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LOCARNO 2021 Cineasti del Presente

Hleb Papou • Director of The Legionnaire

"The objective was to show our point of view on modern Italy"

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- The director's first feature is a social drama about two brothers fighting on opposite sides

Hleb Papou  • Director of The Legionnaire

The Legionnaire [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hleb Papou
film profile
]
, the feature debut by Italian-Belarusian director Hleb Papou, developed from his short film of the same title, was presented in the Cineasti del Presente section of the Locarno Film Festival. The film tells the story of two brothers, one of them a policeman in Rome and the other living at an occupied house, forced to confront each other and to stand for their own convictions. The director talked to Cineuropa about his research for the film and the conditions of the production. 

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Cineuropa: How did you develop the story?
Hleb Papou:
The basis was the graduation short film I did in 2017. There, the main protagonist was the police officer of black skin. Then for the feature-length film, we created his counterpart in the world opposite to his. 

How much of your own personal experience is in the story?
I was born in Belarus and from when I was five years old, I was only visiting Italy for vacations. Later, when I turned eleven, I moved there definitely. I am a hybrid of two cultures and inevitably have another experience with Italian society. It is often unconsciously that I integrate a different perspective on things.

How did you conduct your research?
We did a lot of research, all on the field. We searched for connections between the world of the police and that of house occupation. Both were really important life experiences we had. At the beginning, it was difficult to gain people’s trust, but we were very honest from the start and eventually managed to get people to open up to us. 

How did you find your main actors?
Germano Gentile, who plays the role of the police officer, already had the part in the short film, and since we worked very well together, it was clear he would be on board again. For the character of his brother, we did several casting sessions. At first, I wasn't sure if we should use a professional actor or a non-actor, but we finally found Maurizio Bousso who fit the role very well. To let them prepare for the film, we introduced them to people we know from these two different worlds. 

Where did you shoot, exactly?
We shot in a real occupied house in the centre of Rome. It is actually quite famous, it was a former community office building. Shooting there was a risk, since the ownership of the building is not clear, which means that we couldn't make a proper contract with the owner. But we went for it, since we had been thinking of this place while writing the script.

What were the biggest challenges for the riot scenes in the building?
We actually started shooting during the pandemic and I was afraid we wouldn't make it through. This meant that we ended up having much fewer days of filming than someone would normally need for a feature film. Having only nineteen days, we had to be very precise. The riot scenes were actually great to shoot. I like action scenes and it wasn't as difficult as it might seem. 

Was it difficult to get funding for the film?
We applied to all the possible funding programs destined to a first feature in Italy and were lucky enough to have been accepted for nearly all of them. This allowed us to have the minimum budget we needed, even though it was really reduced. With a slightly higher budget, we would have risked a bit more and experimented on some scenes. But since we were on a limit with money and time, we had to work as efficiently as possible. 

What is the most important message you want to transmit with the film?
The objective was to show our point of view of modern Italy. An Italy that is not the country that was known fifty or sixty years ago. A country different from the classic stereotypes that tourists might think of. Rome is a city of contradictions, of occupied houses at the very centre. But we normally don't hear about it. In 2021, it is important to talk about it. 

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