‘The Academy Covered Up’: The True Story of Principal Origins Deception with Roshdi Zem

What is it about? Sabri Lahlal, vice principal of Neighborhood College, is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that her son, who is about to graduate from college, has the perfect academic record. But he doesn’t know where his work will lead him…

The true story from the beginning…

Chad Chenuga presented his previous film, De tous nos force, to a film club where the community consisted mainly of teachers. Among them, two history teachers told the principal that they were working under the orders of an atypical deputy principal who had betrayed his position. He recalls: “He cheated by correcting his son, who was going through a patent. But, as has been well pointed out, the academy covered up the affair, and he was even appointed principal of another college.”

sources of inspiration

For the main character, Chad Chenuga was inspired by him and his brother. He specifies: “I have a brother like Sabri, Syed, who has the same mental weakness. When we go to our mother’s grave, as Sabri and Syed, we sometimes play ‘Neither nor not’… these are the moments that bring. We went back to childhood and used them for the film . The relationship with my brother brought a lot to the character. I told my brother that it was Saeed at the time, not him, but deep down he is a lot.”

The subject of lies

One of the main themes of The Principal is lying. In 17 Rue Bleue, Chad Chenuga’s first film, the director revealed the fact that his mother had an extramarital affair in Algeria: “He was 21 and it was a real scandal. An industrialist took him under his wing and I was born in France at the end of the Algerian war in 1962.”

“When this man died years later, my mother made a false will to inherit part of his property. Suddenly there was a trial that shook him. He died because of it. I, I was not the son of this industrialist. My mother believed me about my father and never taught me and my brother Arabic, in short, I was against it.

Not to mention Robert, which is my middle name. When I was very young, after graduating from Kindergarten, my teacher asked me my name and she decided to call me Robert. I called Chad for a long time. Then when I was 19 years old.”

staging bias

Chad Chenuga wanted the camera to look at Roshdi Zem’s character and capture something obscure about him that he himself doesn’t know: “We did a pre-cut. We try to see what the scene is saying and how to shoot it.”

“Then sometimes when you go on set, you can change a lot of things, do things differently, to make the characters as accurate as possible. The acting of the actors can also change the setting. You have to trust the performers. Their physical presence.

“The fight scene, for example, we did Roshdi with Zem without having to call in a stuntman. The going-away party scene was an exciting shoot. Sabre gets caught up in a whirlwind of problems with the academy. She has to lie because she’s surrounded. by teachers.”

“But he’s bad, so the perception of his voice is altered. I say it with different sounds and blurs. Playing with image and sound, that’s cinema…”

Shooting at Mulhouse

Chad Chenuga filmed Le Principal while incarcerated in Mulhouse and the outskirts of the Alsace town. He recalls: “We needed an interesting college to shoot in, which is not easy. It is very graphic. There should also be living space. I like the decorations. It is very important to have the right shots for many reasons: atmosphere, depth of field, believability… we have to believe, but what is our belief based on when we watch a film, what makes you move or not?