When French director Claire Denis' film White Material was previewed at Watershed, Mark Cosgrove, Watershed's Head of Programme, talked to Denis about her work and the film in which she revisits Africa, this time exploring a place rife with civil and racial conflict.

Since her 1988 debut Chocolat Denis has made nine feature films (No Fear No Die, 1990, I Can’t Sleep, 1994, Nénette et Boni, 1996, Beau Travail, 1999, Trouble Every Day, 2001, Vendredi Soir, 2002, The Intruder, 2004, 35 Shots of Rum, 2008 and White Material, 2009), three feature documentaries (Man No Run, 1989, Jacques Rivette, le veilleur, 1990 and Towards Mathilde, 2005) and numerous short films.

Born in 1948, Claire Denis spent the first thirteen years of her life growing up in Africa, an experience that would have a profound impact on her later career. Denis describes herself as “une fille d’Afrique” (a daughter of Africa) and often talks about the estrangement and detachment she felt when her family returned to France – themes that she continually visits, along with race and masculinity, in her film work.

Denis studied at France’s top national film school in the '60s and worked her way through the filmmaking ranks to become an assistant director for the likes of Jim Jarmusch (Down by Law, 1986) and Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas, 1984 and Wings of Desire, 1987). It was while travelling across the US researching locations with Wenders that Denis wondered what her own cinematic landscape would be: she knew then that she would return to Africa to make Chocolat, and the beginnings of a long career were born.

This interview was recorded as a part of Intense Intimacy: The Cinema of Claire Denis  – a Watershed touring retrospective offering a rare opportunity to see this critically acclaimed director’s unique body of work.

Related Links:
watershed.co.uk/clairedenis

Posted on Fri 25 June 2010.

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