logo les belles affiches

Les belles affiches > Interviews > July Allard

July Allard: the woman of "O"

By ✉ webmaster@lesbellesaffiches.com


Proud 23 years old french woman director July Allard is collecting awards for her first short movie, mysteriously title "O". What is all about exactly? Why so many prices? We came to meet her directly and ask the questions.



Hello July, what decided you to direct a short movie ? It's a project that I worked on when I was at school to validate my end of year. We could do whatever we want : TV, documentary, art video, short movie, corporate film... but I always wanted to make a fiction film. The script had many versions but I finally ended up to shoot it at school time. I got a very good note! (laughs) Anyway, I needed to re-shoot some scenes for the production needs, especially for the sound department which was designed by Todd Warren ! (Vincenzo Natali's sound engineer on Cube and Cypher, editor). Fortunately he lives in Cannes now and always involves himself a lot in his work. Once the film's done, I subscribed it at the Short Film Corner at Le Festival de Cannes. Right here, no screening but only broadcasting on computers and both people and distributors can see it with headphones and free access. Do you like movie posters? Yes I love them ! This is partly the reason why I studied Fine Arts. So I was able to design my own poster. Who are your favorites directors? Terrence Malick! I love the beauty of his stories, his pictures... And his director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki does an incredible job. He also photographed Birdman by Alejandro González Iñárritu, a masterpiece! (Oscar's winner but also for Gravity, editor) I also love Tarantino, Fincher, Chris Nolan, Kubrick, Tim Burton, Spielberg... but everybody loves Spielberg! (laughs) Les affiches de Dealer © Julien Lemoine - Agence Rysk What's your favorite movie poster? A difficult question! I love full! Once again I'd say the teaser version of Interstellar because its very close to my world. I also love Under the Skin and Black Swann. Your movie's projects? I'm writing a new short one, but I cannot talk too much for now. Which festivals are broadcasting "O" right now? Toronto on the 12th of september, Memphis the 4th of october. I also made a proposal to the Socially Relevant Film Festival of New York for next year, I'm currently waiting for their feedback. I'm really happy of the participation of my film even if it's hard sometimes to move in the festivals because of the generated cost... but you really make awesome matches. Which prices did "O" win? The very first one was in the Best Shorts Competition of San Diego, California. They gave me the best price for woman director ! Then came the Berlin Short Film Festival for best Science-Fiction film, the Accolade Global Competition in California again and finally the Indie Fest of La Jolla, California once again! Impressive ! But what about France? Nothing... here they select comedies or social dramas but not "genre movies". Too bad because everybody can take its chance and there's a lot of young french directors in love with the american movies. However, my film doesn't have a lot of "FX". It's focus on the expression of the actors, their psychology, their looks. Well, it's too bad... even in my own town of Grasse they didn't take it ! That said, when I saw it I really thought about Cloud Atlas by the Wachowski's! Well I've only seen it after the direction of my film so... I didn't think about it! (laughs) My film is about an infinity of universe where a family evolves in an infinite kind of way and almost with the same temporality. Cloud Atlas takes the same characters and leads them into different periods. Let's say that my references was more Mr Nobody with Jared Leto (Jaco Van Dormael, 2009, editor), so psychological with a down-to-earth story, the beauty of the frame... Another Earth by Mike Cahill was also a reference to me. Such a beautiful movie with only a few "FX". By the way, the Mike Cahill's poster for I Origins looks like mine so much that I cannot believe my eyes! But I designed mine before him! (laughs) July thank you so much and happy luck! Thank you.