INTERVIEW
This is the story of a migrant from Bangladesh, who became France's under-12 chess champion. Fahim, the latest film by Pierre-François Martin-Laval, aka "Pef", is released Wednesday in theaters. A film inspired by a true story, in which Isabelle Nanty plays the role of a journalist and president of a chess club. The actress was Saturday the guest of Isabelle Morizet in "There is no one in life", on Europe 1, to comment on this film "which is dear to her heart" ... and give us news of the "real Fahim", who still lives in France.
"He is still here in France, he is 19. He is in preparation HES, he speaks perfect French He does not have the nationality yet, he has a residence card", details Isabelle Nanty. "He came on the set, he gives us the feeling we get from the film when we come out of it.There is something light, frail, he has a very intelligent look, he is quite solar. want to protect it, "says the actress.
"I think he feels French now.He lived part of his childhood and adolescence in Creteil.I think he wants only one thing today is to have his nationality, assures Isabelle Nanty.
A "political enough" film, a "tender and violent story at a time"
The actress also emphasizes the maturity of the young man, who has withdrawn international chess competitions to avoid ... sink into the madness, which he feels some great champions. "It's a survival story, he lived survival, he has a great instinct for that, and survival is also about not going crazy."
For Isabelle Nanty, Fahim is a film "political enough", "a story both tender and violent". And she is delighted that "Pef" has put "his joke" at the service of this story and this message. "This film is important to me because I think it's important for people to think about fear, about the other person, about the foreigner, about being invaded. the origin of all the bad things ... People who leave their country and their families ... did not come just to survive, they came to live, I think we have to open our heart and our capacity to welcome ".
The actress acknowledges it, however: "The cinema has never changed the world, often it only convinces the convinced." "But sometimes," she adds, "being moved, it questions us about the state of our heart."