French actor, film director and producer Mathieu Kassovitz gave a masterclass workshop as part of the activities of the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF).
The masterclass was moderated by Egyptian director Amir Ramses and was attended by a host of filmmakers and actors.
At the beginning, Kassovitz voiced his great happiness for participating in the festival, the oldest in the Arab world and Africa.
The French director has said that he prefers directing to acting, despite co-starring with many actors. “I feel very comfortable directing more than acting,” he said.
During the masterclass, Kassovitz advised directors that they should not produce any works without having the capabilities that help them to do so.
“Taking wrong steps from the start can’t lead to the success they want,” he noted.
Kassovitz added that a successful director should always be present all the time in the filming location, calling for flexibility at work. He has made it clear that a successful team comprising a scriptwriter, a producer, and actors are also essential for a good movie.
The director also touched on modern technologies in cinema, saying that in recent years the situation has been developed and became completely different from the 1990s.
He explained that some scenes such as jumping from a plane, the director cannot do without the use of modern technologies.
“It is difficult to film live scenes all the time as they are very dangerous for the actors,” he said.
Kassovitz is famous for directing La haine (hatred) in 1995, and for his roles as an actor in Amélie (2001) and Munich (2005). For La haine, he received multiple César Awards and also won the prize for Best Director at Cannes in 1995.
