"Try to make your writing more natural": Cours Florent organizes workshops on the Côte d'Azur, we take you behind the scenes of these workshops

He's barely 13 years old. He plays Rose. The heroine of Titanic . Old. Ready to tell her granddaughter about her dazzling adventure. Except we're not in James Cameron's film, but at the Francis-Gag theater, rue de La Croix, in Old Nice. At the Cours Florent Teen Cinema course. One of the introductory and advanced courses in theater and film acting practices set up in Nice by the famous Parisian drama school.

This "Nissardization" of the institution was the subject of a deliberation by the Nice City Council in favor of artistic training. It is between the 109 and the Francis-Gag theater that, from April until the end of August, week-long stays bring together all audiences. This partnership also involves the Nice regional conservatory, as Patrick Mottard, municipal councilor delegated to Cinema and Live Performance, explains: "We give the Cours Florent a place to develop internships in Nice and, in return, it offers a free internship to the conservatory students, solely for cinema and to acquire the right techniques."

A reference

That day, at the Francis-Gag theater, we're halfway through the Teen Cinema workshop. The eleven young people, aged 13 to 17, take turns in front of the camera and concentrate on living their script. Monologues they've chosen themselves from the most diverse repertoire: Antigone, Cyrano de Bergerac, Lucrezia Borgia... And which they remake in a cinematic way.

"The work is to take the text and take it elsewhere," whispers Florent Bonetto. A predestined name for this drama teacher for the Cours Florent: "I'm from Nice, I worked for 14 years at La Semeuse. The Cours Florent contacted me and told me they wanted to move to Nice to launch courses. For the moment, they are one-week courses, never the same. More like leisure immersions to learn while having fun."

The contract between all partners is signed for one year, "tacitly renewable for three years," says Patrick Mottard. The elected official hopes for the formula to continue, because "it is a win-win partnership and a benchmark. Indeed, few French actors have not passed through the Cours Florent."

Seriousness without trickery

The young man playing Rose repeats his lines. Several times. He applies himself. Florent doesn't miss a beat: "It lacks tenderness. Try to make your lines more natural." The kid repeats. Again and again. He, like his classmates, takes their remarks very seriously. "Everything they're saying here is from only three days of training. Some of them had never done theater or touched a camera."

Because there's also the camera. "To be learned to familiarize oneself with artistic expression," continues Massimo Ditta. He is the director of 109, a cultural center where other programs such as theater and cinema, eloquence, and more take place. In total, there are nine courses: two at Francis-Gag, seven at 109. The teachers change depending on the theme.

Inspiring places

For Massimo, the trilogy at Cours Florent, 109, Théâtre Francis-Gag makes sense: "The partnership has existed for four years and the idea is to renew it again in the future in Nice, land of cinema." These courses come at a price: 590 euros per week, from Monday to Saturday. But in the end, "they give confidence, allow you to regain self-esteem. All in inspiring places, which can inspire vocations."