Laurent Versini: The life of a refugee is the best definition of living with fear and hope

French producer, Laurent Versini, attended the tenth edition of the International Animated Film Festival - Anibar in Peja. He presented the movie, The Tower, from director, Mats Grorud, in competition for the best featured animated film. This film was screened on Tuesday at the Cinema "Jusuf Gërvalla". The next day fans of the film had the opportunity to meet Versini at Anibar's “Coffee and Talks" event to talk directly to him about the movie.

Anibar Press used this opportunity to interview the French producer in order to find out what his fears and hopes are. Enjoy the brief interview below.

 

Anibar Press: What is the topic of your movie?

Laurent: The film is about Palestinian refugees who have been in Lebanon since 1948 when they fled their homes from violence and settled in camps for what was supposed to be only a week but they remained close to 17 years.

 

Anibar Press: Why refugees?

Laurent: I think animation enables us to create things that we cannot record. It would be a nightmare if we had decided to make this movie as a documentary because most of the parts are very heavy and cannot be recorded the way that they are, so animation helps you make magic in this case. We chose the topic of refugees because when the script came it was very strong and based on weakness… And, I think, it was very easy to choose because for a while the main topics on the news and on our televisions were about refugees. Refugees have always been a problem and will be a problem for a long time.

 

Anibar Press: You have shown Lebanese camps through children. Why?

 Laurent: So, we … the script writers chose to show the camps through the little girl because we originally met her in real life at the Lebanese camps and because children are spiritually pure and do not see evil and life is very simple for them to understand.

 

Anibar Press: Have you ever screened The Tower in other festivals?

 Laurent: Yes, but I do not have the full list because it’s not one of my responsibilities. I make the movies but I’m not responsible for promoting them. One of my colleagues is in Tokyo to promote the movie but I do know. It’s a long list of places and festivals that we’ve been to. The film has also been nominated for several awards.

 

Anibar Press: Can you tell us your impressions of Anibar?

 Laurent: Oh Anibar … crazy event. I’m enjoying my time in Peja. Many interesting events, movies and discussions. Although I did not have much time to go to Peja to enjoy all of its beauties and to see all the movies, but we are delighted to be here.

 

Anibar Press: This year’s theme of the Anibar festival is “Fears and Hopes”, so we invite everyone to share a fear and hope that they have. Can you share with us, what are Laurent Versini’s fears and hopes?

 

Laurent: Well, The Tower is absolutely the best example of hopes and fears because both children and adults are full of hope and fear.  You can imagine what the fears people have in the Lebanonese camps everyday. Fear of lack of electricity, no food, no doctors, fear of war, fear that they will never return to their homes, and it is the same for hopes. They hope to have electricity, consult with a doctor, can return home and hope to be happy. So, for me personally, I would like to say, we are people and we live in a crazy world and we all must hope for greater hopes and fight our fears. We need to be more generous towards ourselves first and then to other people. For me, Kosovo is a very good example because you are a multiethnic state, you have also gone through the war and for many years this was the main topic in France’s news. Therefore, Kosovar people know best what I mean by saying that we all must share our hopes and fight our fears to protect our hopes.