The author of the novel A thousand secrets, a thousand dangers, Alain Farah, has received dozens of proposals from creators wishing to bring his work to the screen. A keen reader, it was filmmaker Philippe Falardeau who won the mandate to transform this award-winning novel into a feature film.
Last October, Alain Farah received an email from a Quebec director he has admired for a long time. Philippe Falardeau had read his novel A thousand secrets, a thousand dangers (published in 2021 by Le Quartanier publisher) and wanted to make a film of it.
Working at the same time on the series Raspberry timethe director was so keen on this film adaptation – and knowing that other creators also had an eye on this project – that he agreed to go faster than usual in the process of starting the project.
“We met everyone to see their vision, explains the 43-year-old author who signs his third novel here. We wanted to know their artistic point of view, and when you expose people to this question, you quickly understand a lot of things. »
If the meeting with Falardeau took place last December, the final signature was only made a little less than two weeks ago. The long conversations as well as the different technical and artistic stages have, for their part, furnished the last months of the two creators.
“It’s really beautiful, launches the author, who already had a lot of admiration for Philippe Falardeau. I know his work well, I am attached to his cinema and I grew up with his view of the world with The world destination race. I know that he has the will to make the novel a very personal film, which is good, because I still tell my life there using the real names (laughter). »
hoped fantasy
Farah describes as a hoped-for fantasy the confirmation that her work will be brought to the big screen. His 498-page novel – having taken him eight years of work – is led by a writing “having a dialogue with the cinema”, he believes.
“In writing, we give ourselves time, Philippe and I”, continues the one who claims to have no experience in cinema, but to be ready to learn.
“We already want to dive into the project and take the time to do things right. This will be Philippe’s scenario, but I will be there to help him. In fact, I will be at his service and I will observe what he has to offer me while trying to put in brackets that this is my book. »
While it is still too early to speculate on the names of the actors who will make up the cast, the author – born in Montreal to Lebanese parents from Egypt – knows that one of the challenges of the film will be to do justice to this reality that portrayed in the novel: that of an Egyptian and Lebanese community in Montreal.
As for the whirlwind and the exceptional enthusiasm for his autobiographical novel tackling important themes (family, immigration, mourning, suffering, money, religion), he does not try to explain it.
However, he replies, when asked, that this is probably due to a series of things, including the subject matter and the right time to do so.
“There has to be a coincidence between what you’ve done and where people are reading,” he explains. At the moment, we are listening to Quebecers of immigrant origin who are starting to tell stories of their Quebec past, but of a different kind, with a different trajectory. »
“My book tackles the issue of racism in a more singular way, with a character who decides to actively deny his immigrant side, which has terrible consequences. »
- The novel A thousand secrets, a thousand dangers by Alain Farah was a finalist for the Prix des libraires du Québec 2022 and a finalist for the Prix littéraire des Collégiens 2022.