If I told you just five words, it is a spy film, your mind would go to either action packed or maybe campy. Would you really think about a psychological thriller? And if I told you the film won a prestigious French award for best first film, how does it sound when the director says he made a foreign film? Contradictions abound with my guest Jonathan Millet's film, GHOST TRAIL (2024). One thing it is in any description is a cinematic gem. Currently streaming on Mubi, it expands the genre in ways you won't see coming. And the absolute best part? The director is even more interesting than the film.

In this episode, Jonathan and I talk about:

• what it was like winning the Louis Delluc Prize for Best First Film in 2024;
• his traveling to 50 countries and how he learned he was good at filmmaking;
• what he noticed about cinema in each country and French cinema-going;
• how GHOST TRAIL came about and why it was originally envisioned as a documentary;
• what he wants people to know before watching the film;
• why he never showed torture in the film and how he created a film with such depth;
• how he created a playable video game to be incorporated into the film (!);
• the crazy distribution process and whether it came up whether he needed to add action to the film;
• how he found such a capable actor in Adam Bessa, who had to plausibly be a spy, English professor, and torture victim in the film;
• his research process for making a spy film;
• France's reaction to the film;
• is France a great place for filmmaking?
• how important it was for him that GHOST TRAIL is viewed as a foreign film;
• what's next for him;
• how he feels about the pace of making new films.

Memorable Quotes:

"All the masters, the big directors I loved at this time as a classical, for example, they all arrived in cinema with another background. They all study something else and they bring it to cinemas."

"And they were looking for remote countries in war countries with trouble. And I was looking for it as well. So it was my screwup cinema actually."

"What I really love is to consider a film as an experience."

"The best co-writer for the film was reality."

"My producer said it would be cheaper to do that than buy Call of Duty rights."

"The editor of GHOST TRAIL is also the editor of ANATOMY OF A FALL (2023). And he's a great editor and he say I need time. It's not about being slow, it's just that if I have 10 weeks to edit a movie, I could do it, but if I have 20 weeks, I could try things and maybe some incredible outstanding idea will appear. 

Jonathan's Indie Film Highlights: LA LIBERTAD (2001) dir. by Lisandro Alonso

Links:

Watch GHOST TRAIL (2024) on MUBI

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