How Jérémie Battaglia made ‘PERFECT’ Documentary for the Olympics

Filmmaker Jérémie Battaglia follows the Canadian Synchronized Swimming team as it trains for the Olympics with PERFECT, now available on VOD.

indieactivity: When did your filmmaking career kick off?
Jérémie: It was in 2012. In Quebec there was a big student protest movement, called the “Maple Spring”. I did a lot of photographs of the demonstrations and one day I made a short poetic and documentary video, in black and white. This video became viral and that’s how my filmmaking career kick off! Before that I had been working for 6 years as a photographer, director of photography and director mainly in the documentary (Casseroles) area.

indieactivity: And why movies? What was it about movies that had you fixed on building a career around making them?
Jérémie: What I like the most in making documentaries is to meet people, to live in someone’s life for a few weeks, months or years. The people I film when I’m doing my films are incredibly generous and being able to be a part of their life while filming is a unique human experience. This is an incredible opportunity as a director of documentary films.

I always wanted to be a director, but at a very young age I decided to learn a technical job in the cinema (director of photography) so I could work and be able to start building my career beyond that. It helped me a lot, especially today when I make the pictures of most of my films and projects.

indieactivity: Most cite “Star Wars” as one of the films that spurred them towards a career as a filmmaker. What film was it for you?
Jérémie: For me it was two films. The first was 2001 : A space odyssey! I remember watching it on VHS on my small 4/3 television, I was 13 years old. I remember being chocked at the end of the film. I was not sure I understood anything (I’m still not sure) but I knew that I lived a unique cinematographic experience. For me it was a striking moment.

The second one was Magnolia by P.T.Anderson. I was 16 years old and this time it was in a theater. I couldn’t speak for 3 hours after that. I went back two times to watch it the same week.

indieactivity: What was the first thing you shot?
Jérémie: I would say it was a travel video I did for my school. I grew up in the south of France near Marseille. We went on a school trip to Paris for a week. I did a movie about that trip. It was 20 years ago and my friends are still watching it every year on the old VHS copy!

But professionally I started by doing movie making of. It was for a big French film called ‘Merry Christmas’ by Christian Carion. I was 22 just out of the school and it was a perfect experience, 3 month travelling in Europe and filming.

indieactivity; And how do you think you’ve improved as a filmmaker since then?
Jérémie: Ha ha I hope so! For me, as an artist, if one day I think that I’ve nothing to learn or to improve it means I have nothing else to say. Doing movies is almost like starting from zero every time. You try things, some are successful, some are not and this is okay. I’m a perfectionist and I’m always looking for a way to improve or do things in a new way to challenge myself.

indieactivity: Is there a sequence in the latest movie that you’re truly proud of, one you can genuinely step back from and say ‘wow, that looks great’!? – OR in this case, plays great?
Jérémie: In PERFECT I’m really proud of the intro of the film. I was looking for something that could in a few minutes play with our expectations about this sport, synchronized swimming. I wanted to use the clichés about this sport and destroy them from the beginning of the film.

That’s why I wanted to start with something really feminine, almost girly (the team putting on make up) then showing these girls doing this incredible highlight in the water it was a way to say “these girls are real athletes not some little girls playing in the water”.

At the same time I wanted to create a striking visual look, something that in a way was really perfectionist as the girls are in their own sport, always looking for a kind of perfection through their bodies or sport.

indieactivity: How did you get the swimming team onboard the movie? Did it take some convincing?
Jérémie: Surprisingly it was very easy. Meng, the coach of the team, thought it was good for his sport because nobody talks about it. And we got along very well from the beginning. So it was really easy!

indieactivity: Did they have much time to get to know each other before the shoot began?
Jérémie: It’s the Canadian national team so they knew each other well before I started filming! The girls from the team were sometimes swimming together for more than 10 years!

indieactivity: Where did you shoot the movie?
Jérémie: I started working on the film at the end of 2013. I started by observing the team. I was taking just photos and taking notes for almost a year. In september 2014 I did a first filming test during a competition. But the real shoot started in november 2014 until march 2016!

indieactivity: What do you hope audiences get from the movie?
Jérémie: My main goal was to change people’s eyes on this sport. It’s a very hard sport. But often women’s sports are underestimated. But these young women are among the best athletes in the world.

But I also wanted to make people travel, make a documentary that takes you to an unknown world and opens the door to another reality. I wanted to make a film first and foremost, and to bring emotions to the audience. I hope I have succeeded! 🙂

PERFECT is now on VOD.

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