Thierry Loa is a producer and director from Canada. AUDITION, X.90907 is a chilling short in which an auditioning actress is forced to remain in the world of the audition by the director, who refuses to let her leave until she completes an unnerving and seemingly never-ending scene.
Q: What is your short about?
The Audition, X2.90907 is a psychoanalytical drama about the audition of a young actress, which is the most literal way to describe it. I would then add that the film explores and plays upon the concept of auditioning, hyper-reality (in the postmodern philosophical context) and psychoanalysis to create an allegorical scenario. Of course, there is certainly not one but many ways of understanding and interpreting the film.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for Audition?
I've conducted some audition sessions in the past and the concept of it always fascinated me. I often wondered and tried to imagine: what if the line which separates reality and fiction were to blur, distort and/or shift? What if every aspect is stretched and starts overlapping? We are therefore presented with ambiguity and unexpectedness, and so I thought that would be an interesting filmic experiment as well as scenario for the viewers to watch and experience.
Q: Was the style of the short influenced by any other films?
Not one in particular, however I do tend to like films (and filmmakers) which are somehow concept-based and explore themes such as the human condition and character psychology, thus capturing a certain truth, thought or feeling, and so my hope was to do just that with this film. In terms of its style, I m not too sure exactly but perhaps one could regard it as a branch of Cinema-verité?
Q: Is there any of your own personality reflected in the director's obsessive character?
That question made me smile because when I was writing the screenplay, I asked myself that very question. But I think it'd be fair to say there s a bit of me in all of the fictional characters that I write as I try to imagine myself in their shoes and make sure they come across as individual voices, otherwise all the characters might end up sounding and behaving the same. For the director s character, I imagined someone who s calm, polite and assertive and who to some degree lacks a certain human quality, there are many people like that out there to take inspiration from.
Q: The short has a very organic feel. Was it all shot in one take?
Indeed it was shot in one long take no cuts, no edit to heighten the notion of realism and immersion because I think the viewers today are well aware of cinema techniques. They know for instance how a film or an action can be constructed with editing. Not seeing a cut on screen for a while, when applied effectively, can raise a sense of alertness in the viewer, I think.
Q: Tell me about your next project?
I've been working on a cinematic-ethnographic feature film about the postmodern society of the 21st century titled 20-22: Society of the Spectacle. In broad terms, it s a documentary, purely visual choreographed with music.
