Tête Brûlée

During the last few years, something has jumped out at me : the age of drug-traffickers in France is becoming younger and younger. The fact is that I have witnessed several savage assaults and these assaults were all by minors. I became very interested to learn more about adolescent delinquency. The reasons that gave rise to it and how dangerous it is.

I was already intrigued by the experiences of these young people; by the events they have to face and by the reasons why they adopt such a lifestyle in the first place. These questions prompted me to notice a young boy from my neighborhood who’s involved in juvenile delinquency. I was inspired by him to create the protagonist in my film.

Several psychological aspects of his personality particularly touched me. I have noticed that one of the main motivations of these young people is to impose themselves on the world. Through insensitivity, detachment from their emotions and even through violence if necessary. What especially touched me was their naiveté, their self-destructive behavior and how they are caught in a vicious cycle that is inevitably fatal.

Through this 15 minutes short film I want to show how selfishness and callousness can lead a person to their demise. Our own utter destruction then becomes proof that our sense of invincibility is only an illusion, an appearance, and it is then that we are forced to acknowledge our vulnerability.

So I decided, in my first short film, to deal with this phenomenon of delinquency by adopting a staging quite different from the one we are used to seeing for this kind of theme in France.

To go further in my adventure, I really cast the boy who inspired me to make this film, I worked with him for months to teach him acting in front of the camera and to give him the confidence to work in a field he has never worked in before.

For me this short film was not just a graduation project. I chose a wild cast to gain a chance to get closer to a reality that I did not know. I wanted to give young people on the street an opportunity to contribute to an artistic project that concerns them while allowing them to discover their talents.