In Three Nights a Week, Florent Gouëlou signs an ambitious first film to make accessible a universe still full of clichés, that of drag queens. Florent Gouëlou knows this world very well, because he is himself a drag artist, under the name of Javel Habibi. The filmmaker talked to us about his attraction for this universe during an interview granted to Sortiraparis. We also interviewed Pablo Pauly and Romain Eck (aka Cookie Kunty), the two main actors of the film. The film will be released in theaters on November 9th.
Cookie Kunty (Three Nights a Week): "We put my character to work"
On the occasion of the release of "Three Nights a Week", by Florent Gouëlou, on November 9, the main actors of the film, Pablo Pauly and Romain Eck, alias Cookie Kunty, the drag queen of the film, confided to Sortiraparis. [Read more]
Sortiraparis: It's quite rare to see a film made by a person so immersed in the milieu it depicts (Florent Gouëlou was in drag during the interview). What is your relationship with the drag scene ?
Florent Gouëlou: I discovered drag in 2016. It was at the time, at the end of my film studies at the Fémis. I was making a short film about the different ways of inhabiting the male gender. And that's when I discovered drag, it totally crossed my subject. Little by little, one thing leading to another, I became a drag queen myself and I continued to make films on the subject until Three Nights a Week, which really explores the cohabitation between the two lives. When you're a drag artist, the character and the real.
While the film "Three Nights a Week", by Florent Gouëlou, is released on November 9, an exhibition around the film is open from this Friday, November 4 at the Cinema Gallery, until November 26. [Read more]
And then it's funny, because if you're seen in the film for a few seconds.
F. G. : Indeed, I make a small appearance in Three Nights a Week. I thought it was like a wink. I wanted to make a little cameo.
And what fascinates you so much about the character of Cookie Kunty, who exists in real life, whom you kept for the film and who also plays in your first short films?
F. G.: What's very joyful about Cookie is that, indeed, she created her character seven years ago and it turns out that she's a very good actor under drag and has completely accepted to put her creation at the service of the stories I wrote for him and for her. Cookie was the first queen I saw on stage, in 2016. I immediately thought she had an X-factor, charisma and personality. And as the collaborations went on, I felt like writing more and more complex scores for her have made a great collaboration for the past six years.
And why does this world fascinate you so much?
F. G.: For me, discovering drag was a marvel. It was a recreation. Already, as a spectator, I had to find it fascinating, fabulous. When I started drag, it came to reconcile a lot of things with my own background. I think that I had, I was ashamed as a teenager, of my femininity and today to be celebrated for this femininity, it was very reconciling. And then today, it became a second job and it is especially the occasion to create visual universes and moments of sharing with the public. So I approach it more with a form of requirement. And yes, it's a great personal achievement, in parallel to my work as a director.
And what would you like to say to an audience that is not at all familiar with this universe and would like to see your film?
F. G.: I would like to tell them that the film was really conceived as an invitation. The film was made by someone who knows the subject. So, with this veracity, this relationship to detail and at the same time, I tried to make sure that no one would feel at the door and that people who would discover this environment would feel welcomed like at home.
Cookie Kunty (Three Nights a Week): "We put my character to work"
Three nights a week: an exhibition to accompany the release of the film
