Les Indesirables director Ladj Ly has hit out at avoidance of the topic of police violence in French society, saying the country’s police “have a complete free pass to kill Blacks and Arabs.”
Speaking at the latest Visionaries event as part of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Industry Conference, Ly said the absence of desire for change is holding France back.
“As long as you have no political willpower to change things then they won’t change,” said the filmmaker. “If there is any form of change [currently in France], it is in a regressive direction.
“Since I started working, the conditions of police brutality in France have incredibly increased,” noted Ly, who said that the wider French public is now starting to experience the treatment that inner-city communities have received for years.
“The problems are extended to the entire French territory. Most recently with the Gilet Jaunes [a French protest movement calling for economic justice and political reform] – they were met with the same kind of police violence we have been met with this entire time.
“The police have a complete free pass to kill Blacks and Arabs,” added Ly. “Every month there’s one event of police brutality; kids are dying left and right. The government doesn’t seem to have control of the police force anymore; it’s the police unions. It’s getting worse and worse, to the extent that we can only imagine some kind of grand civil conflict or civil war, as in Athena [the 2022 feature he co-wrote and co-produced, directed by Romain Gavras, about riots in inner-city Paris following police brutality.]”
Riots have struck France again this summer, following the fatal shooting of Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old of North African descent, by police officer Florian Menesplier in June.
Ly’s second feature Les Indesirables had its world premiere as a Special Presentation in Toronto on Friday. Set in an underprivileged Parisian suburb, the film follows a doctor who finds himself in over his head when he is chosen as interim mayor, and begins to enforce gentrification on his area.
Macron criticism
The French filmmaker had short shrift for French president Emmanuel Macron, who promised improvements in the impoverished inner-city communities having seen Ly’s 2019 debut Les Miserables.
“He said he was very moved and committed to political change, which of course he did very little of,” said Ly, who cited a recent housing bill that was quickly discarded by Macron’s government. “Seeing these slim possibilities thrown in the trash, we can conclude that there’s absolutely no political vision to make anything better.”
Ly touched on his plans for a third and final chapter in his series of films based in the Parisian suburbs, with this feature set in the 1990s. “My vision for this work had always been to recount 30 years of life in a different territory,” said Ly. “Each film corresponds to a decade [Les Miserables the 2010s, Les Indesirables the 2000s]; hopefully the third one will be in the 90s. To continue to tell these stories is very close to my heart.”
Produced by France’s Le Pacte, Rectangle Productions and Srab Films, Goodfellas handles international sales on Les Indesirables. CAA Media Finance is representing North America; Ly said that North American rights on the film are still available and requested interested parties to get in touch.
He also spoke on the difficulty of getting distribution for films about police violence, citing his 2005 documentary 365 Days In Clichy Montfermeil. “The problem in France is the official line of political thought is there is no such thing as police violence,” said Ly. He self-released 365 Days online due to lack of distributor interest; “15 years later [after Les Miserables] it was bought by Canal+,” he noted wryly.
The TIFF Visionaries strand continues with See-Saw Films’ Iain Canning this afternoon (Sunday September 10). TIFF runs until September 17.
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