ONCE UPON A TIME… THE HATE

Protagonists :

• Mathieu KASSOVITZ, Director
• Christophe ROSSIGNON, producer of the film
• Costa GRAVAS, filmmaker
• ROCKIN’SQUAT, rapper
• CUT KILLER, DJ composer
• Abdel BOUJDOUNI, mediator on the film
• Thomas SAUVADET, sociologist
• Alain ROCCA, president of Lazennec, associate producer of the film
• Roland CASTRO, architect

Portrait of a film: The film The Hate, which is cadenced by the relentless countdown to a predictable tragedy, tells the story of three young friends in a Paris suburb on the day after a night of rioting. It is the portrait of an idle, unemployed working class youth that is confronted with police violence and boredom. As they wander aimlessly from one place to another, dealing with minor troubles, the day of these three friends ends with the accidental death of one of them, shot at point-blank range by a city cop. Upon its release, the film sparked violent controversy and sold more than 2 million tickets.

Portrait of an era: The year of the film’s release, Jacques Chirac is elected President of the French Republic. His campaign theme: the “social divide”. In a context of rapid impoverishment of the working classes and the increase in the vote for the extreme right, the 1990s saw the affirmation of a youth with an immigrant background and a culture called Hip Hop. The « Touche pas à mon pote » (Don’t touch my buddy) generation gave way to the “rap generation”. Problems linked to youth unemployment, insecurity, the integration of young immigrant populations and “sensitive” neighbourhoods, are part of the political, economic and social reality of the country.

Portrait of a filmmaker: The Hate is Mathieu Kassovitz’s second feature film. Acclaimed as the revelation of the year, the young director received, a few months earlier, the Cesar for the most promising actor for his role in Jacques Audiard’s first film, See the men fall. A gifted actor, a filmmaker committed to his time, that of the B3 (black-blanc-beur) generation, Mathieu Kassovitz became at 27 years old, a leader of the revival of French cinema.