Occupation: Film Director Birth: 1968
Now I realize that I have to let everyone take what they have to take from the film. No matter what I think about the film, it becomes a little irrel….
For sure, and we haven't found it yet. I understand why we have come to a time and place where we cannot touch the children at school for obvious rea….
My film is actually very critical of the level of French we're using back home. To have an immigrant from an ancient French colony come and do that i….
It's a romantic view of Canada. It's like Michael Moore saying we don't lock our doors in Canada. I lock my door mainly because my girlfriend wants m….
My film is in French. It's not something folkloric. It's who we are. There's this tension about immigrants coming in. Will they learn French? Will th….
In the private system and the private schools, the principal is pretty much a dictator. He or she can hire whoever s/he wants. Of course, in the movi….
When I want to tackle a story or a subject, I always ask myself three questions: Is it important to talk about that? Will it interest other people th….
There is some humor in Monsieur Lazhar and in all my other films, but this one I'll try to make a real comedy from start to finish. It's called Presc….
At the end, what I like is that it's the girl's decision to go back in the room. She needs a hug, she wants a hug, she asks for a hug and he gives it….
I was interested in immigration and I wanted to use that in the film, not necessarily to talk about immigrants, although I wanted to do that, but to ….
If you read Herodotus, the first Greek historian 2,500 years ago, he was talking about that - about people mixing with other people. Sometimes it pro….
In Canada, I've had success raising money. I think I was fortunate enough. But today, I would have to write a very, very bad script not to be finance….
That's grossing money for other people that has a multiplying factor, but the government doesn't see that. It doesn't see that making a film or cultu….
Some people around me said "Get a tux and live this and enjoy this" and that's what I did. It was a fun experience. On the red carpet, I was just beh….
Any place where you have to deal with many social actors like a school - you have the parents, the Ministry of Education, the school board, and the t….
I didn't want the film to be didactic, and this is tough because if you look at the list of issues, you have immigration, the education system, you h….
What I know is that if I was asked to teach mathematics in French for a week to young kids, I would do my homework and I think I could do a decent jo….
It's like a laboratory, a micro-society of real life, so it didn't look odd to talk about bureaucracy. In the school, in the class, there are already….
Even if I knew that Separation would probably win, when they announced the film, I was thinking to myself "Oh! I want this! I want this!" And so, whe….
I think it's the same thing for a country. We are lucky then that we can get some financing from the government, because it means when I get the mone….
We also have this reflex of using specialists for everything, instead of having the person who is there every day with them, the teacher, talk about ….