Bruno Cabanis on making
The Apartment
The Apartment
 Bruno Cabanis
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The Apartment received a Diamond and the award for Best Story at BIAFF 2023 'I love films and I wanted to direct one. This is really my first film.' |
I'm a photographer, and I have published several books of my photographs. I realised that in these books I try to tell stories and a lot of the time it would be better for me to film the people rather than photograph them. So I decided to write a screenplay for a film. I love films and I wanted to direct one.
I kept having a recurring dream. Each time I woke, I remembered that it was about an apartment. It happened many times. So I tried to understand why, and what this apartment represented. I tried to remember more details and after a while I realised it was an apartment made up of different memories: where I was when I was 20, when I was 25 and so on.
From that, I began to write the story. It was challenging to turn the dream into a story. I wanted to make the dream come true. The film is about someone who lost a memory, and that was how I transformed the dream.
I kept having a recurring dream. Each time I woke, I remembered that it was about an apartment. It happened many times. So I tried to understand why, and what this apartment represented. I tried to remember more details and after a while I realised it was an apartment made up of different memories: where I was when I was 20, when I was 25 and so on.
From that, I began to write the story. It was challenging to turn the dream into a story. I wanted to make the dream come true. The film is about someone who lost a memory, and that was how I transformed the dream.
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I developed the story in a screenwriting workshop. In Paris, we are lucky because there are a lot of workshops. With feedback at the workshop, I revised the story over about a year.
I made a film two minutes and twenty seconds long for the Nikon Film Festival to practise directing. But The Apartment is really my first film.
I learned how to make a film in parallel. By that I mean not only to write the script, but at the same time to make the technical storyboard and so on.
It is not very difficult to make a film, but you must be organised. I joined another workshop, a film making workshop where I made a lot of friends. As part of the workshop people took different roles such as sound designer, cameraman and so on. This group made The Apartment with me. They were very well organised. It was an exhausting job, but it was amazing, a very, very exciting moment.
I made a film two minutes and twenty seconds long for the Nikon Film Festival to practise directing. But The Apartment is really my first film.
I learned how to make a film in parallel. By that I mean not only to write the script, but at the same time to make the technical storyboard and so on.
It is not very difficult to make a film, but you must be organised. I joined another workshop, a film making workshop where I made a lot of friends. As part of the workshop people took different roles such as sound designer, cameraman and so on. This group made The Apartment with me. They were very well organised. It was an exhausting job, but it was amazing, a very, very exciting moment.
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The main actor, David Jeanne Comello teaches theatre acting. I met him at a workshop on how to direct actors. During this workshop he acted something to illustrate a point and I thought he was very good. I remembered him and invited him to take the part of the main character in my film.
The Apartment has been given five or six awards in festivals mostly in Europe and the US, but not much in France.
I am currently writing a new screenplay and I plan to shoot it in a few months. It would be a pleasure to send it to BIAFF. BIAFF is a festival for amateur films but I think it is more professional than many other festivals.
The Apartment has been given five or six awards in festivals mostly in Europe and the US, but not much in France.
I am currently writing a new screenplay and I plan to shoot it in a few months. It would be a pleasure to send it to BIAFF. BIAFF is a festival for amateur films but I think it is more professional than many other festivals.
Bruno Cabanis, May 2023
