About recognition, talent, and bold choices with Cristina Jacob
Sometimes, even without personally knowing someone, you feel a sort of familiarity with him or her. It is an organic feeling and most of the time (as it turned out to me), it is because you will meet that person and for some time you will be close. It is that thing I call in my own language: “memories from the future.”
This is how I feel about Cristina Jacob, who I don’t know personally, but we’ve been communicating for some time now and admire each other from a distance. One thing is for sure: she is an ambitious woman dedicated to her art, surrounded by success and still a down-to-earth person. And I must admit I like this kind of people that, no matter how high they reach, you still have a human conversation, and they know how to make you feel nice. It’s a talent. And yes, it is maybe because being a film director she has to “juggle 7 arts in one single product,” as she said, and I will add to this a talent to orchestrate an entire crew of specialists and be opinionated about different aspects of their jobs. If women are famous for multitasking, being a woman film director is the next level of multitasking.
You just launched The Perfect Escape movie and there is a huge buzz around it and a lot of positive feedback from the ones who already saw the movie. While you were working on it, I remembered you told me this one is different from the previous ones. In which sense?
My films so far have mostly been done by the numbers. This one is still a commercial movie, yet different for the simple fact that it is no longer just aimed at teenagers, but at audiences having already experienced a couple of relationships. It's a film with many hidden messages, told with a kind of humour some call Frenchy. A lot of people said it's a smart movie. I took my chances making a “smarter” movie out of the desire to express deeper messages about our existence, but still in a cool way. When asking ourselves the most serious questions, I think we should always do it with a strong sense of humour. But a shorter answer to your question might simply be that I am still young and have grown up a bit since my previous movies.
It is your 8th movie so far (according with IMDB) having had a great impact on the box office with your previous ones. I think the number is impressive, you’ve been extremely active, and I am sure you experienced a lot. So, what is Cristina Jacob signature in terms of movie style?
I’ve done 5 features till 2022. The rest are medium and short films. I think style is something that comes from the inside, from one’s subconscious. You express things the way you experience them, you are subject and object at the same time, so outside observers can always define your style better than you would ever do it yourself. Every specific cinematic genre suggests a certain style “naturally,” even if sometimes you can feel it twisting your arm. I am now going to approach a completely new genre. Will it result in a different cinematic style? That remains to be seen and for the others to tell.
Anthony Slide, the author of Early Women Directors, wrote, “During the silent era, women can be said to have dominated the industry. There were over thirty women directors prior to 1920, more than in any other period of film history… the women directors were considered equal to, if not better than, their male colleagues.” The Celluloid Ceiling Report reveals that women made up 12% of directors working on the 100 top-grossing films in 2021, down from 16% in 2020. How do you relate to this?
In school, they taught us history as humanity’s inescapable path towards progress. Growing up, I discovered it often had ups and downs... Nowadays, you can do any job regardless of gender, providing you are good at it. Being a director involves multitasking. You juggle 7 arts in one single product. From this point of view, it comes as a typical woman's chore. Yet, we shouldn’t throw away our genre differences just because it’s the latest fashionable thing to do. Differences are crucially important. They are assets. All women are different, and all are different from men, from all men. Give the same script to 10 directors and you're going to have 10 completely different films. Each has his or her own unique filter, regardless of gender. For me, this is not some inequality to struggle against, but beauty to preserve. It would be a huge boredom to be all the same. A living hell, modern yet traditionally paved with good intentions.
I happened to finish an acting school in Greece a few years ago and to have been working on a few roles here and there, and I must say that I find the field (which is not my main occupation) almost impossible to climb. There is no pattern for success, there are no rules and I think being a woman is even more difficult. How do you see it? And what is success for you?
As you say, there is no exact pattern. But I truly believe that only discipline and constant motion can get you closer to success. There is no point in waiting, you should always go for it, regardless of context. Explorers are not warriors whose courage makes them rush into an uncharted territory, they just can’t help being helplessly curious. It is said that curiosity killed the cat, but I still think those who survived became tigers. The ”secret” of my success is that simple: a natural need to evolve, combined with a certain work discipline.
For The Perfect Escape, you have an international cast, you also have actors you’ve already worked with… so on which criteria do you choose the actors? Is there any process? I know it is big pain point in the industry and I wonder how you, as a woman director, approach this sensitive subject.
I have already gained a certain reputation in the industry. As rumours go, friendship or recommendations don’t help, only performance does the trick. For each new film, even the actors I've worked with previously have to go again through the casting process and chemistry tests. It's very subjective, yet objective at the same time. The actor has to prove he is fit for that part from my point of view. Why am I so strict? Because, after a good script, the actor is the most crucial element to convey your story. Him and only him. Having the best equipment or the most beautiful backgrounds only come next. The most important thing for a director is to choose his actors well.
