- Hello, and welcome
to a special Q&A recording
of Spring Blossom,
one of the 50 official selection titles
at the 45th Toronto International Film Festival.
Thank you to our audience for joining us.
As an organization
still impacted by COVID-19,
we need the support of our audiences
so that we can continue presenting films
to future generations
and preserving these important voices.
My name is Dorota Lech,
and I'm TIFF's curator
of Central and Eastern European Cinema,
as well as the Lead Programmer of Discovery,
a showcase of new talent
from around the world.
Discovery presents
the first and second features
of daring directors,
and is a place to unearth cinema
that is bold,
distinctive,
adventurous,
and above all, passionate.
I'm thrilled to be here with Suzanne Lindon,
writer, director,
and lead actor of Spring Blossom.
This film is eligible for the People's Choice Award.
Please vote for your favorite films
at tiff.net/vote.
Suzanne, welcome.
Congratulations on your film.
- Thank you.
- It's so nice to have you.
- I'm so happy to be here.
Well, virtually,
but I'm so happy to be there with you.
- We're celebrating with you in person,
but this is the next thing.
- Yeah.
- So I wanted to jump right in.
You wrote this film
when you were 15 years old.
Can you please tell us
how you started?
What the idea was.
- Yeah, I was 15.
So it was five years ago
cuz now I'm 20.
And I was...
this was the summer
before starting high school.
And I was kind of bored
with people of my own age,
and I felt a certain
form of melancholy and stuff.
And I wasn't able
to explain it at that time.
So I started to write something
like if I was writing a sort of diary.
But this was someone else's diary
because I was like imagining
another girl's life at that time.
And this is a period
in which I think
that a 16-year-old girl
has a lot of fantasies in her head.
And I was dreaming of falling in love,
and I was dreaming of meeting someone
that looked like me in a way.
And because I was not like...
I was a sort of misfit,
and I wasn't really, really happy with my...
like with my friends
or with the people in my school.
I had a lot of friends,
but that was a little complicated
to feel totally comfortable with them.
So I just started to imagine
how it could be to meet someone
who would be a little older than me,
but who would be exactly at the same point
in his life than myself.
So I started to write about a love story
that I would like to live,
and this is how the movie started.
So yeah.
- When you were writing,
did you foresee that you would be playing the lead role
in the film?
Yes, because that was also
one of the main reasons
for...
I was writing the movie
because I had the story in my head,
but also because I've always wanted
to play, I think.
I've always wanted
to be an actress in a way,
but my parents are actors and friends.
So that was a little
complicated for me
to be totally comfortable
with the idea of playing
because I come from a family
that loves cinema,
and that this is a really great thing
because I've always
seen a lot of films and everything.
But it was very complicated
for me to say,
"Hey, Mom, Hey, Dad,
"I wanna do exactly the same thing as you."
And I wanted to feel chosen
for the good reasons.
So I wanted to feel totally legitimate
to do it.
And this is why I started to write a movie
because I told myself
If I choose me,
then I am sure
that I will be chosen for the right reasons
because I know why I wanna choose myself.
So this is why also, I wrote the movie.
I've always wanted
to play the lead role in the movie.
So, yeah.
- Oh, you play it so beautifully.
It's really,
you have such poise
when you're playing this role.
Of course, we're so excited
for the audiences to see it.
I really think it'll
be a huge conversation starter,
but also marks you as a talent.
So I wanted you to tell us...
(giggles)
- Because it means a lot to me
So I'm to put it like that.
(giggles)
- I know.
It's so difficult
in these situations
because you just wanna like, hug
and like jump around.
- I wanna hug you, but I can't
so I'm just hugging myself instead.
(giggles)
- I'll do the same.
Can you tell us a little bit...
I mean, it's your first film
so, of course, it's not so easy
to get started.
Can you...
And as I understand you,
you made the film with not so much money.
So can you a little bit the process
of how it got off the ground.
- Yeah, that was complicated
because we don't have...
