By: Azad Karimi
Culture is a testimony, a vision of the world through artist’s eyes. It doesn’t mean that art is necessarily engaged. But texts, films, shows, music ... All of these leave recording on witnesses. Today, artist work is better recognized.
Interview
French Author Jean-Félix Milan
By Azad Karimi
Above all, everything is about expression…
I took this short and beautiful sentence from the strong and beautiful answers of dear Jean-Félix and I wrote it to show the readers of this series of interviews the peak of understanding and knowledge of a young French artist.
I wanted to write about expression, but I thought the interview would lose its appeal. Therefore, Dear friends and kind readers! please read the text of the interview and enjoy reading it.
I wish my dear friend Jean-Félix success and happiness.
Thank you!
Vestland-Norway
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1- Please present yourself: Name, education, Civil status and...
.I’m Jean-Félix Milan, I’m 33 years old, and I live in Lyon, in France.
2-What is your artistic speciality?
. That’s already a difficult question to answer! In the beginning, I was a writer. I started writing short novel stories for magazines and I quickly wrote my first novels. Then, I became an actor and a show director. What’s more, it’s been two years since I’ve started singing and composing.
3- When and how did you become interested in this field of art?
.I started when I was very young. At the age of 15, while I was entering high school, I had my first short novel stories published.
That first activity triggered all the others. Some students read one of my scripts(Le bar), they asked me to adapt my short story for a theater and to direct it. The audience was receptive and I discovered a new area in which to express myself.
I create interdisciplinary shows in which I regularly sing. A few people spotted my voice and made me sing more. Today my first album is being recorded.
Above all, everything is about expression. Which artistic form will best let me share what I have to say? It’s different for every story.
4- Who was your motivator?
.My team was. Even if I’m an author, a director, a singer too... There are people who believe in me and who follow me in my projects. They feed my universe, and I owe them a lot.
5- What was your parent’s reaction?
.My mother always supported me in this way. I know that financially she would have preferred a more stable job. I come from a very popular background and she was worried about my future. It’s been the case for a long time. Today, I think she is reassured and very proud of what I’m doing. She always comes to see my shows, she listens to my songs (even if she doesn’t love everything)... I don’t forget that she was also the first to read my texts, when I was writing my debut short stories.
6- When did you become such a professional artist, singer, actor, writer and Cinema Director?
.I could give many answers to that question. It all depends on what "professional artist" means. If an artist is“professional” once heis paid and once he can live from his artisticactivity, then it’s been since PETER PAN, the show I created in 2011 :I was 24 years old.
7- Are you thankful and happy because of your activities as an artist?
. Happy? Sure. I love this job. Thankful? I don't know. I work for it, I don't think I owe anything to anyone. You don't thank someone for loving who you are or what you do.
8- Tell us, what are the characteristics of a great show?
.A great show? Everyone’s got his own definition. For example, a great show can be a show that touches the audience, or it can be something technical. For me, it would be something that mixes these two criteria.
I have worked on a show with a huge set, presented in oversized rooms, with a lot of technicians and tens of thousands of spectators. But I don't think it was a “great” show. It was a commission, it lacked poetry and background to make me feel I had done something “great”.But, in any case, it's not my part to say if it was a great show or not.
9- Movies and shows that have a specific audience sell less, usually and not necessarily, how do you think this kind of movie can be sold more? By changing the Casting or by raising the level of the audience culture or both?
.Theatre and cinema have the same issue. I don't know how it works in other countries. In France, we talk a lot about funding. It is easier to make a standardized film with a famous star or to make a show from a classic text than to create something new. But things are changing. There are more and more independent artists. We are both creators and producers, and more and more people believe in us. In the United States, today, cinema has to be licensed. Disney largely invaded this industry, with incredible techniques, surely, but without revolutionizing anything. Directors do not have the freedom to create. They’ve become manufacturers who follow the guidelines of a production that obeys algorithms. I think that one day people won’t let us decide what they watch instead of themselves.
10-What do you think about censorship?
.I don't feel like I live in a country where censorship is important. But if we look closer, when the state always gives grants to the same artists, isn't it about silencing those who never receive their share of the pie?
On the other hand, if censorship doesn’t worry me too much artistically, it worries me much more in my daily life: I am totally concerned about entities like Facebook or Twitter that arbitrarily censor these contents or that picture. You get used to living in a censored world, and I have the impression that either you don't realize it, or you consider it normal. It deals with the standardization I was talking about just before. Never wanting to anger anyone, never wanting to break any rule, you end up having nothing to say. So why create?
11- How do you see the view about art, culture?
.Culture is a testimony, a vision of the world through artist’s eyes. It doesn’t mean that art is necessarily engaged. But texts, films, shows, music ... All of these leave recording on witnesses. Today, artist work is better recognized. It was obvious during the sanitary confinement (March-April 2020 in France): we saw how our creations shape everyone's daily life.
12- Can you become one part of the cultural movement for motivation in youth or new generations in your country and so on?
. I imagine that's a question I'm supposed to answer yes. But I'm not sure I can or I want to do that. For the moment, I'm making my way ... and it's already good! My team works in structures that welcome young people. We talk to them, sometimes we help them analyzing what they watch... But this should not be seen as a mission.
13- How can you help our world become a better place to live?
.It’s not my job.
14- Have you more words to say or suggest for our readers?
.Go see spectacles, watch movies, read, listen to music ... It doesn't matter if what you like is trendy or not, if it's popular or if it's considered as shit ... Own your tastes, they’re your personality.
