– Who is David Hertzog Dessites?

I am a director, producer, and screenwriter, born in Cannes on 27/01/1973. I’ve been working in the film industry for 25 years this year. I initially started by producing and directing making-ofs (behind the scenes) for French producers in the 2000s, then I ventured into different categories of production: TV documentaries, motion capture video game direction, film trailers, and content for social media.

– Do you remember the exact moment when you fell in love with cinema?

When I was still a very young child, my mother used to take me for walks along the Croisette, which is the famous promenade in Cannes, often during the Film Festival. There was a magic in the air, something I could feel that fascinated my child’s eyes. My mother often said, “We’re going to meet famous people!” It was in the 70s and 80s, a different era for the Cannes Film Festival. Also, living in “the city of cinema” was incredible for me. The magic of the Festival sparked my curiosity for cinema. I think I fell in love with cinema very early, I would say around 5 or 6 years old maybe. I remember watching The Empire Strikes Back, and it was a visual shock, then Superman II and especially Spielberg’s E.T.… that was a shock. That’s when I realized cinema had a power over emotions, that cinema was “bigger than life.”

– Tell us about your project “Il était une fois Michel Legrand.”

It’s primarily a fascinating story that connects me to Michel Legrand. My parents met while going to see The Thomas Crown Affair by Norman Jewison in 1968. After the film, they bought the 45 rpm of the film’s song The Windmills of Your Mind, performed by Noel Harrison. For years, they loved each other to this song, which I heard in my mother’s womb. As far back as I can remember, I’ve listened to this music all my life because on this 45 rpm there were two sides, one sung, the other instrumental. What was strange was that I felt a form of sweetness. I had a sort of energy that came to me every time I listened to this song, but also sometimes a great sadness. As I grew up, I eventually discovered that this famous song was the work of a composer named Michel Legrand. I started learning about him and what he did. I found out that he had composed Oum le dauphin the TV series, and also that he was the composer of another TV series I watched back in the 70s, Il était une fois l’espace. I realized that, strangely, Michel Legrand had composed most of the things I watched. Also, I took violin lessons for 7 years at the Cannes Conservatory. And that’s an important moment for me, a precursor to my desire to be a director. During those years, I met a man named Ivry Gitlis, not knowing at the time that he was one of Michel Legrand’s best friends. In reality, everything kept bringing me back to Michel Legrand, without me even realizing it. In 1983, my mother had the good idea to take me to see a film: Yentl! And that was a shock. I am one of those people who believes, as Catherine Michel says in my film, that the most beautiful score by Michel Legrand is Yentl! I was completely swept away by the film. Cinematically speaking, it’s an incredible achievement for Barbra Streisand. And musically, Michel’s creative madness is at its peak. That’s really when I completely fell in love with Legrand. When I started working in film years later, I always told myself I would someday contact this man to meet him, and why not make a film about his career.

(© Jerome Tripier-Mondancin)

In 2017, I learned that Michel Legrand was coming to the Cannes Film Festival, where I still live, to give a private concert on a terrace at the Palais des Festivals. I absolutely had to be there. So, I made sure I was present, and I finally met the man who had already changed the course of my life. At the end of the concert, I couldn’t help but go up to him and tell him that if I exist, it’s partly thanks to him and the song from The Thomas Crown Affair. He looked at me and laughed, saying that it was wonderful and that he was even happier to have written that song. That’s how we met. Later, in June, we met at his home for a lunch that lasted five hours! From there, I started the project to make the film about him. But what you need to know is that I never planned to film Michel Legrand until the end of his days. Life led me to a moment when it had to happen. You know, it’s what we call being in the right place at the right time. If none of this had happened, the film about Michel wouldn’t exist. In a way, Michel contributed to my earthly birth through his music, and also to my birth in cinema since this film is my first feature film to be released in theaters. And the most incredible thing is having presented my film at Cannes in 2024… It’s a dream come true. There are destinies.

– Which director inspires you the most?

I can’t name just one, it’s impossible. But here are the ones who always inspire me: Spielberg first, because I think there was a before Spielberg and after Spielberg in the history of cinema. He has forever marked the 7th art; he is the father of an entire generation of filmmakers. Also, M. Scorsese, G. Lucas, D. Lynch, F.F. Coppola, B. De Palma, James Cameron, and for the French, F. Truffaut, B. Blier, J. Giovanni, G. Lautner.

(© Cecilia Tsan)

– What displeases you in the world, and what would you change?

What bothers me about our current society? A lot of things… But one very concerning issue is A.I. Artificial intelligence is a major technological revolution that will allow incredible things to be done, that’s certain. But there’s a great danger in its use because multinational corporations will want to use A.I. to reduce production costs and thus replace humans, and that’s a huge danger. Several economists have predicted that over 300 million people will find themselves unemployed in the coming years. It’s dramatic. And for cinema, it’s the same thing: they want to cut costs, have fewer expenses, and thus put technicians and artists out of work. It’s not possible to think like this, it’s catastrophic. A.I. must remain a tool to help humans, not replace them. Imagine tomorrow that A.I. will be able to reproduce music as if it were composed by Mozart, Beethoven, or Michel Legrand… it’s unethical and very dangerous because we won’t know how to identify what is real and what isn’t, what comes from the human mind, and what is a copy, an interpretation of it. We must be vigilant about what is happening; we are at a decisive and major turning point in the era of humanity and creativity.

(© Thomas Dessites)

– How do you imagine cinema in 100 years?

I don’t imagine it any other way than through the vision of screenwriters and directors. If it becomes technological, that’s normal, but if it were to be replaced by artificial intelligence, it would be a tragedy. I often tell the audience when I present my film in cinemas that they are going to see a film about A.I., but not the kind of A.I. we’re talking about right now. They are going to see a film about Artistic Intelligence, and that intelligence is not artificial. We must preserve art, not destroy it. We must be very careful.

– What is your impression of WILD FILMMAKER?

It’s a very interesting media outlet that gives great visibility to independent cinema. I also really like the concept of black-and-white photos, which make things timeless. I saw an article about Cannes 2023 and an event there, and of course, it caught my attention. It was written by you, and you ended with “Your creativity is a gift from nature…” That’s exactly what I say when talking about A.I.; creativity is a gift that comes from the divine, something that will remain an eternal mystery because, as Steven Spielberg says, “We don’t know where ideas come from, where they take root in the human mind.” What I believe is that creation also comes from the human heart, we need to think and imagine with the heart, more than ever. One day, I was talking to Michel about my film, which wasn’t even finished yet, and Michel told me, “Your film will be good, you know why? Because when you do things with your heart, you can’t go wrong.” That phrase has become my mantra in my work, but also in everything I do in life.