BISFF2025｜Correspondence 通信计划046：A Sky So Low 如此低沉的天空

BISFF Correspondence 通信计划

This program involves conducting brief email interviews with the directors of the international films featured in the festival, in lieu of the traditional Q&A session that follows the screenings. Through this program, we hope to provide a platform for filmmakers to discuss their work and share their insights with our audience in China.

为了跨越种种障碍，开辟更多交流空间，我们设置了“BISFF Correspondence 通信计划”，对部分国际单元的参展作者进行系列访谈，这些访谈将在作品放映后发布在联展各个媒体平台。

A Sky So Low｜Un ciel si bas｜如此低沉的天空

Joachim Michaux 若阿基姆·米肖

2025｜0:32:00｜Belgium, France｜French, English｜Asian Premiere

Director: Joachim Michaux

Interviewer&Translator: Ruth. C. Zhang

Coordinator & Editor: Suliko

导演：若阿基姆·米肖

采访、翻译：张超群

统筹、编辑：苏丽珂

Q1: When writing and shooting, how did you weave the historical feel of 1989 into this story about searching and loss, rather than simply reproducing sceneries and iconography? If you can refer to one specific scene in the film, that will be helpful.

A1: The starting point was a very specific moment in recent Belgian history when two strange phenomena overlapped: the emergence of the New Beat scene — the electronic music that laid the foundation for Belgium’s rave culture — and the so-called “Belgian UFO wave,” a period marked by numerous reports of unexplained luminous phenomena. The intersection of these two events created a very peculiar and uncanny atmosphere, something both electric and mysterious. But beyond this local context, there was also a larger political and historical backdrop — the end of the Cold War and, most symbolically, the fall of the Berlin Wall. In a way, my characters and history itself are in a similar state at that time: standing at a crossroads, where everything suddenly seems possible.

Q2: You have long worked as a documentary director, and this is your first fiction short. Did you carry any documentary methods or practices into this film?

A2: I used to directed two documentaries. My documentary work has always grown out of strong encounters. Whenever I met someone, whose personality intrigued me, I felt the urge to trace the thread of their story and make them exist on screen. In a way, what remains of that approach in this fiction film can be found in the characters of Rosie (the barmaid) and Damian (the journalist). They’re both friends I met along the way, and I’ve always been fascinated by their energy — each punk in their own very different way. I wanted to bring them into the film as they are in real life, keeping their true energy intact, or even amplifying it a little, so that it could give life and authenticity to the story.

A Sky So Low, Joachim Michaux, 2025

Q3: The film is black-and-white, foggy, and creates a certain viewing distance. At the same time, three characters from different countries become temporary companions. In casting and directing performance, how did you avoid turning them into mouthpieces for ideas while still letting a lively interaction emerge among them?

A3: It connects to the previous question — I relied a lot on the real personalities of Damian and Rosie, who are, in many ways, themselves in the film. I met both of them at sensitive moments in my life, and spent a few weeks living alongside each of them. I got to observe them closely — their fascinating energy, but also the fragility that hides behind their charisma. They brought me a kind of warmth and comfort, and I wanted them to do the same for Victor, the main character — to let him be carried by their presence and kindness. We shot the film almost chronologically, so the bond that grows between them in the story also happened in real life. By the end, they had truly become friends, companions. I think that’s what gives the film its sense of human warmth and realism.

Q4: One key sequence is the club scene. How did you cut the relationship between music and image there, so that the story keeps moving? On screen, the strobing lights on the dance floor feel like UFOs blinking on and off in space.

A4: This scene was one of the first images that came to me when I started writing the film. In a way, all the elements of the story are already there: a young man lost in the middle of an ecstatic crowd, searching for a ghost; friends nearby, exulting in trance, their presence bringing warmth; and the lights pulsing on the dance floor and in the sky. I think this sequence contains the very essence of the film — there’s no need to think about narrative when everything is already in place. The music came to the images very naturally — or maybe it was the other way around, I’m not sure anymore. I could literally project the scene onto that track the moment I heard it. I listened to it while writing, we played it on set during the shoot, and it became a central element of the mise-en-scène — as vital as the light itself.

