Sitting Down With…COLOMBE DE VALLAVIEILLE

Candela Ortega, the Welsh ambassador of Watersprite, interviewed Colombe de Vallavieille, director and nominee for “The Song of the Waves”. The thought behind her questions was not only to go more in-depth on some details that sparked her attention during screening but more importantly, to reflect on the portrayal of the reality of migrants in art and films.

A still from The Song of the Waves, nominated for the Wychwood Media Social Impact Award at Watersprite 2024.

Q: This story you tell is a very meaningful one in certain regions. It is very personal for some individuals as well. In relation to the speech that Abi Morgan gave yesterday about storytelling, I would like to ask you: What made you choose this story specifically?

A: If you had told me years ago that I would make a movie about this, I wouldn’t have thought so. We wrote it (because we were really a team of ten people behind it, so I speak in the name of the group) so that we would make it our own. There is this political dimension to the story, but this is not what we were here for. As students, we were much more here as artists. Giving a story to people and passing a message that is free for people to interpret the way they want. They can say “This is not good!” or, in general, react. That’s why we wanted to give it this little touch of fantasy. I think this is my personal touch to this kind of storytelling and it is why I felt connected, with this group of people, to this idea. I loved this idea of putting one fantastical twist to the story, one that is not just there in the form of flying dragons and unicorns, but one that has meaning, like the symbol of the flower. So yeah, the idea was to portray this crude reality but with a little touch that almost reminded me of the fairy tales that I used to read, which were very strong in my mind and got stuck there. That’s what inspired me to want to deliver this kind of storytelling.

Colombe De Vallavielle, Director of The Song of the Waves

Q: Beautiful! Speaking about these fairy tales that you used to learn about as a kid: How do you think those impacted your choices as an animator now?

A: Umm... I think stories for children are meant so that they seem really pure. They don’t show a lot of violence but it is there, it is all subtext. And, you know, I think it influenced us because in our story there is no blood, there is no violent death... But there is still death. It’s like the flower: It symbolises a lot, it holds a dual meaning of life and death. This is how it reminds me of stories for children. Even though children are not our main audience, I think they could watch our movie and they wouldn’t be shocked by anything, they would have the maturity to understand this flower that hides a lot but tells a lot too.

Q: Absolutely. On this note of symbolism as well, could you tell us a bit more about the song you chose for your character, the one that appears in the beginning and towards the ending?

A: Yeah! So, this song “Olélé Molina Makasi” is a lullaby, and it is not a lullaby that is from the same country as the little girl. We were researching songs by country specifically because, at the very beginning, we wanted it to be a song that she probably would’ve learnt from her mother; something that she would’ve kept and that brought her comfort. But then, we found this song that we quite liked although it didn’t match with the country that we had imagined for the little girl. And... it kind of made sense actually. This is a song that she might’ve learnt on the boat from other people that were migrants from other countries. Because there is a real sense of community on these boats, there are no more than two people from the same country. They all go through Lybia, but they come from so many different countries in Africa. So this song means that, even though their conditions are hard and there is really crime and there are atrocities going on, there has been some sharing between these people: Song sharing. And probably an adult comforted the little girl at some point and sang this song to her. Now she doesn’t have parents, she doesn’t have anyone... But she has that song. It brings her comfort in the beginning and in the end it’s her... it’s her... Her shout of survival...

Q: Yeah, her home, in the end.

A: Exactly.

Q: That’s very deep, and so is this last question. I was wondering if you could let us into your research process. I mean, luckily we haven’t found ourselves in this situation, so how were you able to learn about the people in the boats and their reality?

A: Well, we started doing this research by ourselves, by reading a lot of articles. And, I think articles with testimonies of people informed us about what you feel in this situation, what you think of, what you hope for... How do you feel when the boat stops and the... the motor...?

Q: ... Yeah, the engine doesn’t run?

A: Yeah! The engine doesn’t work anymore. What are they feeling? What do they imagine then?

Q: Right.

A: So... these testimonies informed us about what was going through their mind and how we would animate that, how it would play out in the different relationships and dynamics of these people. Also, a lot of pictures from these articles and other pictures from reporters. Pictures of the people. How they found them. What kind of shoes did they have? What kind of clothes did they take with them? Their hats, their backpacks... Even the boat design, like, what kind of boat was it? So we started doing a library with all these pictures and all these texts... Kind of like doing a big mood board with all of this. And then we brought our story to SOS Méditerranée, an NGO in France who are involved in picking up people from the sea and bringing them back to the continent. We asked them: Is it true? Is this truthful? Is it respectful to these people? Is it their reality? And they confirmed that a lot of what we had done was right, that this is exactly what the volunteers experienced at sea when they found people. This gave us a lot of credit and we were happy that at least we had been truthful with this story.

Q: That’s a relief.

A: Yes! They have been with us from there... Checking the movie from time to time at different steps, and giving their impressions... And helping us, also, with the message at the end: The sentence that, we knew from the beginning, would be there. How we would say it? What would be the last thing that you saw? The last thing that you were left on.

Q: Well, in my opinion, and, I’m sure, in the opinion of the people in Wales, you portrayed this message wonderfully so...

A: Thank you!

Q: Good luck with the awards!

A: Thank you! I’m really happy that you resonated with it and that you appreciated it, because this is really what the movie was for: To get a reaction from people and have an exchange about the subject with people so, I’m really happy that the movie could serve this purpose and umm... Well, thank you!

Q: Thank you for everything!