Mara Joly entered the world of television as an actress. A homogeneous world whose functionality she discovered. Self-taught, she became a screenwriter, director and then producer. We owe him the excellent web series The madhouse which was particularly noticeable in Cannes. Mara is characterized by her raw, extremely realistic and instinctive approach. In interviews, she speaks quickly, with exuberant enthusiasm fueled by the attention After the flood Advantages.
A raw, true series that takes us to a red-light district in Montreal where we survive through violence and shenanigans, and in which a police officer gives hope to some young gangsters by introducing them to mixed martial arts. Really not bad for a girl who grew up in foster care and had almost no access to television because everyone was pulling at her.
The policewoman Maxime in the series After the Flood. Photo provided by Noovo
How did you come up with the idea for the series?
My brother did mixed martial arts. I did karate and Thai boxing. I know what impact it had on me. I know what it’s like to be disadvantaged, to not have access to services, I understand the shortcomings. And I researched for a year and a half. I developed the archetypes with my brother. I visited mentors who teach boxing, people who have vision and commitment. Since I didn’t know the codes of television, I started with what moved me.
Were there any pitfalls before your first series was picked up by a network?
I was an actress and did “food” events in Old Montreal disguised as New France. Nobody saw me as a director. It was my friend Benoît Lach who gave me confidence. It takes vision and taste to invest in new talent. I found people who wanted to be with me. I founded my production company (along with Miryam Charles) to protect my work and not be asked to whitewash my characters. The station was exceptional. There was a real conversation at the opening. It is a project led by many women who have supported me as mentors.
How did you define your production approach?
Since my childhood I have been interested in photography, sculpture and painting. These are my inspirations. It is my intuition that guides me. I like the contrasts between text and context. I love saying “I hate you” and laughing.
You are an actress and work a lot with non-actors. What do you do to guide them?
I do a lot of wild casting. I always work with a trainer to warm them up because in Quebec we don’t have much time. It allows them to repeat their lines and refine their mannerisms. Some leads received coaching. Otherwise, I read the actors’ bodies. I adapt to the way they breathe and move. I just want them to be true, beyond the staging or the lyrics. I know it is very demanding for the team.
Dylane (Charlotte Blanche Masse) and Maxime (Penande Estime) had trainers and nutritionists. These are very physical roles. There are fights, stunts, working with a fight choreographer, an MMA trainer and an intimacy coordinator for nude scenes.
We also had a psychosocial worker of African-American descent, Cyrille Ekwalla, as there were scenes that required great sensitivity. We had to provide a safe space and not allow anything to escape.
What do you hope we remember from this series?
That you should never minimize the impact you can have on someone. There is an African proverb that says: We walk faster alone. We move forward together.
I am the sum of all the people I have met. I am a child of the system and I would even say that I am a victory of the system. I come from a background where no one had a vision for me. There are people who gave me keys when I needed them. And I’m proud to show a main character, a woman, dark skin, with natural hair, working, a police officer at that, autonomous, with character, gay, while it’s still taboo in the community (Mara was born to an African-American mother ). and a white father). I’m proud to show black love because we never see it on screen. To give that to my communities. If it was going to be my only project, I put everything into it.
►After the flood Thursday 9 p.m. on Noovo