Let’s go back in time, when did you decide you would take this career path for your life and what influenced you to do it?
I had a bumpy childhood. It prepared me for this job, emotionally and creatively. I can truly say I didn't really choose... Free choice is just an illusion; the whole creation belongs to God. At most, I'm a co-writer of my life. Even when I have flashes of inspiration, they come from Him. As an anecdote, it all started as I was heading for admission into the Faculty of Economics, telling myself that learning business from a hired professor might not be the best idea. Why not do something that would really stimulate me creatively instead? I turned around and headed straight to the Arts Academy. Still, the fact that I had already gained some experience as a journalist and a rollercoaster childhood helped a lot.
We often have an ideal picture in our mind regarding the success in career or even the work itself, independently of it’ success. Most of the time, we are influenced by others who made history and reached recognition and we kind of dream to follow in their footsteps. How is being a movie director versus your dream as a young student? How is the reality versus the dream world?
It should feel wonderful to always smile in the flashlights, holding a coveted prize against a perfect dress, doesn’t it? Even when you get those few minutes of bliss, they’re just the occasional reward for endless days and nights of struggle, doubt and hard work. It’s like in sports, one runner gets the medal, but all the others are just as dedicated and exhausted. You shouldn’t count on it, because you never really know in advance what part of your work the audience will actually connect to. You guess, you work and hope for the best, but this is a very competitive industry. And a very cruel one, I might add. We have evolved, gladiators are no longer thrown to the lions, yet funding a film after Covid remains no easy task. It takes inhumane efforts. I could never have done it alone; I had a whole team of "magicians" at my side. The reality of filmmaking vs. the dream of it is like a before/after Instagram picture... Watch the film Babylon. It looks like a fable but, for any insider, it describes quite honestly the torments of this job and the idea of dream vs. reality.
A movie is art and I would say it is also a tool to express and send messages to the world. How do you relate to this?
The power of art and media in history has already been thoroughly proven. Look at Banksy’s paintings in Ukraine or at the Iranian women singing Bella ciao. Art often shapes reality and opinions more than conventional weapons. Art is a powerful, therefore dangerous, weapon. If not used responsibly, it can be lethal. Talent is not yours to play with, it is a mysterious magic gift you have only been entrusted with. I strongly believe one should always use it humbly and for a good cause. In Obi-wan Kenobi’s words, “never underestimate the dark side of the Force.”
Credit: Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto/Getty Images
You are very sensitive to aesthetic; I admire your beauty and the way you express yourself and I love this combination of fragility and power you inspire me. So, I wonder… what is Cristina’s definition of beauty?
Thanks for your remark. I think I have grown to discover and appreciate the beauty in simple things, the ones that nature gave us: sea, sun, Mediterranean pine trees... A white shirt you throw on your skin when you just stepped out of a cooling shower. I also see now there is so much beauty in kindness. Choosing to say a gentle word to an opponent, even though your first impulse would have been to offend, is not just a mark of strength, but also of beauty. Our world has never been hungrier for this kind of beauty as it is today.
You are already a client of The Sense of Beauty jewellery gallery, but I am curious to find out what is your relationship with jewellery?
I love pearls. They grow up hidden in a shell and come out only when they achieve the simplest geometrical perfection. Their beauty is aristocratic, they glow, but don’t shine. Pearls are the essence of femininity. Each time I wear them, I feel as if I had the Moon coming down from the sky to rub against my skin like a loving cat.
Which are your top 3 favourite jewellery pieces from The Sense of Beauty?
Let me surprise you: all the pearl pieces 😊
How do you dream about future? What about your next movie? I am sure you are already working on something… this is what my feminine intuition is telling me😊
Dreaming of the future is like gazing at the sea. It can look lovely and inviting, then suddenly turn stormy and reveal its hidden monsters. I try to always keep in mind it also contains lost precious loots. I am a peculiar kind of treasure hunter, I’m not looking for gold coins, but for the hidden stories of those wrecks, for the hopes, dreams and mishaps of the proud and adventurous people who sailed them. A filmmaker is a sea captain, he guides a small fleet of scripts towards friendly shores, knowing too well that not all will make it through the waves and squalls. He is also a born pirate, preying on every opportunity. If there is a good story in your life, beware! He will grab it, polish it lovingly and sell it to the highest bidder. Being a director has a lot in common with sea travel. No matter how experienced or valued you are in the eyes of others, you know deep down that the sea only accepts you as a tiny guest on its back. You should therefore stay humble, discreet and, yes, grateful.