Mozar mon style a doc shot by Julien Lambert
Directed by Sébastien Petretti and filmed on the island of Mauritius, Mo’zar Mon Style tells the story of Nolwenn, a young girl from the poor suburban neighborhood of Port- Louis, who joins the Mo’zar jazz school founded by the idealistic musician José Thérèse. Julien Lambert SBC served as cinematographer on the film.
Julien first met Sébastien during their studies 15 years ago. “Sébastien often travels to Mauritius, as the mother of his children is from there,” Lambert begins. “During one of his trips, a few years ago, he discovered Mozar, an amazing jazz school in a poor area of the city and he was completely captivated by the energy of this place. At this music school, classes take place at an old lady’s house. Students have their guitar lessons in the living room, piano lessons in an old bedroom, while others rehearse in the kitchen or on the balcony.”
The school aim to try and help the young people of these deprived neighbourhoods and music is a good form of escape. It also gives talented young musicians a chance to thrive. That was the starting point for Sébastien and the project. “Seb comes from fiction and I think he was attracted by what this documentary experience could bring him. Seb started filming on his own the daily life of the school. He was fascinated by its energy, but also by the music level of some students and by the people who supervise this project,” says Lambert.
Sébastien made several trips back and forth to Mauritius to continue to film the daily life of this school on a regular basis. He was accompanied by a friend producer and a sound engineer. He ended up following the school band to jazz festivals abroad (especially in Brazil) and he also went to Boston to accompany a student from the school who was auditioning at Berkeley. The school occasionally travels across the world to participate to festival by receiving sponsorship.
“At that point, Sébastien was a bit lost, because he had a significant amount of filmed material, but he no longer had enough perspective to make narrative choices. He called me at that time to tell me about the project and ask me to get involved. Quite quickly, he showed me his rushes and he told me about this school, this neighborhood and hisinterest in making a film about it. I was immediately interested in his project and his passion for this story.”
It was around this time that Petretti first met Nolwenn. “She was singing in the street, she had a beautiful and fragile voice and this little girl turned out to be our main character. We chose to follow Nolwenn to discover the school through her eyes but also Roche-Bois, which is a sensitive area with a lot of drugs in the streets.”
When it came to visual references for the film, photography served as the biggest inspiration. “I’m a big fan of still photography and Sebastien is a very talented photographer,” adds Lambert. “He’s deeply invested in the visual style of his film and the camera work. From the beginning, he wanted us to be as close as possible to the characters, to truly immerse ourselves in their world. We knew that shooting the filmhandheld would be the most viable option for us. We wanted to be able to get close to the characters because we want to live with them and immerse ourselves in their lives. We tried different focal length to be sure to use the good one.”
The film was shot over a period of six weeks. Lambert, Petretti and Manu Saubain(sound engineer) stayed with Nolwenn and her family for the duration. “We were in the house with them from the morning until late at night. We were part of the furniture! Our main concern was about finding a good distance between the camera and the people.One of the most important things in documentary is to have time to connect with people. There also needs to be a real relationship of trust between the people being filmed and the film crew. We were lucky enough that things went very easily, Nolwenn’s family opened their door to us and we were very welcomed. It was the same in Mozar.”
The visual identity of the film was shaped by natural lights and the colours of the island and the metallic textures of the neighbourhood. “As you can see in the movie, the houses at Roche Bois are made of corrugated paint iron. Francois Dubois (colour grader) did an incredible job enhancing these elements and finding a rich and expressive palette, that brought the story to life. During the color grading we spent quite a lot of time finding the right shades of colours.”
“We made the choice not to use additional light sources in Nolwenn’s house at night,” continues Lambert. “They don’t have electricity, which is why Nolwenn can’t play her electric piano in one sequence of the film. We preferred showing the darkness of the evenings and that they ate by candlelight or sometimes with a small LED source which recharges with sunlight and which gave rise to a beautiful sequence when the two little girls play behind a curtain.”
Lambert captured the film with the Sony FX9. “Since we were shooting on a small budget, we used the FX9 as it is small and lightweight for handheld shooting. I also used some diffusion filters on Canon Lenses to remove a bit of sharpness and give a bit of texture. It was the first time that Sébastien was working with this camera. We did some preliminary tests and he was surprised by the quality. I shot mostly in full frame mode because we were often shooting in small rooms. The dual iso mode of the FX9 was also definitely an advantage.”
One particularly striking sequence sees Nolwenn on stage during the final live performance. Capturing the scene was a challenge for Lambert as it was a live event and left little room for planning. We wanted to film Nolwenn’s first steps on stage in front of an audience. We chose to stay with her, even if it meant not having a wide shot of this large hall in Port-Louis. That’s why I stay behind her in a shoulder shot and it’s the sound that tells the story. There was no room for error and I think it worked out pretty well.”
“It was very interesting to live alongside a 12 year old girl in that neighbourhood,”Lambert concludes. “It was about following her and seeing what happens.”
By Oliver Webb