A nice interview of Winona (Noée) and Lucas (Camille) was published in Le Monde last week. It's under a pay wall but I bought a copy and the IVT shared one on their Facebook, if you want to see the whole thing in French.
I thought it would be neat to translate parts of it because it might give you an insight of what it's like to be deaf in France and maybe understand where Noée’s distrust of hearing people comes from. France is way behind countries like the United States regarding accessibility.
Winona says she has always dreamed a bit of becoming an actress, but never believed it would be possible. It was her dad who encouraged her to audition for Skam France. She explains she grew up in a deaf family and that for a very long time, she felt more comfortable in the company of deaf people. She spent her last two years of high school in a mainstream school, with a specially hired help (we call them "assistants de vie scolaire" or “AVS” in France) who would translate her classes in FSL. But she felt alone and hated it, so after she got her Baccaulauréat, she left France for Bénin as an humanitarian aid worker. Now, she still has to figure out what she wants to study because "I need to make the right choice so I can find the courage and the strength to fight to get interpreters".
Lucas explains he was directly contacted by the production of Skam France but never thought he would get the part since "when you're deaf, you get used to tell yourself that some things just won't happen for you". Regarding his studies, he thought he would never get his BTS (Advanced Technician Certificate, he majored in fashion), because he could only get an interpreter for his classes for 3 hours out of his weekly 36 hours. He couldn't have made it without his friends and a hired help (AVS).
Both of them criticize the habit of casting hearing actors to play deaf characters. For Winona, it's basically like blackface and for Lucas, it leads to an incomprehensible use of sign language. They praise the filming team of Skam France for getting prepared to work with them. The team consulted International Visual Theater for the script, the casting, the editing, but also to raise awareness on how to work with deaf people. According to Lucas "it was exciting to arrive on set with a team that was ready to work with us. They had been taught things like how to turn the light on and off to let us know shooting was starting." Depending on the scene, they worked with or without interpreters.
They say that the series was an opportunity to showcase the importance of associations (like the ASJF in Skam France). For Winona, these deaf centres were like a second home and for Lucas, who was raised in a mostly hearing family, they helped him to become proud of his identity.
They would both like to act again, but they're not naïve; they know there are almost no opportunities for them. But they hope the season will make the industry want to employ more deaf people.
Okay nothing less than deep respect towards Eva Mohn, Noor Bauwens and Alexia Martineau for being such strong women and not only putting themselves over the boys they loved but also being able to maintain some truly beautiful and worth-having relationships with them and their new lovers
*Noor being Sander's secret Santa and buying him a gift he would actually appreciate and posting on her account for his birthday*
*Alexia finding Noée at the party, talking things out with Arthur and let him know things are alright* *being his study buddy and having a hand shake with him*
*Eva agreeing with hunging out with Emma even though she was clearly jealous about Jonas*
The International Visual Theatre (IVT) has started a series about their involvement in the making of season 5 of Skam France. It features David, Winona and Lucas among others.
The first video has been made available on their Facebook. Since it's impossible right now to add subtitles, I thought I'd summarize. There is some cool BTS information.
About David's name sign (Lucas and Winona)
You may have noticed David now signs a lot of his messages with the snail emoji. That's because it's his name sign! It was given to him by Winona. There's a cute story behind it. While Robin (if you look closely at the video, you'll see Winona mentions Robin by his name sign, aka his amazing cheekbones) - was quick to pick up sign language, it was more difficult for David. At some point he tried to sign "snail", but did something totally off. Winona actually shows the wrong sign, and it a bit like someone watching intensely. She adds that David loves taking his time with people and that he looks at them right in the eyes, so that snail sign was actually made for him. And it became his name.
David's discovery of Deaf culture (David and Jennifer Lesage-David, the co-director of IVT):
David first explains he really wanted to meet someone who would give advice on a scenario that was written by hearing people, because he always tries to have the correct approach on the topics he works on. He says he loved IVT's approach on hearing loss when he first looked at their website but told a lot of nonsense the first time he met with Jennifer.
Jennifer says she was charmed by David's curiosity and his motivation to learn about Deaf culture, as well as his respect for it. He was careful and afraid of making blunders. His aim has always been to shine a light on the culture and not focus on the medical aspect of hearing loss. Jennifer taught him about the history of sign language, about deaf culture and the political and educational issues around it. Most of all, she wanted him to experience a cultural shock, so she took him to see an exhibition about deaf history that was showing at the Panthéon at the time. She also invited him to see a play at IVT, so he could be immersed in a deaf audience. David agrees it was a cultural shock.
The next part is Jennifer Lesage-David and Philippe Guyon talking about one of IVT’s trainings, which helps the hearing to learn about deaf people to better interact with them. It aims to boost the employability of deaf people by breaking communications barriers. Philippe trained the Skam France crew to work with deaf people.
Winona and Lucas about how they worked on their characters:
Winona first explains Noée's name sign, a hurricane. Noée is a no-nonsense girl who likes to shake things up, she's a bit of a rocker. Camille's name sign is a reference to the sun, because he's a bit of a sunshine. There's also a cute story behind it. When Lucas came to audition, David told him he was glowing. So Lucas later improvised it as a name sign for Camille. For Winona, the tornado and the sun are complementary and symbolize a balance in Arthur's life.
Both had no prior experience in acting. They rehearsed a lot in September and October with David and Robin. They actually met for the first time with Robin in September. Some of Camille's lines had to be reworked, because Lucas would have difficulties pronouncing them, as his character is a deaf oralist, while Lucas first language is sign language. They worked a lot on rhythm, so that Noée and Camille complementary relationship would work on screen. They also rehearsed a bit with Robin at Lucas' flat-share, in a more "uninhibited" setting, around a bottle of wine. It allowed them to become closer and more at ease with each other.
The video ends a bit abruptly but I expect there'll be more! Fun anecdote: Winona and Lucas' interview was actually filmed last Thursday at IVT. I was leaving my sign language class when I found them shooting in the hall. Their interview was longer than what was showed in this video, which is why I think there'll be more in the future.
davidhourregue: @skamlaserie : SAISON 5 : 1ere lecture en famille au sortir de l'été... En attendant les nombreu-ses-x autres nouvelles-aux venu-e-s que vous ne tarderez pas à découvrir... Bientôt sur @francetvslash ! ❤️ #skam #skamfrance #skamfr #saison5 @francetelevisions @banijaygroup @non_non_non_non1978