18/05/2005

"It wasn’t really a love story between Cannes and I. Everything has changed today thanks to Thierry Frémaux" announced the French filmmaker Pierre Jolivet, delighted to present one of his film in Official Selection for the first time in Cannes. Used to family collaborations with his brother Marc, this time, Pierre Jolivet worked in tandem with his son, Adrien Jolivet, who is the main character and signs the film music.

Zim and Co [+see also:
trailer
film profile] depicts four young suburbanites’ friendship. So as to avoid prison due to a car accident, Zim (20 years old) has to find a real job. He therefore scours every advertisement and deals with every side of society, and he finally gets a job provided that he successfully passes his A levels, his driving license and has a car in ten days. In order to face this impossible mission, Zim, the Pole guy has three friends who won’t stop at nothing : Cheb an Arab (Mhamed Arezki), Arthur a black (Yannick Nasso) and a rebellious young lady, Safia (Naidra Ayadi). The film looks like its character, sharp, trendy, coloured, strengthened with a jerky and quick editing, fed with a powerful music. The themes tackled are those who young people living in suburbs deal with: employment problems, prejudices, racism, violence, lack of sympathy, shady dealings and repression but above all friendship and perseverance.

The film does not denounce, on the contrary it exposes the contemporary society’s evils. "When I was 18 years old, I left my suburb for work, both actions were closely linked", remembers Pierre Jolivet. "My son and his friends’ difficulties to start in life without studying make me think of my situation when I was young. Their conversations, their questions, their problems look like mine when I started in life. History repeats itself but today everything increased. Twenty years old is the age when one leaves his family for another, friendship. It is above all the moment when everything starts and everything scares, but in the same time one feels indestructible. We tried to tackle this double dizziness." In order to grasp the daily reality of today’s young people, Pierre Jolivet gave every versions of the script to his son Adrien and his friend Yannick, two of the main characters of the film. As a result the films describes four natural young people, with naivety and sincerity, their strengths and their weaknesses. Zim and Co is an entirely French production and gathers Vendredi Film (Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, Pierre Kubel, Frédéric Bourboulon) and Bac Films (Jean Labadie).

(Translated from French)