PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Stephane Kaas, director of the documentary Etgar Keret: Based on a True Story.
Stephane Kaas presented his documentary feature Etgar Keret: Based on a True Story at the 31st Festival of Audiovisual Programmes (FIPA) in Biarritz, France. The film is based on the Israeli author Etgar Keret; particularly, as Kaas tells us in this interview, it is about “how Etgar creates fiction out of his own life.” Kaas had been a fan of Keret for a long time and had played around with the thought of making a movie based on one of his short story. With the assistance of his co-screenwriter, Rutger Lemm, he ended up making a film about the man himself and during the interview points out another objective: “We think Etgar is one of the best storytellers we have in the world and we though if we studied Etgar we could maybe learn how to tell good stories ourselves.” Etgar Keret: Based on a True Story takes us inside the world of the author in a number of different ways and through different techniques, such as by blending the line between reality and fiction (echoing the surrealist vibes of Keret’s work itself), through animation, and more. In this interview, we find out more about the style of the film and the techniques, as well as whether Kaas thinks Keret is a liar (a question he asks Keret’s friends throughout the documentary) and more, including that it is illegal to film with monkeys in Tel Aviv.
Etgar Keret: Based on a True Story: In his short stories, Israeli writer Etgar Keret mixes fantasy and reality. His own life story also comes across as a modern fairy tale. In this hybrid documentary, the filmmakers investigate why storytelling is essential for Keret’s survival.
For the first time in its history, the Cannes Film Festival reveals two official posters for its 78th edition, inspired by Claude Lelouch’s 1966 Palme d’Or-winning masterpiece A Man and a Woman.
Alice Rohrwacher has been appointed President of the Caméra d’or Jury at Cannes 2025. Known for her poetic and visionary cinema, Rohrwacher will award the best first feature at the festival’s closing ceremony on May 24.