Like, we didn't have money.
But I was sure,
I don't know why,
but I was kind of sure
that I would do the...
I was like,
"It's gonna work.
I don't know how,
but it's gonna work."
And I met the producer,
Caroline Bonmarchand
who's like, great because she read the script
and she said,
"Okay, I trust you.
And we're gonna do this film
like your film,
and you don't have to change anything
because I want you to create a real object
that looks like you."
And this was really important to me
because more than just making a film,
I really wanted to make a gesture,
because I'm very young.
So I wanted to do something
which was very like myself,
and I needed
to feel totally free
to really express myself.
So not having a lot of money
was kind of something great
in the end
because I was very free.
I felt free
because I had nothing to show to anybody.
That was just me.
But we didn't ask to...
Like, you know sometimes,
TV producers helps us
to give money for making films.
And here, that wasn't the case
because nobody wanted to help us.
So we just went
to see like two or three people
who are like...
We went to see a producer,
a French producer named Richard Lopez,
who helped us a lot.
And two producers,
Lo Hogan and Jean-Baptiste
who helped us a lot too.
Because they had faith
in the project.
But that was really like this.
We just like,
we were just knocking on doors and said,
"Hi, we have a script.
And if you like it,
please help us."
And we were very lucky
because they liked it.
And they believed in myself,
and they believed in the project.
And this is such a chance
to meet people like that.
Because I think this is kind of new,
like making films this way.
And when you're a young filmmaker,
it is really important
to show that
if you really want something,
and if you have your idea,
and if you believed in yourself
and in your project,
then you can do it.
Like, nothing is impossible.
And this was a challenge,
but a great challenge.
And I hope that
if I'm making another movie,
I hope that I will do it
in the same kind of conditions
because not having a lot of money
helped me in a way
to be totally free
to do what I wanted.
- So interesting.
That's very interesting.
I want to jump back a little bit
to the cast
because your co-lead, Arnaud
is fantastic.
Was he on board
when you were preparing to shoot?
Did you write with him in mind?
- This is a little complicated.
I met Arnaud...
I've already wrote the movie when I met him.
So this was not like for him,
but I remember that I watched his movie,
it's BPM
I don't know how to say it in English.
- cent vingt battements par minute
120 BPM,
I don't know how to say it.
- That's correct.
- Yeah.
he was starring in it
and I remember that I was a little late
on that movie.
I didn't see it in the movies,
but I was watching it at home.
And when I saw Arnaud,
I was like,
"Okay, this has...
Like, this is not really the man I'm looking for,
but I need him to like my script
because I will want him.
It was not really the idea
I have in mind,
but that was something a little different,
but better than I was expecting.
And so I was really happy.
And I met...
I remember that I texted him,
and I said,
"Okay, so you don't know me.
My name is Suzanne,
and I wrote a script.
Can I just send it to you?"
He was so nice.
He said,
"Yes, of course.
I'm gonna read it."
And I was like,
"Okay, he's gonna read it."
And like two hours later,
he called me
and he said,
"I read the script."
I was like,
"What? But I sent it to you
like two hours ago."
And he said,
"Yeah, and I love it,
and I want to do it."
And I think that this is...
This was the happiest moments in my life.
Because the movie started
to exist at that point
when he said,
"Nice to do it."
I started thinking that everything was possible.
And so he was
a part of the project
when we were looking for money
to make the film.
But he wasn't a part of the writing process
or everything,
but he became really my team,
like super, super fastly
because we became friends, actually.
So he was really important to me
while I was doing everything
to prepare the movie
and so, yeah.
- Your excitement is so infectious.
I just like, (laughs)
I keep forgetting
what I'm I'm going to ask you.
(laughs together)
- My English,
I'm scared because my English
is a little bad
So I hope that you understand. - No, this is great.
- Okay.
- This is great.
So when we met in person
for the first time a couple of weeks ago,
you told me this fantastic story
of the scooter,
and I was hoping you can tell it to everyone
because I want to dedicate
this Q&A to that man.