A Sky So Low, Joachim Michaux, 2025

Q1：您如何将1989年的历史氛围自然融入这部关于寻找与失去的故事中，而不是仅仅复现历史背景和视觉符号？

A1：影片灵感源自比利时当代史中的一个特殊时刻，当时两种奇异的景象同时出现：一是 New Beat 电子音乐的兴起，它为比利时锐舞文化（rave culture）奠定了基础；二是所谓的“比利时UFO浪潮”（Belgian UFO wave），那一时期大量报道了目击不明发光体的事件。这两者的交汇制造出非常特殊和恐惑（uncanny）的氛围，既电子化又充满神秘感。除了这些地域性的背景信息，更为宏大的政治历史语境也不可忽略——冷战即将终结，最具象征意义的莫过于柏林墙的倒塌。某种意义上，片中角色和那个时代本身一样：都站在一个十字路口，突然一切变得皆有可能。

Q2：您此前创作过多部纪录片，而这是你的第一部虚构短片。在创作这部影片时，是否融入了部分纪录片的方法或思路？

A2：我曾执导过两部纪录片，它们的创作都源于一次次深刻的相遇。每当遇见一个性格吸引我的人，我就会产生一种追踪记录他们生命轨迹的冲动，并将他们的故事呈现在银幕上。在这部虚构短片中，我延续了这一纪录片的创作方法，这尤为体现于酒吧女招待罗西（Rosie）和英国记者达米安（Damian）这两个角色上。他们都是我现实生活中的朋友，我一直被他们的能量所吸引，因为他们各自以不同的方式诠释了何为“朋克精神”。我也希望能在影片中呈现出他们真实的样子，保留甚至略放大他们本身的气质，这样，整个故事也多了一些生命力和真实气息。

A Sky So Low, Joachim Michaux, 2025

Q3：全片用黑白、雾天、低云，像是保持了一点观看距离。同时，三位来自不同国家的人短暂结成伙伴。您在选角和表演指导上，如何避免把他们变成某种观念的代言，从而同时让他们产生奇妙的互动？

A3：这和上一个问题是相通的——我大量借用了罗西和达米安的真实气质，他们在片中几乎就是在本色出演。我在生命中一些比较敏感的时刻遇见他俩，也分别与他们共同生活过几周，这让我有机会近距离观察他们，他们身上有某种令人着迷的能量，也有隐藏在魅力背后的脆弱。他们带给我某种温暖与安慰，我也希望他们能在片中对主角维克多（Victor）起到类似的作用——用他们的陪伴与善意托住他。电影基本是顺拍的，所以他们在影片中逐渐建立起情感纽带的同时，在现实生活中也产生了类似的联结。等到影片拍摄结束，他们已成为真正的朋友与伙伴。我想，这也正是电影中那种人情味和真实感的来源。

Q4：影片中夜店舞池是一个重要场景，舞池里闪烁的灯光就像宇宙中一闪一灭的UFO一般，您在音乐与画面的剪接上是如何处理节奏与情感的？

A4：这场戏是我在写剧本时最先浮现的画面之一，它几乎凝结了整部电影的所有核心要素：一个年轻男子迷失于狂欢的人群中，想寻找一个幽灵般的身影；朋友们就陪伴在他身边，沉醉于迷狂中，他们存在本身就带来一种温暖；舞池与天空中都闪烁着灯光的脉动。我认为这一幕体现了整部影片的本质——当一切元素都各司其职，便不需要刻意安排叙事。音乐几乎是自然而然地贴合于画面——或者说，我其实已经分不清哪个在先。第一次听那首歌时，我几乎立刻就在脑海想到了这场戏。在写剧本时我反复聆听这首歌，拍摄现场也一直在循环播放，它成为了场面调度的核心，和灯光本身一样重要。

▌more information: https://www.bisff.co/selection/a-sky-so-low