ARCHIVES 2019 / French actors

After a performance created in 2018 with filmmaker Alain Cavalier, writer Mohamed El Khatib wanted to return to one of the themes they'd discussed: the tenderness and distance they feel for actors. After getting rid of them in their daily practice as documentary filmmakers, they sometimes call on them again, out of vanity or, most often, friendship, but always with the utmost caution. At once a fascinating and disquieting figure, the actor is an object of fantasy, all the more so because of how precious and precarious their job is. At the invitation of France Culture, Mohamed El Khatib opens a series of portraits of actors and actresses who left their mark on French theatre and cinema. He will open this series on 18 July with a reading during the Festival d'Avignon with Eric Elmosnino.

“To read this text, of course we didn't direct the actors.
I'm against directing actors.
I'm against directing, period.
Enough already with wanting to direct, to give instructions.
The only thing you should tell an actor... is the address of the theatre.”