Michel Hajanavicius, Oscar winner: his first animated film, the creative crisis in Hollywood and the advance of AI [ENTREVISTA]

More than a decade of having won the Oscar by The artist (2011), the French director Michel Hazanavicius Return to the big screen with a completely different proposal. The most precious loadhis first animated feature film, addresses the holocaust from an intimate and hopeful look, through the history of a woman and the little baby he decides to rescue.

“The film is not intended to tell the story or fulfill a memory duty. It is about betting on the future,” said Hazanavicius during a conference in Lima, in which he was present RPP. “Even if life is very difficult and everything falls apart, one always has the possibility of choosing to be someone good, being human, choosing to be someone good,” he added.

The tape opened the 13th edition of the French Cinema Festival Last week and will arrive at the Peruvian billboard this Thursday, May 8. Meanwhile, Hazanavicius -who arrived in the country accompanied by his wife, the actress Bérénice Bejoprotagonist of The artist- It meets an agenda that has included meetings with the public and interviews with the local press.

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An animated fable about the holocaust

The most precious load He tells the story of a lumberjack and his wife who live isolated in a forest, marked by poverty, cold and war. One day, the woman finds a baby thrown from one of the many trains that cross the area and decides to raise her. That decision will change their lives forever.

Based on the homonymous story of Jean-Claude Gummbergthe film adopts the tone of a classic story to address one of the darkest tragedies. “Representing genocide has always been delicate. Animation allows evoking and suggesting without being condemned to realism. I think this issue cannot be addressed with realism because we are talking about millions of deaths,” said Hazanavicius.

Taking this story in animated format was key to achieving a balance between truth and sensitivity. “If I wanted to show everything realistically, the public would not support it. But if we distort what happened, we fall into the lie. It’s not about not lying, but not traumatize either. I think the animation finds the right point,” he said.

Overcoming some bumps along the way

The movie It began its development in 2019, but faced several delays: first, by the pandemic of the COVID-19and then for the controversy around Gérard Depardieuwho originally was going to give voice to the lumberjack. After being accused of sexual aggressions, the French actor, now Russian nationalized, was replaced by Grégory Gadebois.

“His quality as an actor did not compensate for the man he had become. Keep working with him was impossible,” said Hazanavicius. “Regardless of what one thinks about Gérard Depardieuif you make a movie with him, in the end we will not talk about the movie, but about him, ”he added. Even so, the director was clear:” I never thought about abandoning the project. “

How do children react to such a hard story?

Although it may seem a difficult film for children, Hazanavicius says children surprise for their ability to understand. “They react in a much more natural, simpler way than what adults believe. They do not like them to lie. You have to tell the truth, but delicately,” he said.

In this regard, the French director recalled two anecdotes that marked him. The first, with a father who had enjoyed the movie, but was worried about what his 10 -year -old daughter could think. “I asked the girl what had stayed from the movie and replied: ‘That I have to love my parents more,” he said.

In the second, during a recent presentation for children between 7 and 9 years old, a child approached the producer at the end of the function and hugged him in silence: “He said absolutely anything. He simply approached and hugged him.”

Animated cinema and lack of creativity in Hollywood

Hazanavicius not only talked about The most precious loadalso had some words for the Hollywood industry. When reflecting on the importance of telling hard stories with honesty, but also sensitively, he commented: “For years they were told girls who would find their blue prince, and the boys that the world was a lovely place. They lied to them, somehow. Then we have disappointed adults.”

Consulted by RPP On the rise of the animated classics adapted to live-actionthe filmmaker replied: “I do not have a specific opinion about the recycling of movies, but I do see a clear tendency to turn in circles: remakes, second parts, sequelae, franchises. It is time to invest more in creativity.”

He also remembered Disney animated films he saw in his childhood, especially Pinocchio (1940), a tape that, as he said, left him scared, “but in good sense.” “The cinema had something sacred because it was not everywhere. We were not bombarded with premieres, nor were there so many television movies,” he recalled.

Artificial intelligence, a threat to creators?

In social networks, the recent use of artificial intelligence (AI) to generate style images Studio Ghibli has unleashed controversy, being the own Hayao Miyazaki One of his most severe critics. Asked about it, Hazanavicius reflects: “It is a bit annoying for creators to think that a machine can do the same, better and faster. But deep down it is not magic: it is just a sequence of zeros and some.”

Beyond the technical, the filmmaker warned On a less visible but equally worrying consequence: the progressive disappearance of spaces where artists can experience, make mistakes and grow. “Before there were many places to practice and mature. These spaces are going to disappear little by little,” he says.

Even so, the French director is optimistic about the human creative impulse: “I believe that men and women will always need to express themselves. And if artificial intelligence occupies those spaces of expression, new ones will be found,” he concludes.

Look at the trailer of The most precious load next…