(laughs)
- Yeah, I wanna dedicate
this Q&A to that scooter guy in Paris.
I don't know who is, but--
- One for him.
- Okay. So in the movie,
there's the red scooter
and I was kind of obsessed
with the idea
that I wanna do red scooter.
Not just a scooter,
but a red scooter.
And it was impossible to find...
like that was the craziest thing
to find in Paris.
Like a red scooter,
it was impossible to have it.
And I was talking in the street,
and this was the day
we were shooting the scene
in which the scooter is,
and I did not have any scooter.
So I was a little panicked,
and I was,
"Okay, so we're going to shoot,
but we don't have any scooter,
so we have to find something."
And at this moment,
a guy came just next to me
on a red scooter.
And he just like,
heard me and said,
"Oh, you need it?"
And I was like,
"Um, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I need it."
And he said,
"Okay, so I can give it to you
and just give it to me
when you're done."
And I was like,
"I need it like two weeks."
And he said,
"Oh, yeah.
I'm going on holidays for two weeks,
so you can keep it."
And I was like...
Okay so I was talking to this guy,
and I was like,
"Thank you God
for giving me the scooter.
Thank you so much."
- Crazy.
- I was on set and I was like,
"Okay, I really need a million dollar,
can you just bring some guy
who has a million dollar to give me?"
But nobody came with time.
- I love the story
and I love how everything came together
to make the film.
Can you discuss some of your music choices as well?
- Sorry?
- Can you discuss some of your music choices?
I know this is also
quite a beautiful story of
how that came to be.
- Yeah, so the music,
that was a little weird
because, well, I started
to imagine the music
with a French artist named Christophe.
And there are a lot of songs in the movie
that was written by Christophe.
And at the beginning,
he was supposed
to create like the soundtrack
of the movie,
but I don't know why
but I changed my mind
and I was,
Okay, so I need to ask Vincent Delerm.
He's a really a famous French artist.
But I was...
I didn't know that...
I didn't know if he would be okay
to do it or anything.
So I just called him
and I said,
"Hi, you don't know me.
My name is Suzanne,
and I just made my film,
and I would like to
give the script to you
so you can read it.
And I don't know if you're gonna like it,
but I love your music,
and I really think that
it could work altogether."
And we met.
And I was supposed
to give this script to him.
But when I arrived at the cafe in Paris,
I forgot the script at home,
so I was like,
"Oh my god,
how stupid can I be?"
But I was just in front of him,
and I was like,
"Okay, so I'm gonna
to tell you the story,"
and I'm just going to say that
this is the story
of a 16-year-old girl, blah, blah, blah.
And he was super focused on the story.
And I went back home,
and I received a text on my phone
and that was him.
And he said,
"Okay, can you call me?"
So I was like,
"Okay, I'm gonna call him right away."
I called him
and it didn't answer.
He called me back.
I answered the phone,
and nothing.
So I was a little worried.
And then a piano started,
and I just,
I was listening
to the theme of the movie
and that was it.
And I was like,
"How did you do it?
You did not even read the script."
And he said,
"No, but you told me some stuff about it
and I had this idea.
I don't know if this corresponds
to what you wanted."
And I was like,
"Yeah, this is the music I want.
This is the theme of the movie.
So this is how it happened.
This is crazy.
- It's so beautiful,
how everything came together.
I'm so excited for you.
I'm really excited for our audiences
and everyone around the world
to see the film.
And I thank you for joining us.
I wish we had more time. It's...
- Yeah, well, thank you.
I was so happy to be with you.
Like I am so disappointed
not to be there like in person
to be with you
and to meet the audience
and to talk about the movie
with them and everything.
But unfortunately,
I can't for the reasons we know.
But thank you very much.
It means a lot to me
to be there at TIFF.
This is more than an honor.
It's more than my dream.
It's like, it's crazy.
So thank you very, very, very much.
- Okay, we love you.
(blows a kiss)