Emmanuel Courcol

[on The Marching Band (2024)] My starting point was an idea I had a long time ago, during a consultation on a film that never saw the light of day, set in Tourcoing in the world of majorettes. I went there to meet a marching band and its troop of majorettes, the "Cht'is lutins". No one could read music, not even the conductor. The band's entire repertoire was made up of pieces that he adapted by ear. He would break down the parts by section, and the others would reproduce what they had heard. After the rehearsal, we all went for a drink at his place, and seeing these people of all ages so warmly together made me realize the importance of music and the marching band as a social and emotional bond: it is a family and a way of life, a remedy for isolation, the omnipresence of screens and our dematerialized world. As I watched their boss, I wondered what his destiny would have been had he been born into a more privileged environment. That is when I had the image of a great conductor discovering the existence of a brother who plays in a marching band: a cultural, emotional, social and musical shock.