“Cross bitumen” or the art of performing acrobatic tricks on a motocross, a quad…: the only word in the cinema world on the eve of the theatrical release Rodeo, by Lola Quivoron, first feature film discovered in May at Cannes (Un certain regard, Jury’s favorite prize). Acclaimed by critics, mistreated on social networks during the Festival, following an interview granted to the Konbini site, in which she underlined the responsibility of the police in accidents linked to urban rodeos, the thirty-year-old filmmaker quickly made a name. The work remains: Lola Quivoron tells us about her desire to reinvent the gangster film.
How did you discover cross bitumen?
I was in my third year at La Fémis [l’école de cinéma parisienne] and I came across videos of cross bitumen. I was immediately fascinated and I linked this phenomenon to the noise of the engines that I heard downstairs from my house, in Epinay-sur-Seine (Seine-Saint-Denis). One of these groups calls itself the Dirty Riderz Crew. I contacted their leader who invited me to spend time with them, in Seine-et-Marne. What is quite beautiful in the cross bitumen is that it federates: certain neighborhoods which no longer spoke to each other, even which were at war, united on the bituminized lines. We are far from the controversies over urban rodeos…
Your remarks in Cannes divided a lot…
I can understand it, but it all started with a truncated sentence and I invite you to read the answer I made in The Parisian [daté du 25 juillet 2022]. This text allowed me to take some distance: my film does not stage urban rodeos, in the middle of traffic and pedestrians, nor chases with the police for that matter. I only film young people who train on closed lines.
How was the character of Julia, the heroine of the film, born?
I was looking for a thug woman character, which I missed a lot in the cinema. And the more I wrote, the more I deconstructed myself. I really like gangster, robbery, war movies too, like Full Metal Jacket (1987), by Stanley Kubrick. But often, in these stories, the women are not driving. Every time I see a film that I really like – I also think of Taxi Driver (1976), by Martin Scorsese – I try to imagine what the story would be like with a female character. It’s a very interesting exercise, which creates other imaginaries, sometimes incongruous, strange things, and that’s what I’m looking for.
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