Interview with Sara Millot, director of the film Dockville

AIVP - question 1 : Can you tell us how the "Dockville" project came about? What inspired you to focus on the commercial port of Sete? I've been making documentary films for years, both in the field of television and contemporary art, through residencies and partnerships with cultural institutions. I'm generally interested in worlds that aren't my own, with the desire to get to know them, understand them and convey an embodied, faithful account of them. Making a film therefore requires time and a form of immersion to succeed in conveying the complexity of reality. I particularly like stories linked to the world of work, popular culture and questions of transmission. I'm often interested in things that seem geographically or culturally close, but which paradoxically remain little-known. I lived in Marseille for several years and was always drawn to the autonomous port, which is both part of the city and its identity, but at the same time somewhat cut off from it because it has become inaccessible to its inhabitants (like all ports today, for security reasons). Life then took me to other parts of the world, and when I moved to Montpellier two years ago, I found myself once again facing the silhouette of cranes silhouetted against the landscape. I was standing in front of the commercial port of Sete and could see the signs of activity and a diversity of traffic. My curiosity and desire to find out more about this port world were immediately rekindled. The configuration of the port of Sète is particularly interesting: it is fundamentally linked to the history of the city and populates its imagination, but the link is no longer as fusional as it was in the 60s. A certain distance and unfamiliarity with port life are now shared by many inhabitants, who even believe, sometimes mistakenly, that activity is in decline. The scale of this port is also interesting: a "big little port" as the crane operators call it, i.e. an extensive (over 200 hectares) and diversified territory, which you can't get around on foot, but where everyone knows each other and rubs shoulders AIVP - question 2 : Dockville focuses on a variety of port situations and trades. Can you tell us about some of the stories or people who have made a particular impression on you? After scouting the port for several months without a camera, in order to grasp the singularity of this ecosystem before starting to film it, I realized that it was above all a collective story, not a succession of individuals working in the same space. Although plural and heterogeneous, this port community gradually became clear to me. More than individual stories and experiences, what struck me most was the clear sense of belonging that translates into a rhythm of life, the transmission of gestures and stories, a certain fraternity and, of course, pride in working in this singular space between land and sea. I'm also struck by the way these different trades interweave and contribute to keeping the port alive day and night, without interruption. It's an enclosed space open to the world, which is obviously fascinating to observe and film. AIVP - question 3 : Port culture seems to be at the heart of "Dockville". How would you describe this culture, and why do you think it's important to share it with a wider audience? It's undoubtedly this complex mesh of fact and imagination that…