#410 - Claire Denis on White Material

Film at Lincoln Center Podcast

This week on the Film at Lincoln Center podcast, we’re featuring a special archival Q&A from the 47th New York Film Festival in 2009 with director Claire Denis and cast members Isaach de Bankolé & William Nadylam on White Material, moderated by Melissa Anderson. Claire Denis returns to NYFF for this year’s 60th-anniversary edition with two films: the Main Slate selection, Stars at Noon, and the Revivals selection, No Fear No Die. Based on the 1986 novel by Denis Johnson, Stars at Noon represents a new mode for director Claire Denis, a contemporary thriller suffused with political intrigue and languid eroticism, moving entirely to the tactile rhythms of its actors, especially rising star Margaret Qualley, who gives a live-wire performance of fervid spontaneity and mercurial passion. No Fear No Die, Claire Denis’s rarely screened second feature, is a radically physical cinematic journey into the shadowy (under)world of illegal cockfighting. Isaach De Bankole and Alex Descas star as Dah and Jocelyn, two immigrants (from Benin and French Antilles, respectively) living on the outskirts of Paris who earn money from cockfights. A very limited amount of NYFF60 Passes are now on sale! Single tickets will go on sale to the General Public on September 19, with pre-sale access for FLC Members and Pass holders prior to this date. Listen to the discussion on the film below and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, or Stitcher for more filmmaker conversations.