True and False: Who’s Behind Facebook?

HelloCine: from true to false Born on Facebook…

Armel Hostiu: Yes, this whole story started when a friend told me that I had two Facebook profiles! Intrigued, I found this fake profile in my name on the net, with my real photos, a fake CV… This couple had a lot of friends, but only women, all living in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. On closer inspection, I discovered that he regularly posts casting notices for films I’m supposed to shoot in the Congo, castings to which he invites all his friends! My first reaction to what appeared to be identity theft was to contact Facebook to report this pirate profile. I naively thought that it would all be resolved quickly, but two weeks later, I received a message from the platform telling me that in its eyes this profile is not a fake profile and that his account would not be closed, but I could. If I wanted to not be friends with him, then with myself…

Instead of settling for Facebook’s answer, you decide to travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo to find your identity.

When I received this response from Facebook (or the algorithm that should process such a request), I told myself that this situation was like the beginning of a movie script, half absurd, half fantasy! This is where the idea of ​​going to the Congo to find my double came. I did not know this country or this region, but I had an intuition that this investigation would be more exciting because I had no idea how far it would take me, like in a thriller.

Your walk reminds you of Denis Menoche’s character only beasts By Dominic Mol. Did you mean this hint?

I only discovered Beasts (which I really liked, by the way) after my shoot. The main difference here with Dominique Molly’s film is that it portrays a character being scammed on the internet. In my case, I was more into this scam because it wasn’t originally aimed at me, but at aspiring Congolese actors… The movie I had in mind before I left was Abbas Kiarostami’s beautiful film Close Up, which also deals with identity theft stories or weird With thrillers like Antonioni’s Profession: Reporter or even David Fincher’s Zodiac.

You finally find the usurper… The movie then changes and you are now interested in the personality of this harmless crook.

The movie really takes a completely unexpected turn when I finally meet my doppelgänger, who falls into some sort of ambush tension… on Facebook! Without wanting to spoil the movie (or give it away, as we say in Quebec) there are several twists in the story that shed a different light on this character, who turns out to be much more complicated than what he is led to believe. The beginning..

Through your “hero” you discover the whole DRC, the weight of tradition, the omnipresent spirituality, the fear of the police, etc.

The search for my double is the starting point of the film, but also an opportunity to discover many other aspects of this country and its capital, Kinshasa. My base in this city is a small artists’ residence Life is beautiful, the film also clearly shows the vitality of the artistic scene of this giant city, which today is the largest French-speaking city in the world. As the film progresses, my character realizes that his branch investigation contains larger and more serious dimensions than he initially imagined.

Do you know what happens to the fake Armel Host?

Her Facebook account is still active, but it’s been a while since she posted messages about castings…