Interviews

Nicolas Maurin

Anyway

We are happy to be here with Nicolas Maurin, author & director, but economic researcher too. So Nicolas, as a first question we would like to know what inspired you to set out into the world of filmmaking?

First of all, thank you so much for this opportunity! I was so thrilled when I got your invitation for this interview. Regarding your question: it was a slow process. Growing up, I was interested in a million things, from arts, to politics, or sciences. But then, when I reached the end of high school, I had to make a choice like everyone else, and I decided to work in economics because I wanted to have a positive impact on society. People often see economists as some sort of weird bankers playing with numbers all day, but it’s very far from reality. Economics is actually mostly about people. We study how individuals think, how they make decisions, and what contributes to their happiness. 

Once we get that understanding, we then try to design policies that will improve people’s lives. It is a fascinating job, and I still really enjoy working in that field. But in the last few years, I also started to feel a bit frustrated. I missed doing creative stuff, pulling things from my imagination. I also became more and more convinced of the power of art in instigating positive change in society. As economists, we try to convince people with facts. Art instead, relies on emotions. And sometimes, it seems to me that a single emotion can be stronger than a thousand arguments. And what better form of art to transmit emotions than through movies! Of course, any kind of art has the potential to touch people, but I think that there is something very direct and complete about cinema. The story, the aesthetic, the sound… There are so many means by which films can make us feel emotions. And I think that’s what makes movies such a powerful form of art.

Tell us about your career. ‘Anyway’ is your first short film right, right?

Yes, Anyway is my first short film! And to be honest, there isn’t much career to tell about before that. I started to really consider the idea of making a movie last summer. But the problem was that I had absolutely no knowledge or experience in filmmaking, so I really didn’t know how or where to start. I remember that I simply googled “How to make a movie”… And I started reading blogs after blogs, about all the steps of filmmaking, from scriptwriting, to production etc. The internet is quite amazing for that. With enough motivation, anyone can train themselves on any topic, even when starting from scratches like I did. 

Once I got some sense of the main steps ahead of me to make a short film, I started writing a script. Then I gave up the first time, and I started writing another one, and another one… By the end of October, I finally had a complete script that I felt could lead to something, and I started posting ads on the internet to find a crew for the shooting. I was super lucky to meet Matthias Eyer (our DoP), and Pierre Carlier (our sound engineer), who very quickly agreed to participate in the project. After that it all went very fast, I organized the castings in November and we started shooting a few weeks after!

What were your first feelings on a set? How did you find this new experience?

Mainly terrified to be honest. Especially because we had such an incredible cast and crew, and I really did not want to disappoint them. Also because our program over the two days of shooting was extremely dense, and I knew that it would be challenging, especially given my lack of experience. We had more than 12 hours of shooting planned each day, mostly outside, with rain and very low temperature, and across a dozen different locations. And since it was self-produced, I had to handle both the directing and production, so it was a lot of stress. But I was extremely lucky to have my friends and family helping me out, and having them around also really helped me build confidence throughout the shooting. In the end it went really great, thanks to all the cast and crew that were truly incredible during these two days.

How did you find Milan Shorts and how does the experience with the festival look so far?

I found out about MSFF through the internet! It’s been a great experience so far, and I am so amazed and grateful for all the effort that you guys put into promoting our work. For a guy like me trying to share my very first work, you can’t imagine how much it means to me to be given a bit of visibility through opportunities like this one, so thank you so much again!

Do you have plans for the future? Any other projects in mind? Would you reveal anything to us?

Yes, many! I am currently working on several scripts. Some very short ones, which I am thinking of self-producing, and some longer ones, for which I will need to find proper funding and production. I won’t tell too much about the stories for now, but they all have in common to be addressing social issues that I care about.