Kina and Yuk is the story of a couple of foxes separated because of global warming. This gripping and engaging fiction is told to us by Virginie Efira, with a lot of humor and humanity, as in the interview she gave us.
In the Arctic, Kina and Yuk live peaceful days. These two foxes are young lovers full of life. While Kina is pregnant for the first time, a block of ice floe breaks away and carries Yuk far away. How this couple separated by melting snow due to global warming will they be able to find each other again? The answer can be discovered in cinemas, from December 27, 2023.
Thanks to the fair and original eye of William Maidatchevsky, the camera takes the viewer into their sometimes hostile daily life. To tell us this engaging tale, Virginie Efira brings her signature vocals and her full range of emotions. “Sometimes it seemed like I was experiencing a landslide that was stronger than a fox,” she laughs. “By choosing me, he chose an identity that corresponded to his project. I felt that he didn’t want a voice of objectivity like that of the documentary but a real emotional involvement. »
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Virginie Efira tells the story of Kina and Yuk: the gestation of a project
What is incredible about the film Kina and Yuk is that it is indeed a fiction, without the two foxes being trained. “He films individuals and not a species. It’s not a random fox we follow, it’s the story of these foxes. As in great tragedies, the progress of history is of the order of fate. He had options A, B and C depending on how things turned out. », she comments. “What I really liked about this project was the starting point: Guillaume saw a photo of a fox adrift on a piece of ice floe and he wondered what could have happened to it before and what could happen to him after.
Furthermore, the storyteller that is Virginie Efira shares at this moment an important point in common with the heroine: she is also pregnant, with her second child named Haro, the first with Niels Schneider: “I was me -even in gestation. I didn’t have any filming and I always liked voice work, which allows another approach to a work. I also liked the particularity of the project: the scenario was constructed or deconstructed during filming. What is quite fascinating is the innocence and primitiveness of the animal. They are not aware of their own death and yet they have a very strong survival instinct. Love and connection are above all else. »
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Virginie Efira, a voice for ecology
In addition to being a beautiful love story, Kina and Yuk is a committed tale, which addresses the subject of global warming. Virginie Efira shared with us her optimistic and caring outlook on this thorny issue.
What position do you take on the ecological question?
Virginie Efira: I think we all have the same observation and that we all have the same outlook on ecological issues, but it is in action that we stand out. Indeed, talking about global warming is one thing. Even if it was a message that had difficulty getting across, it is being heard today. The question now is to understand why and how this does not find a more lively echo in action. I am obviously thinking of the political responsibilities of different countries and continents but also of individual responsibilities. My participation in a film like this goes with this idea of transmission to younger generations. Awareness is greater with a story like that of Kina and Yuk because we observe the direct impact on an animal. I find myself more in this message than in the much more catastrophic ones.
What are your individual actions in favor of the fight against global warming?
VE: For my part, it took time. I act quite simply. It’s often said that children teach us as much as we teach them, and that’s quite true. My eldest daughter, from the age of 5, yelled at me about sorting, for example, because I wasn’t doing well. I can also eat organic or local. But at one time, I didn’t necessarily think about the origin of the product. If we take the example of beauty, the cream that I use is a glass container that can be refilled. It is both economical and ecological. In the film industry too, there is a lot of reflection to be done. On a film set, there are a lot of us. Just during meals, the number of disposable dishes that are used is crazy. The reflection must be individual but obviously global.
How do you pass this awareness on to your children?
VE: We tend to say that being green is necessarily going to be rigorous, that it’s going to be very hard and very boring. The message that I prefer to share with them is to say that consuming less brings something in the way of well-being and satisfaction. We are moving towards a slower pace, a path that is not only more reasonable but more joyful. After peaks of consumption, I felt a little dirty. As soon as we make this effort, we discover a new way of living which is not that of sentence but that of meaning. Optimism is possible.
Why do we have to go see Kina and Yuk?
VE: Going to the cinema feels good. It’s a meeting place and this film is multigenerational, which is becoming quite rare. What can we all share together? These films which can bring together people with different reading levels are valuable. Furthermore, ecology is often a complex subject and this film is a way to open the discussion, while discovering dazzling images of remote, wild and hard-to-access landscapes. Personally, I’m not brave enough to go where Guillaume filmed, so I find the visual work that was done magical.
Kina and Yuk, in cinemas on December 27, 2023.
Editorial manager Aufeminin
Julie Caron has been the editorial manager of Aufeminin since November 2023. After spending 8 years within the Marie-Claire group, as head of the society, psycho, education and lifestyle print sections…