Paul Leo: Catherine, you originally studied violin at the Lyon Conservatory, and graduated with a degree in English & Literature. Why did you choose film to be your medium?

Catherine Maximoff: It just happened! I would say I have been slowly and naturally shifting from one field to the other mostly because of the people I have met along the way. My musical background led me to the Opera de Lyon where I trained in the communication department while I was still a student. This is when I discovered contemporary dance with May B by Maguy Marin, which was a real shock. Later on, my first job was as the assistant to the programmer of a dance festival in Paris. This is when I started seeing dance shows every night. There, we began to take interest in dance films, which was another way of reaching an audience who would not naturally go to see a dance show. While doing this, I met a producer who was producing dance films and we became friends. At that time, I guess I was not satisfied with my job anymore and I knew I wanted more. Writing has never been a problem for me; I am not saying I am good at it but I am not afraid to use words. Many film makers are, however, and this producer friend suggested that I help filmmakers to put into words what they had in mind. And naturally, I then started to write what I also had in mind ! Later on, it just so happened that a filmmaker had an opening for a short dance film he was producing, so he gave me a chance. And I liked it...

Paul Leo: Were there any film-makers who particularly inspired you to be a
film director or was it just a case of wanting to do something creative?

Catherine Maximoff:You are right I was not very familiar with films at that time. But I have worked hard on the matter since !

Paul Leo: Your film Uzès Quintet is beautifully shot, and Voyage
has some wonderful composition throughout. How much planning
goes into your visual design of your films?

Catherine Maximoff: Quite a lot. I worked with the same director of photography on both films.
Of course, for Voyage, he already knew the kind of look I liked. Yet the work was quite different on both films.
Uzès Quintet was shot on Super 16. I had studied each choreography I was going to film and I wrote each shot of each sequence. And I spent a lot of time looking for the locations I found myself.
Voyage takes place in a black box and the lighting was crucial. Sam managed to put the ideas I had in mind in the frame, but before that, I spent days watching Russell's pieces, looking for excerpts I wanted to shoot, thinking of how many dancers, what kind of energy, movement... how all this could fit together.
It has been a combination of doing my best during preparation and the trust I had in Russell and his work. And the 7 days of shooting were wonderful.