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Interview with Claude Lelouch about the 11’ 09” 01 - SEPTEMBER 11 project
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Where were you on September 11 2001? What did you feel when you learnt about these events?
- I was in the middle of shooting my last film when my son phoned and told me to switch on the TV. It was many days before I could awake from the nightmare and begin filming again…
You are a very busy film-director. Yet you did not hesitate to answer this invitation: joining in a collective work based around the September 11 events in New York by making one of the 11 shorts. Why?
- There are things which I don't question. If the events of September 11 don't call out to a director, then what could awaken him?
Had you thought of expressing yourself around the events of September 11 before being asked to participate in '11’09’’01'?
- Certainly I considered it, but the thought was obscene. So I stopped thinking about it.
What events or personal experiences did you want to bring to light through your short? What personal echo to the events of September 11?
- I was so fascinated by the representation of these events in the media that I asked myself whether there was a single person on earth who wasn't aware of what was happening.
How did the idea of your film come to you? Immediately or after long consideration?
- After you called me out of the blue, I went running, as I usually do when looking for ideas. And in the Bois de Boulogne, I came across a couple of deaf-mutes in deep conversation. Ever since "Une Fille et des Fusils", I have been fascinated by this silent world. I wondered why not 11 minutes of silence in homage to all who died?
Has the time-constraint of 11 minutes, 9 seconds and one frame, imposed on every short, caused difficulties when constructing your story. How did you deal with it?
- There is a shot in the film which I could lengthen or shorten at any time in order to meet the exact specifications.
How did the actors and the technicians make and experience their contributions to the film? How did the shooting progress?
- Like soldiers mobilised for a World War... but in good spirits all the same...
Each director has built up his or her film without having the slightest inkling of what the others would do. Has this been a problem for you? How have you experienced or 'lived' this collective work?
- I would have been uneasy had I known the others' stories. All the more since the chosen directors hold a high place in my cinematic world. To make a collective film in isolation gives one every advantage… even when one is the spectator.
In your view, can the film bring new perspectives to a reflection on our contemporary world? Can cinema function as an instrument for peace?
- I have always thought that the world's memory began with the birth of cinema. Whenever I see images of the concentration camps, I feel that no one could dare commit such acts again. Thus, I hope that we will never see the remake of September 11.
Do you think that the events of September 11 will influence your future films?
- They will have an unconscious effect, without a doubt.
Do you think there exists a 'before' and an 'after' September 11, such events constituting a rupture in contemporary history?
- Every event in life has its before and its after. Even those which appear unnecessary to us.
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