Tench director Patrice Toye - New Zealand International Film Festival Q&A 2020

Your Name My name is Patrice Toye

Title of your film Tench Tell us about your 2020 Tench had its international première at the Rotterdam Film Festival, that was great ! But soon Covid changed all my plans of travelling around from festival to festival with my delicate film. First I was very frustrated and sad about that, but once I accepted things as they are, I saw the advantages: more time to spend with my family, time to read and time to write. There is beauty in being silent for a while…

How has Covid-19 impacted you and your film? Tench had just been released in theatres in my home country when Corona closed everything down. I hope we will have a ‘re-birth ‘ online and in some arthouse cinemas later this year. 

What's the moment you wish audiences were seeing in a theatre, and why? I wish they would see the whole film on big screen, but I’m sure it also works on a smaller screen. 

What have you learned about film-making, the film-making community and the film-going audience during the pandemic? A creative mind always finds solutions. The master shows himself in the limitation. One can still make powerful, inventive films even without any means. I teach film directing in a film school and my students had to start making ‘minimal’ films at home, with no crew, material etc… but some really fantastic short films came out as a result of those limitations. 

What's the single best moment of your film? I really can’t say. Maybe the moment when Bess and Jonathan have lunch and eat ‘schnitzel’ together. 

What do you plan to do next in terms of film-making? I’m working on a new script, but I don’t like talking about it, I’m superstitious.

Tench plays at Whanau Marama, the New Zealand International Film festival. You can get all the details here - https://www.nziff.co.nz/2020/at-home-online/tench/