La Haine

Mathieu Kassovitz started the script on 6 April 1993, the day seventeen year old Makomé M’Bowolé died of a gunshot in police custody. Seven or eight councils refused permission, so the script was temporarily retitled Droit de Cité. Kassovitz, his first assistant, the three leads and the stage manager moved into a Chanteloup-les-Vignes flat before shooting. Shot on colour negative and printed to black and white, a call Pierre Aïm puts on Kassovitz: a film named Hate lands harder without colour. The real decision sits in the lenses: the estate is covered wide and deep, then Paris switches to long glass that crushes the background onto the three of them. The rooftop DJ shot hung the camera under a remote controlled mini helicopter, shadow painted out later. Cannes gave Kassovitz its directing prize while the Palme went to Underground; police on the red carpet turned their backs on the team. The Césars gave it best film, best editing and best producer; the directing César went to Claude Sautet. Prime Minister Alain Juppé made his cabinet attend a special screening. A good fit if you want to track the switch from wide estate lenses to long Paris ones. Not for anyone coming to watch the riot itself; it stays in the opening news footage and the hours afterwards are spent waiting.