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"With IN-I: IN MOTION, I Learned Not to be Afraid": Juliette Binoche's MASTER CLASS at the 23rd FICM

Gustavo R. Gallardo

French actress Juliette Binoche is at the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) for the second time. This time, she is presenting her film In-I: In Motion, which she discussed at length during the master class she gave on Saturday at the Rubén Romero Theater.

The conversation, moderated by film critic Alonso Díaz de la Vega and attended by festival president Alejandro Ramírez and founder and director Daniela Michel, revolved around the possibilities presented in the making of this film, which explores artistic expression through a dance performance co-created with British dancer and choreographer Akram Khan. 

“The essence was to show the link between acting and dance, and it wasn't easy to do this, because as an actress I start from memories and feelings and then move on to the dialogues, which I have to take care of. As a dancer, you start in front of a mirror and the emotion comes later,” the actress explains.

For Binoche (Three Colors trilogy, Chocolate, The English Patient), writing the character she plays allowed her to create various ties, because “as an actress, you want to expose yourself, to show a very intimate place within yourself. That's the challenge.” “I didn't think I was dancing, but rather expressing myself through movement and acting that way. That saved me, because it's very demanding, I thought I was going to die,” she said. In-I: In Motion, in her own words, is also created with the intention of motivating people to do what they want to do. Binoche believes that this film could have that effect on the audience. 

This is how she explains it: “We all have that little regret in our lives: ‘I wish I had been a writer, I wish I had been a chef.’ We all have that hidden desire, but it is possible to do it. If you set your mind to it, you can do it, and that's what amazed me about all this.”

“With In-I: In Motion, I learned not to be afraid, because doing this was too big. Dying would have been easier than this. Making the film was a huge challenge,” she said.