Ignorance is bliss, according to Nicolas Philibert , director of BAFTA nominee “ To Be and to Have ” and Berlin best film winner “ On the Adamant ,” discussing his approach to documentary filmmaking at IDFA in Amsterdam. The French filmmaker, whose recent films “The Typewriter and Other Headaches” and “Averroès & Rosa Parks” both screen at IDFA this year, said that “when your intention is too visible, when it is strongly accented, then it is the enemy,” which is a reference to a quote by actor-director André S. Labarthe.
He added, “Maybe it is why I prepare as little as possible. The less I know in advance about the subject, the better, I feel. I’m not the guy who prepares a lot.
The research is making the film itself. I make my films from my ignorance. My films are fuelled by my ignorance, my curiosity, my longing, my fear – all of that.
If I know too much in advance, I don’t want to make the film anymore, because I make films to learn.” Philibert told interviewer Neil Young that sometimes he doesn’t know how a film will start until he is editing the footage. Such was the case with “To Be and to Have,” a film about a teacher and the children he teaches, which was named best documentary at the European Film Awards.
Philibert said sometimes he works backward: he knows how the film will end and then works his way back, in the editing process, to the beginning. For “To Be and to Have,” he wanted the opening sequence to contrast the wor.
