métrage

Legal Mentions | Privacy

  • EN
  • FR

Dinner with Joy

11 February 2022
Festival, Meeting with…
  • Joy2

Interview with Alexandra Brodski, director of Joy

What did you want to explore through your two protagonists’ relationship? 

I wanted to explore the complex dynamics of power and dependency between two children incarcerated in a children’s secure home. We follow the teenage boy Jacob who – based on his age and gender would be expected to be the more powerful character but begins to follow the leadership of a little girl –  Joy. It was important to me that Joy’s power is complex and in some way inexplicable – so that the audience hopefully would be identifying with Jacob wanting to understand her and therefore falling deeper and deeper under her spell.

Are either of them based on someone you know in real life?

No. I got inspired for Joy’s character by a New York Times article about child preachers in Brazil – particularly by a photo where a girl is preaching to adult men who are deeply moved by her speech. The portrayed scene looked very strange to me but it intrigued me to explore how we can decide to follow someone’s leadership who – at first sight – is clearly less powerful than we are.

Why choose to set the story in a juvenile detention centre? 

The NY Times article describes child preachers as a phenomenon that is specifically rooted in Brazilian megachurches (and other non-European countries such as the US). When my co-writer Amelia Spencer, my producer Sabina Smitham and I started developing the project we decided that we didn’t want to treat this theme as an exotic occurrence but rather wanted to explore in what circumstances similar dynamics could happen in our society. It made sense to set the story in an enclosed environment because I think that a bit part of developing a dependency on someone is to not be/ or lose touch with other people/ areas of normal life. The more research we did into child detention centres, the more intriguing the setting became. It seems to reflect our theme of complex power dynamics on another level. On one hand there are the adult guards who have all the power over the incarcerated children, on the other hand some of the children are in prison for serious crimes they committed so the guards also have reason to be cautious. 

Did you shoot in an operating centre? How did that go? 

We didn’t shoot in an operating centre for various reasons. Some of them were just practical (covid-restrictions, difficult access to film in those places) but mostly it was a creative decision. I have never really intended to shoot in an operating centre because for me the film was not about exploring the specific reality of those places. I was more interested in the abstract emotional state of children being trapped in those kind of institutions. Another reason to not shoot in an operating centre was to have the creative freedom to design the world with my production designer Ewa Galak and DOP Dan Atherton. I.e we spent a lot of time designing the world and developing the color concept to compliment the yellow and blue shirts which are a crucial element of the prison’s world where everything is separated into good (yellow) and evil (blue). 

How was the casting process like? 

The casting process was extensive. I think we auditioned over 600 children in the end. We were about to go into pre-production and had just met our brilliant casting director Gemma Sykes when the world stopped and we all went into the first Corona lock-down. For me the casting is one of the most important parts of a film – especially with children I think 95% of directing is finding the right actors. To be honest I would have never thought that casting could work so well over zoom but it really did! We spent a few months narrowing down the casting choices via zoom and eventually we invited a small group of kids for in-person call-backs in summer 2020. Olivia Booth-Ford and Badger Skelton were outstanding from the beginning on but it was important for me to see their chemistry and also the physical element of their interaction. For the 2nd recall our choreographer Jacob Holmes joined us as well and we did a few physical exercises together (in preparation for following workshops where we developed the ‘language’ of the cult-sessions). Specifically for this film but also in general, I think the physicality of actors is equally if not more important than the dialogue so it was great to see the children in action.

Is there a particular short film that has made a strong impression on you? 

I’ve seen the amazing short KULTUREN by Ernst De Geer at Aesthetica Int. film Festival a few years ago which reminded me a lot of Ruben Östlund’s work. The characters were so complex and specific and the film was so honest and hilarious without being laugh-out-loud funny. I think it’s such a great challenge to create naturalistic, poignant performances without losing sight of a precise visual language and the filmmaker has done this so well in this short!

What’s your definition of a good film?

A good film has to move me either emotionally or intellectually, surprise me or make me laugh. A really good film is doing all of those things. 

Alexandra Brodski, cinema, clermont-ferrand, competition, compétition internationale, court métrage, director, entretien, festival, international, international competition, interview, Joy, rencontre, short film
Networks
Festival Newsletter
Recent posts
  • An open letter from the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival to Laurent Wauquiez, President of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regional Council

    15 May 2023
  • Press release: Don’t Stop Us Now

    13 May 2023
  • Short talk – Sara Gunnarsdóttir

    14 February 2023
  • Short talk – Vytautas Katkus

    13 February 2023
  • Short talk – Camille Authouart

  • Short talk – Alica Bednáriková

    10 February 2023
  • Short talk – Frédéric Bélier-Garcia

  • Short talk – Osman Cerfon

  • Short talk – Anja Jovanović

    9 February 2023
Blog
Dernier verre avec Ir y Volver (Partir et revenir)
Café court – Laure Desmazières
  • EN
  • FR
Ville de Clermont-Ferrand Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Département du Puy-de-Dôme Clermont Métropole CNC Ministère de la culture et de la communication Europe Media
All partners
Clermont ISFF | Dinner with Joy | Clermont ISFF
class="post-template-default single single-post postid-49994 single-format-standard samba_theme samba_left_nav samba_left_align samba_responsive thvers_95 wpb-js-composer js-comp-ver-6.7.0 vc_responsive"
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsAccept All
Gérer le consentement

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo