Tell us a bit about yourself - all the basics! Where you’re from, where you grew up, interests, hobbies, siblings, causes you’re passionate about, anything else that comes to mind…
I was born in Paris, but I grew up mostly abroad, especially in Tunisia, where I lived in a small village from ages 8 to 14 and learned Arabic (though I’ve sadly forgotten most of it since).
My family has gradually become a mix of French, Comorian, Guinean, and Cameroonian backgrounds, which has certainly shaped me. It probably explains why I’ve never felt attached to just one place.
I’m especially interested in questions of migration, justice, and dignity. As a french citizen, I care deeply about the way France treats people coming from the Global South. I spent several years involved in a group for the defense and care of refugees, especially the minors, in the NGO Paris d'Exil. I was sheltering exiled teenagers during 5 years, sometimes a week, sometimes 4 months... It ended up with 70 guys sleeping on my sofa (fortunately not at the same time)... It was a rich and grounding time : my role was clear, I was helping people access their basic rights, and that gave me a place in the world. The activists I met there were some of the most generous and combative humans I know.
On a more personal note: I am usually single, I love stupid jokes and ugly selfies. And I'm probably too sensitive for my own good - call me emotional sponge (you won’t see it most of the time: I do a decent job of pretending otherwise)
When it comes to documentaries, I can be a bit of a workaholic, and I sometimes get completely obsessed with archives. Basically, give me a forgotten box of old footage and I may disappear for several days.
How did you become interested in film?
When I lived in Tunisia, we used to watch feature films on a 16mm projector lent by the French embassy - The Institut Français. I was fascinated by those family moments gathered around the screen. Later, when I came back to France at 14, movie theaters became my refuge, and that’s when I decided I wanted to work in cinema.
I worked hard to get accepted into École Louis-Lumière, France’s national cinematography school, where most French DOP are and have been trained. While I was there, I realized I was much more drawn to editing the rushes we had shot than to the shooting itself. Just after graduating, I was offered the chance to edit an ethnological documentary, and I never really stopped after that.
I've been editing films for 30 years - maybe around a hundred by now. It is such a fascinating job: you spend your days watching footage, learning from subjects, meeting people as crazy as you - trying to find, somewhere in all that material, something that resembles cinema. And - sometimes - be paid for that ! We are so lucky.
How did you arrive at the subject of your Close Up project?
A friend of mine called me to say he knew a Syrian director who was looking for an editor. That’s how I met Daham. I was very interested in working on an Arabic-language documentary, especially one with a political dimension told through such a personal perspective, so I immediately jumped into the project.
Then Assad fell, and Daham went back to Syria right away. Filming his devastated country, facing both hope and disillusionment, deeply transformed the film. With the support of Close Up, we have been working on this new form, on and off, for over a year and a half now.
Finding funding for this kind of project is difficult, and Daham and I are still fighting to finish the film. I hope - and believe - that it will find its way soon.
If you weren’t a filmmaker, what might you be? What did you want to do or be growing up?
I could see myself doing a job that helps people in one way or another. At one point, I almost became a social worker supporting exiled people.
As a kid, I wanted to be a doctor, then a midwife - which is kind of the work of an editor, if you think about it: helping something/someone fragile and important come into the world.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
It gets better. I promise.