By Blood, Short Film, Review And Interview

With the feel of a classic fantasy tale By Blood tells the story of confronting death. This film is well set and well told.

By Bloodwas screened at the 2019 FilmQuest film festival (website). It was nominated for Best Score and Best Costumes.

I would recommend this film to those who enjoy a good sword and sorcery style tale. Below Jonathan Delerue and Guillaume Enard shared more information about where they developed from and what it took to bring it to the screen to share. They also give a hint about what they have coming in the future and some tidbits about their past.

Synopsis: Once a ruthless war lord who won his land by his sword, Mort-Lieu is now a sick old man. A mysterious knight appears; Mort-Lieu believes the stranger is Death himself coming to get him. Facing his own end, Mort-Lieu has to confront his legacy.

What was the inspiration for By Blood?

We're Jonathan Delerue and Guillaume Enard. We are the director, writer and producer of the short movie "By Blood.". "Par le Sang" in French.

The story is loosely based on the iconic French knight DuGuesclin's story. DuGuesclin was an illegitimate child. He defeated anonymously all his father's men in a tournament to gain the right to bear his name. When he ended up confronting his father, he knelt down before him. It's a powerful and moving story! However, we quickly realized it was much better if narrated through the father's point of view, especially if the man is sick and facing his own death. You could build the story around the mystery and the threat of the Dark Knight. When we first considered about making a medieval film, we agreed to envision it as a western. We believe that the medieval genre should be to us French audience like western and samurai movies for the American and Japanese spectators.  We can call it a "Ratatouille Sword & Armor Western!" J

However, making a historical short film in France is extremely challenging because the industry believes producing this kind of feature is too complicated. The first two years we applied to the funding institutions in France with no results because of the scope of our film. If the French movie industry assumes making a historical movie is very expensive, we knew we could do it within a decent budget. When we understood that no one in France would make a bold move with such an unusual production, we decided to jump and fully self-finance it—and we created Claymore Films and we searched for a co-producer to take over the shooting...

What project(s) do you have coming up you're excited about?

We're started working with a well-known French Production Company on a full feature horror film. It's about an iconic French grim reaper… We also have a very ambitious project. It's a medieval thriller, something between The Silence of the Lambs and Name of the Rose.

What was your early inspiration for pursuing a career in film?

Filmmaking is a particular art, a unique way to tell stories. You deal with costumes, sets, acting, light, music and so much specific, artistic craftsmanship. You can't achieve a film by yourself, you need to work with very talented people. It's a team effort to create a realistic fantasy world and bring one's vision to the big screen.

What would be your dream project?

It's a medieval movie based on a dark period of French History. We don't want to be too much historically accurate. We want to use History to tell our story. It's a siege movie with something of Shane and Mad Max 2 in it.

What are some of your favorite pastimes when not working on a movie?

Jonathan likes to go trekking in the Northern countries. He's a true Stark! I like to read and watch movies myself.

What is one of your favorite movies and why?

Robin and Marian, directed by Richard Lester, with Sean Connery as Robin Hood and Audrey Hepburn as Marian. Returning to Sherwood from the crusades, old Robin Hood tries to ignite a new rebellion against King John like the old days. It's an amazing love story and a melancholic, fun movie about old age and the passing of time…

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly by Sergio Leone… it's an epic, fun and very clever western that uses the three main characters' lust for gold to tell us about the mess that war brings…

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